Category: Garden

Repetition – 6 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Different day, but same rain.

The rain wasn’t torrential today, and it wasn’t even continuous, but it did seem as if it was raining every minute of the day. Actually there were times when the sun shone brightly, but behind every cloud there is RAIN. My son and his wife are almost praying for rain down in the south, and we are trying to get rid of ours for a few days.

Genesis summed it up in the song Mad Man Moon (1976)

“… Within the valley of shadowless death
They pray for thunderclouds and rain
But to the multitude who stand in the rain
Heaven is where the sun shines …”

After lunch, Scamp and I sat and watched an absolutely crazy British F1 GP and, as I followed those twenty odd folk driving through the blinding rain of a thunderstorm, I thought again of those lyrics. Was it worth it I wondered? I lost count of the number of cars reduced to scrap in a couple of hours. However, I must say I was glad to see Piastri being taken down a peg. That was satisfying.

Dinner was a new Scamp version of Mac ’n’ Cheese. Slightly different layers and with a very nice topping of Panko Breadcrumbs.

PoD was a photo of a yellow Aquilegia that arrived late to the party, but looked quite startling against the dark green foliage in the background.

Basically that was it for today. Rain, Rain, Lunch, F1 GP then Rain to finish the day.

No plans for tomorrow.

Going Home – 2 July 2025

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Not us this time, but our son and our daughter-in-law, heading for home after a week in Scotland. Hoping to see them again soon.

They were leaving early, so it was an early rise for us too. Then the house seemed so empty after the hustle and bustle, but good to hear a few hours later that they had arrived back home safe and sound with Vixen.

I was raining when they left us. I had been intending to meet my brother for a photowalk somewhere interesting, later in the day, but a WhatsApp message from him an hour after the climbers had left made me thing it wasn’t going to happen today. He said the rain was really heavy in his neck of the woods and to be honest, it had been raining constantly all morning with us. I decided the best thing to do was to cancel today’s walk and try for another day next week when, hopefully there would be at least one dry day. Not too much to ask, surely.

That left us with a whole day to fill, then Scamp reminded me that she was going out to lunch with Shona which left ME with a whole afternoon to fill. I had two posts to upload and two blog posts to write up, so it wasn’t really true to say that I had a ”whole afternoon to fill”. It was already filled.

A cup of coffee first and I got the photos uploaded. The blogs took longer, as blogs usually do. I was half way through the first one when I realised the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. I took that opportunity to grab some photos of flowers in the garden. One of them got PoD. That one was the low viewpoint shot of an orange Dahlia. Scamp’s first attempt at growing miniature Dahlias. Safe in the knowledge that I had at last one photo in the bag, I finished off both the blogs and posted them. The rain returned for another quick splash and then the sun shone again for most of the evening.

Dinner for me was beef olives with onions, potatoes and carrots. Since Scamp had already had lunch, she managed to scrounge a few of my potatoes.

A fairly busy day for both of us.

We’re hoping to go dancing tomorrow if the weather plays nice.

An early rise for me – 29 June 2025

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Just after 7.15am I was up and dressed and driving. Nowhere interesting though.

In fact I was going to get some fruit for Scamp’s breakfast. I tried M&S, but they didn’t open until 9am. Instead I carried on to Tesco in the town centre as they have the earliest opening times, 6am I’m told. It’s a long time since I’ve been up that early. My basket today held strawberries and raspberries, plus a carton of blueberries to add to my porridge. Drove home as Scamp was waking up and wondering where I’d been.

With breakfast consumed by both of us, we needed a plan for the day. Scamp wanted to get a few of our flowers planted in pots, or in some cases replanted, and a bit of tidying done to the back garden too, but not until the clouds had cleared from the skies and the inevitable puzzles were completed.

Also, I remembered to photograph a vase of Peony flowers. Alex and Carol had sent them last week when Scamp was feeling a bit low. She had been gently teasing the petals all week to encourage them to open. Today they did. I sent Alex and Carol the photo.

Now we could get started. We mixed up some compost, adding Perlite and pebbles to aid drainage and soon the first plant, Achillea was ready for watering. Next was a white Astilbe, one of my favourites. My mum used to call Spirea. Now that I see it, it doesn’t really look like Spirea, but someone had told her it Spirea many years ago and the name had stuck.

After lunch, Scamp started strengthening the fence between us and our new neighbours and I forked over a shallow bed beneath the back wall. I don’t think anything will grow very well there. Too many roots criss crossing the bed. However, maybe we’ll manage to something planted there.

By then it was time to tidy up and to rearrange the pots to make best use of the space and just change the scenery a bit.

PoD was the photo of those peony roses.

Dinner was a salad for starter, a tuna steak each and potatoes and tomatoes. Dessert was more of Jamie’s rhubarb with custard. You can’t get anything more traditional than rhubarb and custard!

Watched an interesting Austrian GP. Lots of thrills and spills and a surprise exit for one driver.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but a new pair of trainers is still on the shopping list.

Out for a spin – 28 June 2025

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Today we had decided that we’d go out somewhere because the sun was shining.

It was windy and that made it a bit cool, but we we had promised ourselves that we’d go out somewhere today. That ‘Somewhere’ turned out to be Culross. I know there aren’t a great many shops there that sell trainers (there are none), but in a way that was part of the fun today.  We’d go to Culross, which is Hazy’s most hated, least liked place in the whole wide world and just look for some interesting things to photograph.

It was an interesting climb up the cobbled Tanhouse Brae and on to  Kirk Street.  The architecture in Culross hasn’t changed much in the last 400 odd years with pantile roofs and low lintels on the doors. I imagine there are a lot of hoops to jump through before you can get a sniff of a chance to own one of these houses.  Once you own one outright, I imagine that it doesn’t really belong to you, because of many and varied rules you have to abide to.  However, it’s good to see the houses owned and used by folk.

We continued our climb and nearing the top, or what we’d designated today’s top, Scamp spotted a modern looking house offering tea, coffee and cake in a private garden. I kind of got the feeling that we were going in there later.

Our journey today ended at Culross Abbey, an impressive piece of architecture both inside and outside. Beautiful lighting from the stained glass windows and those high, high wooden roofs.

As I suspected, we made a detour on the way back down to Culross village in to Tea Leaf. A tea and coffee shop with cakes and scones for sale.  We had one coffee, one tea and two scones to share, served with cream and home made jam. Scamp was in her element, wandering around the garden, finding ‘things’, lots of things.  On the way out of this fantastic garden she talked for a while to the owner, a florist who gave her names of plants we’d never seen before, but which are now on the shopping list, Jerusalem Sage being a one of them. The owner explained that she splits most of her plants later in the year and sells some off.  Scamp needed  no encouragement to add her email address to the list of those wanting to purchase some of those plants.

With that, we headed down the street to real life and drove home.  We stopped at Torwood to buy a couple of pots for two plants that needed potting up … and yet another interesting plant that I liked.  My fault this time.

Dinner tonight was from Golden Bowl and although the pork in the Chow Mein was a bit tough, the rest of the meat was fine.

PoD was a view from halfway down the cobbled path to the car park, looking over Culross (sorry Hazy) to Grangemouth in the distance.

No plans for tomorrow.  Maybe more gardening.

 

 

Overnight rain – 26 June 2025

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Not that it mattered to us because we’d be inside for most of the day.

Spoke to Hazel in the morning and heard of the depredations of the foxes in the new rockery and their strange habit of dragging some of their ‘toys’ into the garden too. Apart from dynamite, I don’t think there is very much you can do to scare off foxes, and apparently the use of dynamite for control of animals is now frowned upon. It wasn’t like that in my day, I’ll tell you!

We were attending a funeral for the mother of one of my best friends in the afternoon. It was a long route from the church to the crematorium and then back to Airdrie for the meal. It’s like a wake is in Ireland. Lots of folk telling stories, drinking and exchanging memories of the deceased. I always feel out of place at events like these, but it’s a tradition and traditions have to be upheld.

Back home we found that the dog from next door had ‘done its needs’ in the back garden. I wasn’t happy about it, but I think I’ve managed to repair the hole in the fence where it got in with some bits of rope and a bag of cable ties. It should keep the rascal out of our garden until my friend, the joiner, and I can get a proper fence made.

While we were working in the garden, I turned over a compost bag and found, uninjured, a large night flying moth that may or may not be a A bit of research with Mr Google leads me to believe it may be a Large Yellow Underwing Moth. If it’s not, I’ve wasted my time typing its long name out. Quite a large moth and with a dark colouration.

I managed to coax an Astilbe plant with its fluffy white flowers into a pot while Scamp watered if for me. The garden is looking neat and tidy now which is a great bonus.

We got a message from the mountaineers showing the lovely weather in Arran. Pity we didn’t get a chance to enjoy it!

I may be getting encouraged to purchase a new pair of trainers tomorrow. More spending.

 

A bit cooler – 24 June 2025

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It had been raining during the night and that might be what lowered the temperature today. It was definitely a fair bit cooler.

Rain appeared in the late morning. In one of the dry spells I went for a walk to the shops for bread. We had bought some sourdough bread yesterday in Waitrose. Today it was dumped in the bin. It was definitely sour, but it was also heavy and chewy. It gave the appearance of not having been risen properly. “Bertinet Bakery”. Steer clear. Today’s ordinary M&S loaf was much better.

I felt that I was running ahead of the next shower, all the way home. It never came, but the clouds kept coming, so instead of a walk in the park, I took a few shots of the Primula vialii I’d bought in Torwood. It looks as if it has a bit of a Red Hot Poker in its ancestry, but I couldn’t find a link for the two plants online. Still a good contrast with the red flowers and the greenery in the background. PoD found.

Tonight’s dinner was a Charlie Bigham’s Vegetarian Lasagne. The quality of this range never seems to change. Long may it stay so!

Hoping Jamie and Simonne have a good trip up the road, tomorrow.

The day that the rains came – 22 June 2025

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We asked for it yesterday and today it arrived.

It actually arrived overnight, the rain, that is. Varying from light showers to heavy thumping down torrents. All of it very welcome. Every time the rain halted for a few minutes, Scamp was out moving pots and making sure everything got its share. Me? I was doing Wordle, although I did go out once in my bare feet, and in the rain, to right a pot that had fallen on its side. Quite breezy today too.

I think the worst of the rain (or the best, it depends on your point of view) is now past and we have a bit of sun shining on us for a while, but the temperature is a much more sensible 17ºc, warm enough without going crazy.

I couldn’t be bothered with going out for a walk today, so instead I worked inside clearing out some stuff (very little) and reorganising others. In the end I still had the same amount of stuff, but felt better because I’d done something constructive. If questioned about it, I’d argue that it was all down to the rain.

Dinner was potatoes and ratatouille for Scamp and potatoes with mince for me. A sensible and enjoyable dinner, especially when I knew there was a coffee cake that Scamp had made for dessert.

We spoke to Jamie and Sim in the evening and discussed the final details for an upcoming visit. It will be good to see them both again. It’s about six months since we last saw them.

PoD was a view of the Campanula that dangles from a hanging basket all year round. Such pretty wildflowers.

Tomorrow I think we may be going shopping.

Soaking up the heat – 20 June 2025

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25º+ today and we’re promised more tomorrow.

How much more can this old planet take before we all just melt in the sunshine. I must say that I enjoyed most of it, but towards the middle of the day I was beginning to fade a little. Too much heat, not enough water and definitely not nearly enough alcohol!

Scamp was out in the morning to Fit Steps. I don’t know where she gets all the energy from. I stayed home and read for most of the hour she was sweating (Perspiring – Ladies don’t sweat, they perspire). When she got home and after a coffee, we went out looking for some bright shining plants to add to our garden. I say ‘our garden’ but you know Scamp does most of the work in the front and back gardens. I’d like to say that I’m the brains of the operation, but you know me too well to let me away with that! This time we went to Torwood for the plants and we were more restrained than we usually are. I picked two that I liked – don’t ask me what their names were. Scamp chose three. Five is a favourite number in the house.

We had lunch in Torwood. Usually a cosy, comfortable cafe, but today the Toasties were over toasted. Red Hot some would say. Almost got blisters on our lips – that’s how hot it was.

While Scamp was planting out two or three of the new plants, I was preparing for a walk over to St Mo’s. I’d sunscreen on and a coating of insect repellant on top, just to be sure. I also had a pair of shorts, a tee shirt, and a skipped cap. The cap was to keep the sun out of my eyes, but in retrospect, a sun hat would have been better and more sensible.

While I was out, Scamp had dragged out her seat and was reading in the garden. When I got home I realised just how dehydrated I was, but two glasses of water later I was back on an even keel. The next time I’m out in the sun, I’ll wear my sunhat DV and carry some water. We Scots are not built for the high 20ºs centigrade. Roll on the end of June when we return to cold rain.

Later in the evening we eventually dragged our seats back in to the house, ready for another hot day tomorrow if the weather fairies are to be believed.

PoD today went to a field of Eryngium Planum in Torwood, which Scamp managed to avoid bringing home. I’d definitely have had the lot in the car if I could!

We’re intending going over to Larky to see Crawford & Nanacy for tea.

Keeping your head down – 18 June 2025

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It’s amazing the things you see if you keep your head down.

Today I was out for a walk in the afternoon, heading to the shops to get a variety of veg to make dinner. If I hadn’t had my head to the ground I would never have noticed the burned off rusted pipe on the pavement. Inside the pipe, dirt and stones had collected over time. Some seeds had landed in the old pipe too and some of them had germinated. Add a little sunlight and a plentiful amount of rain and there you have the beginnings of a miniature garden. If I’d just been striding out, or if I’d been thinking about that dinner I was going to make, I’d have missed this little garden in the street. If you don’t look, you’ll never see what’s in front of you. But be careful, watch out for busses as well as little round gardens.

You can find my garden on Flickr. The round garden didn’t quite make PoD. That award went to a White Tailed Bee feeding on a Marsh Cinquefoil flower. Much prettier, but I still like that round garden. It’s the second one I’ve found. Must go back through Flickr to find it.

Scamp was out in the afternoon to meet up with the rest of the Witches, while I was shopping. I’d half intended to drive up to Fannyside to get some landscape photos. Unfortunately the sun didn’t want to play ball today and so instead I searched out a recipe I could use for dinner tonight. I’d seen one on the BBC page and it looked simple enough for me. Actually it was fairly simple and that’s what we had tonight. It was listed as Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta, but in reality it was “What have we got in the fridge”. It served the purpose and it tasted reasonable. May make it again.

The dull weather that prevented me from going to Fannyside lasted for the remainder of the day. Dull and with the threat of rain sort of summed it up. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Scamp is intending to meet Isobel tomorrow and I’m hoping to meet Alex for a photowalk.

My turn to cook – 17 June 2025

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It was my turn to cook today and I thought I’d made a mess of it, but surprisingly it all worked out well.

It was a dull, grey day. I don’t think either of us really wanted to do much of anything. I had finished my book and started another. I don’t know where it came from on the Kindle, but it didn’t last long there. It’s now in the Kindle Bin. An hour or so’s research and a couple of quid brought me another book, much more interesting, at least that’s what I’m hoping it will be. By the way Hazy, did you know that Stone and Sky, the new Rivers of London book, set in SCOTLAND! comes out in a couple of weeks? You probably knew that and you probably told me and I probably forgot about it. Too many wee ‘nories’ in my head, that’s what my mum would have said.

Scamp was in a redesigning mood today. Plants in their pots were needing moved and I could see where she was going with this rebuild. Too many pots containing greenery and not enough with some brighter colours. Admittedly she has some beautiful roses growing in the front garden, in pots, of course, but she needs some spots of colour too. Today was a test to see what she could create from what she already had in the garden. I was the pot lifter for the day and I agreed with her changes.

However, I did want to get a bit of photography done and once I was sure she wouldn’t strain her back humphing the pots around, I took the chance of a walk over to St Mo’s where I found a Common Blue Damselfly that was willing to be a model for me. Also a pretty pink wildflower growing beside the boardwalk. It took me a bit of research to find out that it was Valerian. I remembered the name from last year. Last, but not least was was a side view of a white wild rose, fully open and welcoming any passing bees. All are to be seen on Flickr, but the PoD was the Valerian.

Like I said at the start, it was my turn to cook today. It was Mushroom Risotto and I still think I got some of my quantities wrong, but the result worked well. It’s 20 minutes of standing by the cooker feeding the mushroom, onion, garlic, butter and rice mixture with ladles full of rehydrated mushroom flavoured liquid, meanwhile stirring almost constantly for those 20 minutes. Scamp had poached a chicken breast earlier and I added it to the mixture. I’m glad it all worked. I would have hated to have gone to all that effort for it to be a failure.

Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to meet the Witches for a blether and I may go looking for dragonflies, out in the country.