Category: Garden

Rain – 15 May 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Another day of welcome rain … for the garden.

Today seemed to vanish in a flash.  After breakfast, I tidied up my sewing materials and got organised upstairs.  Scamp’s ladies were coming in for a rehearsal in the afternoon and I could either go to the gym, go for a swim or start making up the boxer shorts kit Hazy had given me for my birthday.

Before that, lunch was  the order of the day and for that we were having omelettes filled with the Oyster Mushrooms JIC had given me for my birthday, so it was a sort of Birthday Celebration Day.  The omelettes were first and they were superb.  Oyster mushrooms have quite a nutty taste, but Scamp didn’t seem to mind.  The compost is resting now for 10 days before I restart it to provide a second flush of edible fungi.

After lunch, it was time to follow the instructions, something I’m not usually prone to do, and get the pants sorted out.  Once I was started, it wasn’t quite as bad as I had anticipated.  Half way through the stitching, I thought the finished article was going to be far too small, but it’s not that far away from the right size.  This was the ‘dummy run’ and it looks fairly reasonable.  I may have to go up a size when I start the real thing.  Other than that, I’m quite happy with them.

Salsa tonight was confusing for me.  I just kept making mistakes.  I could blame it on my knee being painful, but it’s really my brain that’s under pressure, not my legs.  Maybe just too many things going on today.

Today’s PoD was a poor wee hen sparrow sitting on the fence in a downpour.  She was probably knackered feeding chicks ( ’scuds’ ) and was having a welcome rest despite the rain.

Tomorrow?  More rain.

No fillings today mum – 10 May 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Dentist said my mouth is in perfect condition.  Now there’s a statement you can take any way you want.

About a month ago I bought the Mountain Cafe Cook Book.   The recipes looked interesting.  I fancied a recipe for smoked fish chowder.  I already make a chowder which I’ve been using for a few years, but this new one looked interesting and simpler.  Today I got the chance to try it out.  As with all things, it turned out that it wasn’t as simple as it looked.  However, it gave us a reason to go out.  We went to Morrisons in Falkirk to get exotic ingredients like celeriac and dill.  After getting the ingredients, we went for lunch at Morrison’s.  We had two coffees, scrambled egg on toast and a roll ’n’ sausage for less than a panini would have cost us yesterday.

It took just over an hour to cook the chowder and it received a better than lukewarm response from Scamp and I.  Basically it’s a soup and like all soups, I expect it will be better tomorrow or Friday.

Today’s PoD is of a pretty wee azalea in the garden.  It’s been suffering a bit in the last year or so, but still produces bright orange flowers every year.  I tried to take some cuttings from it last year, but none of them took.  I’ve had a look on the net for advice and will try again after the flowers are past.

Salsa tonight was great fun.  One class working through the beginners’ first real moves.  Another combined class attempting something that for a lot of them was just too advanced.  The moves were Tresario Doble and Cambio.

A lot duller today and a lot cooler too. Looks like the weather is going downhill.

Going to get some culture tomorrow.

Breaking new ground – 8 May 2017

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A Monday is Scamp’s Gems day, so generally, I make myself scarse. Today I’d decided to go exploring.

The morning was all about gardening. Added some more compost and soil to the raised bed and gave it a good soaking.  Then replanted the beetroot. Hopefully it will grow this time. Also planted out five of the peas I’ve been bringing on inside and hardening off in the mini greenhouse. Planted some spinach and kale in trays and put them into the space the peas have vacated in the mini greenhouse. I also planted out the strange wee plants I’ve been growing from seed since last autumn.  I don’t know what they are, or where they came from.  Maybe they will grow into a gigantic bean stalk.  That was enough work for one day, so the man who worked in the garden went and had lunch then got ready to go out.

I’d intended cycling to a wee nature reserve on the Auchinstarry road.  We’ve lived here for thirty odd years and this is the first time I’ve visited it.  Got there and found it’s a lot bigger than it looks from the road. Unfortunately it was nowhere near the building I wanted to photograph. I think it’s a ventilation shaft for an old mine. I couldn’t even see where it was from the nature reserve. More investigation required.

While I was sitting sunning myself in what was a natural suntrap, protected from the cool east wind, I managed to get a few shots of a hover fly and that’s my PoD.

I decided I had to find that wee building and cycled out along the Kirkie road and eventually found it half a field away!  Maybe tomorrow or later in the week I’ll visit it, on foot.

Carried on to the Drumgrew bridge and followed my nose into what used to be an old dump, but now looks as if it is being redeveloped. Lots of fenced off areas and warnings about Japanese Knotweed, so I kept well away. Two deer, a doe and a buck weren’t so bothered and casually walked across in front of me. Of course both cameras were in my bag and by the time I’d retrieved the Oly 10 the deer had realised they were not alone and jumped the fence totally ignoring the warning signs. Hooligan deer, obviously!

That was about it as far as cycling and photography was concerned. Am now standing as acting doorman at STUC building while Scamp gets a chance to dance as a follower for a change.

Salsa was as energetic and as brain taxing as ever with one old and one new move.  The old move was Tresario Doble and the new one was Agamemnon.  Nobody seemed to like Agamemnon, well, nobody except Jamie G.  It might grow on me.

Tomorrow?  Maybe a visit to Glasgow.  Got stuff to get.

Damsel Day – 6 May 2017

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After yesterday’s peregrinations across the breadth of Scotland, we had decided to have a day at home.

While Scamp went out to search for provisions, I made myself a cup of coffee and sat on the front step in the sun.  While I was sitting, I spotted this week’s potential sketch.  It’s just the house across the road.  Nothing special about it, just a corner house with some trees in front and some scrubby bushes.  Sometimes you miss what’s right in front of your face.

After lunch we went our separate ways.  Scamp to cut the grass and plant out some alpines and me to cycle, hoping for a few damselflies to photograph.  It seemed such a lovely day, it was a shame to waste it sitting around on the step or even worse still, moping around the house.

With a couple of squirts of WD 40 on the bike we were ready for the off.  The outward leg was so very easy, I knew it was a bad sign.  It was a tailwind.  The wind was from the east and also stronger than it was in the morning.  That meant it would be a headwind on the way home.  However, after wandering around for a while without any signs of insect life, I caught a few shots of a hoverfly sitting on my bike jacket.  A nice little one, with bright yellow stripes.  Maybe someone on Flickr will ID it for me.  Then I saw a little red damsel.  The first I’ve seen in Scotland this year.  I saw some in Tobago in February, but that’s a different world.  Here we don’t usually see damsels until the end of May or the beginning of June.  Early May is very unusual.  Got a few shots of it, then started to plan them a bit better, trying to get at 90º to its long body to keep as much as possible in sharp focus.  Almost impossible with the extension tubes and the very narrow depth of field.  Still, got a few ‘keepers’.  Nice colour on the body and thorax.

As I predicted, the homeward leg was a struggle with a gusty eastern wind.  Bag was heavy too with a couple of rocks to create perches for the smaller birds in the birdbath.

Dinner was the second attempt at Spanish Rice (just as good as the first.)  While I was making it, Scamp was sunning herself with a Pimms for company in the back garden.  Yes, she did have her sun cream on.

Watched the BFG on Amazon Prime tonight.  Great escapist fun.

Tomorrow?  Probably dancing in the afternoon, the rest is up for grabs.

Piper at the gates of dawn – 4 May 2017

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Trying to keep up the musical lyrics theme, today we went to Stirling, all should become clear.

It was another bright day with a cold easterly wind.  We had decided to complete yesterday’s tasks with a visit to the travel agent in Stirling to see what they could offer for our summer cruise.  When we were walking through the centre of Stirling there was a bloke, a piper, with the obligatory £20 kilt on making the most awful racket outside the Stirling Tourist Office.  Just as we drew level with him, two officials came from the office, walked over and uttered the termination introduction; “Before you get started again mate …”  As we walked down the street, I noted that there was no skirl of the pipes from behind us, so I presume he had been sent on his way with a flea in his ear (and a stopper in his drones.)

After about an hour in the travel agents where we had set out our initial requirements:

  1. Cruise
  2. Eastern Med
  3. June – July

Later we added almost as an afterthought:

  • Not an inside cabin
  • Not on a low deck
  • Not Greece
  • Flying from Glasgow
  • Not more than £xxxx each
  • Not an old ship

It’s amazing just how many requirements we have after our initial ones.  That said, the bloke in the shop was very patient, but I’m sure he’d heard all these lists before and knew the initial requirements are only ever sketchy and will be firmed up and filled out later.  We left the shop with a couple of possibles and after a coffee and a bog awful Goat’s cheese an beetroot panini for me and an excellent (I’m told) Mushroom Toastie for Scamp we had chosen the front runner.  Back to the shop and confirmed the booking.  We’re off on a cruise in the summer, DV.

Thought I’d get an Amazon Fire Stick to stick in the (not so) smart TV with which to watch some extra content.  Y’see that’s what happens when you visit the weans and find they’ve got access to a world of entertainment you haven’t dreamed of.  Cruised round all the electrical retailers in Cumbersheugh, but nobody had one.  Bummer.  Scamp did manage to get some solar powered lights from B&M though, but only after a bum steer when we found the box that allegedly contained six lights only had four in it.  Typical Cumbersheugh thievery.

Dinner tonight was another ND recipe.  Chicken with Rice using a very tasty pre-roasted chicken.  Again, thank you Masterchef Neil.

Today’s grab shot is of Marguerites in the garden.  They were enjoying the sun too.  Also, I’ve just checked and all six solar powered lights are shining brightly.

Today’s title, comes from Pink Floyd’s first studio album, of course.

Tomorrow?  The search for an Amazon Fire Stick continues.  Maybe JL will have one.  Failing that, I’m sure Amazon will have it in stock.

I’ve got a bike – 3 May 2017

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This morning we took Scamp’s car down to the garage for its MOT.  Then back for breakfast.

That’s how the day started.  Since we were up and about early, we decided to make the best of what was shaping up to be a beautiful day.  We drove to Torwood Garden Centre to get some plants and ended up with nine plants and a bird bath.  We’ve been looking for a bird bath since Trinidad, back in February, but couldn’t find one we liked or didn’t grudge the exorbitant price for.  This one was exactly what we wanted.  Made from concrete, fairly small and fairly priced.  We’d originally intended continuing on to Stirling, but changed our plans and just went home so that the plants could find their way into their new homes, assisted by gardener Scamp of course.

Back home we had just had lunch when the garage phoned to say the car had passed and was ready to collect.  We brought it home and as the gardening needed expert hands, Scamp decided to carry on with that while I dragged the bike out for a run.  For the first time this year, I took it on the bike rack to Auchinstarry and cycled along the canal almost to Kirkintilloch and then back again along the railway.  Going out was fine with the sun on my face and the wind at my back.  The run back wasn’t so idyllic, but it was still enjoyable.  I think everybody who had a bike was out on it today, or at least that’s what it seemed.  Not surprising on such a lovely warm, if windy day.  Tracked it on my new FitBit and was surprised at the amount of data it generated.

Salsa tonight was good although the drive in was a not much fun with traffic jams because of a breakdown in the middle lane just at the busiest spot near the Royal Infirmary.  Poor woman who had to escort her kids on to the fencing at the edge (there isn’t a hard shoulder at that part), then get them back again into the breakdown truck, with their cases!

Looks like tomorrow is going to be much the same as today.  Maybe going to Stirling.

Coming down is the hardest thing – 2 May 2017

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This was the day of rest, after the conveyer belt that is Gatwick. Go to the bag drop. Get past security 1. Look in the camera, DON’T SMILE! Go past security 2. Oops, not quite. Tablet didn’t pass muster, had to be swabbed down and run past the camera again. On to Departures and time to peruse the offerings in Dixons, priced up by 10% then Special Airport Reduction of 8% makes them look like bargains. Wait for the gate. Go to the gate. Loading! Oops, that should be boarding, but it feels more like loading. Look at the camera, DON’T SMILE! I love the flying, I hate everything that goes with it.

That was yesterday, today is the opposite. Do what you want, when you want, if you want. I started off cleaning up the painting room, but was sidetracked into starting my mushrooms which are now resting after having drunk more than their bodyweight in water. After that I did a bit of gardening because the gaffer was out for coffee again and I could suit myself (what you want, when you want, if you want. It ’s a good maxim) I cleared out the raised bed and dug in some bone meal. Old fashioned fertiliser. Transferred my indoor raised peas into the mini greenhouse to harden and put the ones from the greenhouse into the propagator to give them a bit of a boost. That was quite enough of the green fingered stuff for me. It was lunchtime.

When Scamp came back, she took over the horticulture, and I grabbed my camera. Eventually ended up at Fannyside after a few deadends. One grab shot turned out as PoD. It’s entitled ‘Earrings’ for obvious reasons. It would have been better if the sheep was a bit closer, but I’ve never worked with a sheep as a model before and it didn’t seem to understand my directions. I’ve changed my title photo from a mosaic to a single shot, the PoD. Sometimes there will be more on Flickr, sometimes not. It’ll be a surprise!

Dinner today was Spanish Rice with Chicken and Prawns. Big thanks to ND for introducing us to it.

Today’s title is from ‘Learning to Fly’ by Tom Petty

Tomorrow, we’re looking for more gardening stuff after taking Scamp’s car for MOT.

Child Minding – 30 April 2017

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We didn’t do much in the morning.  ND was at church and the weather wasn’t too good.  We all sat and talked for a while.  The PoD is of the dried up hollyhocks in Hazy’s front garden.

When ND returned, we got ready and went to Canute and Delia’s for lunch.  After being ‘welcomed’ the two chihuahuas, Basil and Molly, we sat down to the biggest lunch I’ve seen in a long time.  Potato Salad, Green Salad, Channa Daal, Chicken Curry, the list goes on and on.  Then there was pudding afterwards!  All the time we were being entertained by Marcie, Joey and Jess’s daughter.  Not two years old yet, but ruling the roost in the house.

Suitably fed and entertained, we left later in the afternoon and went back to the house.  Sat and watched StarWars VII and again marvelled at the CGI until we just accepted it as real.

This week’s sketch was actually done earlier in the week at the Old Naval College in Greenwich.  As with most sketches, it’s not quite true to life, but hopefully it gives the idea of the building and I liked the quality of the line.  The building did look good that day with the sun shining on it.  I’d like to draw it again, maybe if I had somewhere to sit!  Drawing while standing is sore on the back!
Back up north tomorrow.

“I don’t get hangovers yet” – 23 April 2017

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This morning we went for a walk round the Barras.

I was going looking for a cheap Bluetooth 4.0 dongle – it’s a bit of computer hardware, in case you don’t know.  There used to be a multitude of wee computer shops selling legitimate and highly illegal hardware and software down the Barras.  Most Barras stuff was knocked off, one way or another and everybody knew that and accepted the risk that what you were buying was either unlikely to work once you got it home or a man in a black suit wearing a cap with a black and white chequered pattern would relieve you of it as soon as you stepped away from the stall.  No guarantees, no money back, but glorious bargains to be had.  Not today and by the looks of things not ever again.  The Barras was dead.  All the wee shops and some of the bigger ones were closed and firmly shuttered.  Worst of all, there was almost nobody about..  It looks like the end of an era, and also the end of my search for a cheap Bluetooth dongle.

We walked down to Glasgow Green and strolled through the trees just springing into leaf, about a month behind the ones we walked in last week in Astwick.  That’s what happens, they get the weather, we get the scenery.  It’s a fair exchange and I like the way it’s weighted.  We were just heading for the People’s Palace for my usual Sunday roll ’n’ sausage and Scamp’s tea ’n’ toast when three girls passed us and the following snippet of their conversation floated towards me  “… I don’t get hangovers yet. I suppose I will later …”.  I felt like telling her she had to be actually drinking alcohol first.  Merely talking about it won’t have the desired effect, nor will drinking lemonade or coke.  I almost shouted “Try Buckfast.  That should work.”  She was english, which explains everything.  Just one step away from being american.  (Yes, lower case ‘e’ and lower case ‘a’.)

Today’s sketch was from the Wintergarden of the People’s Palace.  Simpler and more accurate than previous ones IMO, maybe because I was sitting down enjoying my R ’n’ S while I completed it.  The trees were Celtic trees.  Green, White, Green, White, Green.  Must have been planted by a Sellic supporter!  But then, you don’t get many trees with Blue or Red leaves do you?  The mono shot of the old shop with the ‘ghost signs’ was not from the Barras, but from quite near there.

Back home to do a bit of joinery, completing the duckboard for the plants to stand on.  Actually enjoyed it and it looked reasonable when it was finished.  It could maybe do with a lick of paint or stain to finish it off, but the biggest part of the work is done now.  Helped Scamp with a bit of gentle gardening after that, but nothing creative, just labouring really.

Made some bread 50/50 white flour and dark wholegrain flour from Prince Chic’s own farm.  I imagine he planted it himself and then carefully tended it, talking to it daily before harvesting it with a scythe he’d sharpened himself then grinding it carefully in an authentic and architecturally sound windmill.  Lastly he’d transport the flour by horse and cart to Waitrose where we bought it.  He’s that kind of a guy.  The bread was good, thanks Chic.

Tomorrow is Monday so it’s Gems day.  I’ll be making a hasty exit.

The man who worked in the garden … 20 April 2017

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Another early rise this morning to go, not for a walk over St Mo’s this time, but to Tesco for muesli which I fancied for my breakfast.  A lovely morning with bright sunshine although the weather fairies depressingly predicted clouds drifting in from the north.

After that bout of energy, and after breakfast, Hazy Skyped for a while.  By then it was about lunchtime, or should that be ’dinner time’ (all will be explained later 1 ).

After dinner oops, lunch, I settled down to watch episode 1 of Lucifer.  Brilliant.  Such deadpan humour.  I might even extend Prime, just to watch it.  Thank you for the heads-up Hazy.

Then the man came with the greenhouse.  It was a dawdle to set up and it was soon in its place in the garden after digging up the roots of an old bush and levelling the ground again to move the magnolia tree.  It’s not an enormous greenhouse, but it is green and has a ridged roof, like a house, so it’s a green-house and now has a few plants in it.  Planted seeds of  English basil, and some English peas.  Still to plant the English beetroot.

To ensure we did have even more plants, we went to B&Q and bought some seedtrays and a pot of flowers.  While we were there, I went to Currys.  I’d been last week to see if they had cheap bluetooth keyboards to use with my Linx 10 tablet.  They did have, but when I took it to the till, two assistants were serving one customer while a queue formed.  The store manager seemed to be enjoying berating a junior employee quite loudly in the middle of the store.  I got fed up and went to return the keyboard when he said “I’ll take that over at the other till sir.”  I told him he was too late, but he didn’t seem concerned.
Today, I relented and decided that last week was a one off and went back to Currys to get the keyboard.  This time when I took it to the till, the assistant was on the phone trying to get some issue for a customer cleared up.  Again a ‘manager’ was standing in the middle of the store, this time watching a video on a man’s laptop.  It did not appear that this was a problem he was solving, in fact it looked like a couple of friends discussing something.  Again, I gave up after a few minutes.  Walked past the ‘manager’, yes, he did have a badge on with his title, put the keyboard back and walked out.  Not a word was spoken this time.  Don’t they want sales in this shop?  Harrumph!

Went to St Mo’s when I came back.  Got a few macros and that was it.

Tomorrow is Friday and that might mean a day In The Toon.  Perhaps.

  1. In the children’s tv program Bill an Ben, the mysterious gardener goes for his dinner in the middle of the day, not lunch, dinner.  This allows the Flowerpot Men and Little Weed to get up to mischief.  The show ends when ‘The man who worked in the garden had finished his dinner and was coming down the garden path!’
    For a much deeper social commentary on ‘The man who …’, go here.  Who knew there was such a deep undercurrent of social division in this children’s programme? ↩