Category: Garden

It’s raining again – 8 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Us humans are never truly happy. Last month we were complaining about the heat and the likelihood of their being a drought. This week we’re complaining because it’s raining.

Today I was waiting for another pair of dance trainers. I ordered a pair just over a week ago and they arrived last week, but were the wrong size when they arrived. Yesterday I found a pair online that were the recommended size (one half size larger than normal) and promptly ordered them, expecting to wait another week before they would be delivered, but no, they would be delivered today! Hooray!

It was one of those days when the sun shines in the morning, but before afternoon there is a gradual darkening of the sky and then the rain comes thumping down, only for the sun to come out later and the cycle to begin again.

Scamp took advantage of a dry spell to cut the grass in the back garden, or to be more exact, to strim the grass in the back garden. Strimming the grass is quite a lot quicker than using the lawn mower, and, as Scamp will tell you, cleaning a strimmer is much quicker than cleaning a mower. Once she was finished, we went for a walk round the front garden and Scamp laid out her plans for removing the plants that have passed flowering and also for what will replace them. Just as we were finishing, the Amazon man handed me a big brown paper box, quite like a shoe box actually!

In trepidation, I tried the trainers and although they might be a little bit big, they will work perfectly well. Light as a feather and worth every penny. I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to wear them tomorrow to Monday dance class.

I went for a walk around St Mo’s and almost got it dry all the way. Just a ten minute shelter under some trees when the rain came on, but otherwise ok. A little branch with some Hawthorn leaves and berries looking like a miniature Bonsai got PoD.

After a lot of disagreements, we settled on Sea Bass and potatoes for Scamp’s dinner and Lamb Burgers and potatoes for mine. Dessert was meringue nests with strawberries, raspberries and cream. Lovely.

Spoke to Jamie and told him all about Scamp’s scan. Then we heard all about their 80 visitors to the Open Garden project. They also took part in a Bake Off game where they had to bake a cake and also amongst other things, a batch of macarons. I wonder what Jamie’s gran would have thought of that!

Tomorrow I think we may be going to look at a couple of horses.

A bit of a wasted day – 6 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A day when the cloud cover hinted at rain in the wind, but the deluge never really got going.

Scamp went out to FitSteps in the morning and I’d intended spending the morning clearing up my expenses, but instead I used up most of my free hour reading.

We were supposed to have an Amazon parcel delivered in the early afternoon, but for whatever reason, by the delivery time had disappeared, I had a message to say it wouldn’t be delivered until late afternoon. That sort of spoiled our day, but Scamp took it as a challenge to haul out the strimmer and tidy up the edges of the front garden. Not to be outdone, I dug out spades full of compost from the bottom of the back garden compost bin to fill up the potato bags and pail. Most of the compost was very well rotted and simply crumbled through my hands. I dug out enough of the compost to fill two potato bags and one potato bucket. That should help to produce a decent crop of potatoes later in the year.

I had a few spaces in the raised bed, so rather that leave it barren, I planted out some leeks. I’d planted some about a month ago and they were looking quite good considering they had been in the ground all through those hot days of May. I’m hoping the new planting will also begin to show in a week or two.

Dinner tonight, we agreed, would be fish and chips from the Condorrat chip shop. I walked there and on the way remembered I was going to photograph a lovely big rhododendron bush that was growing wild beside the path. I even managed to get a bee’s bum sticking out of one of the florets! PoD sorted. The fish ’n’ chips were good, but not the best I’ve ever tasted. Could do better IMO Condorrat.

My parcel from Amazon which held a pair of dance trainers arrived as we were starting our fish and chips, and after that wait, they were just slightly too short. I’ll send them back tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go to Saturday dance class but without my new dance trainers. 🙁

The weather fairies get it wrong – 5 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

The weather fairies predicted that today would be worse than yesterday with 100% chance of rain. It was cold, but it was dry almost all day. Sometimes even the weather fairies get it wrong.

We went out to meet Isobel for coffee and a blether in Costa. It was a cold wind blowing across the car park, but for once it was warm in Costa. Scamp spent the first half hour showing Isobel the photos from our visit to Hazel & Neil. I just sat there and added the occasional comment. Then Scamp explained the scan process to Isobel and answered all her questions. When both of them were talked out, Isobel went off to the bank and then went shopping.

We drove to our nearest Tesco and collected a trolley full of provisions for the coming week, or at least part of it. Back home it was lunch time. After that, Scamp started pruning some of the straggling branches from bushes and fading flowers, while I put new batteries in the string of lights round the rowan tree. I think it’s wrapped up in enough tape to make the battery box watertight, at least I hope it is. I’ll do the switch on later in the evening.

While Scamp was starting a new jigsaw, I took the A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and got a few decent photos of a bright green Cucumber Spider. Hadn’t seen one last year, but at least I got one today. I was quite pleased with that. While I was out I wandered down to the shops and bought some chocolate for Scamp and a cake each for us.

Dinner tonight was an absolutely delightful Prawn & Pea Risotto that Scamp made. It was light with creamy rice that was just al dente and no more flavoured with lemon and mint. I could never achieve that level of delicacy.

PoD went to that Cucumber Spider.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps. I’m intending doing some banking!  Pocket money banking.

A late rise – 3 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

One of those days when we never heard the alarm clock go off.

Maybe that was because we didn’t set the alarm clock in the first place. In fact, I’m not sure we still have an alarm clock, but if we did have, we wouldn’t have heard it this morning.

After breakfast, and after Wordle et al, we drove over to Go Outdoors in Coatbridge, to search for a pair of trainers, nice cheap(ish) ones, like the ones I’d tried on and rejected in the same chain, in Kingston. It took a bit of searching, but I eventually found what I was looking for and this time I didn’t reject them. They seemed to fit perfectly for a change.

When we got back in the car I tried to set our next destination on the sat nav, which was Currys for a new tablet for Scamp. That was when the sat nav went bonkers. It decided that we were actually in France and then somewhere down Africa way. I tried switching the engine off, counting to ten and trying again, with the same result. Eventually I gave in and drove to the Currys by memory. Switched the engine off and locked the car.

We found the tablet Scamp had sourced on the internet and bought it in Currys. Then we did some shopping for something that would work for tonight’s dinner across the car park in Tesco. That should give the car and sat nav enough time to cool its wheels and settle down to work. It did. It gave us the correct directions to take us home. I’ve not got a clue what caused that mishap. It’s the first time I’ve experienced it.

I drove to Tesco in the town centre for petrol and Scamp searched unsuccessfully for a new dress, then we went home. Just got stopped and parked at the house when the skies opened and we were in the middle of a downpour. Nearly got soaked walking from the car to the house. That was the first of many such downpours today, in fact, as I’m writing this, another one is starting. Such strange weather.

Quite a fiery chicken curry for dinner that was cooled down with an ice lolly as a dessert.

PoD was a photo of a Lupin plant in the garden. I always liked the strong colours of lupins. If you find the photo on Flickr and can go back one step, you’ll find a photo of one of the London Parakeets that fly in gangs around the city.

Tomorrow Scamp and I are intending to drive to Glasgow for her scan, and after dropping her off, I’m hoping to meet Alex.

A cold day – 2 June 2025

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Well, I felt it was cold even although Scamp didn’t seem to agree.

While she was out planting and pruning plants I was in communication with Hazy trying to fix the on-line problem. Late last night I thought I’d found the solution. In fact I’d actually found the problem, but with a bit of help from Hazy it became more easy to understand what was going on. I say that, but it took me a few hours to get my head round it properly.

I ended up leaving it to the expert and sat and read for an hour or so in the afternoon, while Hazy dug deeper into the problem and Scamp started pruning her plants into a better shape. I wonder, do all women have this innate ability to be calm in the face of adversity? Probably they do.

Got a message from one of the tea dancers for a photo of the Japanese Garden for his wife to paint. That took my mind off my digital problems for an hour or so trying to source the original.

In the late afternoon we went to Kirsty’s class to be faced with the Viennese Waltz. We’d learned part of it from Stewart & Jane a few months ago and it was doable. The tempo was suited to absolute beginners and the steps were easily accomplished. Not today and not under Kirsty’s tutelage. After a couple of circuits I was out of breath and Scamp was feeling dizzy. If you watch it on Strictly, it looks so easy and the speed is not a problem. How different it is when you try to dance it. For the first time ever, we left the class early. I don’t want to see another Viennese Waltz again.

Dinner was a pizza, a small one. Then the message I was waiting for from Hazy. She’d done most of the work required to remove most of the problems and had in fact removed the remaining bits and pieces. I really don’t know how she can do all that. Amazing. Between us we wrote out or reply. Hopefully we’ll know tomorrow what the result is.

PoD was a shot of Scamp’s Thalictrum plant. It’s a lovely plant with soft pink flowers that bob nicely in the breeze.

Thankfully we’ve just been given the all-clear by the host company. A weight off my mind!

Webmonkeys Rule!!

Maybe looking for a pair of trainers tomorrow.

A lazy Sunday gone bad – 1 June 2025

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It started as a normal Sunday, then it deteriorated into a bit of a mess.

It rained for a while, then the weather fairies took charge and turned the taps on full blast for most of the morning. It was on and off for the rest of the day. In the afternoon I did manage to get out during a short dry spell and grabbed today’s PoD which was a shot of Fiery Tempest a brilliant scarlet red Geum which manages to bounce back from the buffeting wind that is channelled down between the houses.

Dinner tonight was Mushroom and Chicken in Pasta an invention of Scamp’s that went down very nicely with a bottle of South African red wine.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about the preparations for the Open Gardens show down south. It sounds like a great idea at first, but there is an enormous amount of work involved.

Watched a bad tempered Spanish F1 GP. Lots of seemingly pointless crashes at high speed. Just cool down guys!

Halfway through talking to Jamie, I realised I had a worrying message on my phone to the effect that I was breaking one of the rules of the hosting company. Phoned Hazy and the upshot is that she seems sure she can fix it. What would I do without a Webmonkey?

Tomorrow, I’ll dig deeper into this morass … provided I get some sleep tonight.

The last day of May – 31 May 2025

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How quickly May disappeared!

Usually I’m sketching and painting in May for EDIM (Every Day In May), but this year was too complicated with many things going on. Too many things, so I decided to forego EDIM for a year and de-stress a bit. I think it worked. Looking forward now to June and hoping to get good weather like we did in May.

We were up early today, 8.30am is early for us! We were heading to Brookfield at the new time of 9.45am for the rest of the summer. It was allegedly to give us more time in the afternoon for something that wasn’t dancing. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea.
Also, it was a small class, only 3 couples including us and I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea too. However it did give the teachers a great opportunity to teach almost ‘one-to-one’ and that seemed to work. It also meant the teachers had their eagle eyes on us and, as I sometimes say, no room to hide.

We survived the first dance which was an old favourite, the Charnwood Cha Cha. Lots of little bits and pieces we’d forgotten. Hadn’t realised how long ago we learned this dance.

The next lesson was Rona’s Rumba. We’d learned it in Perth a couple of weeks ago, but today we began to put things in their correct place and it started to make more sense, but it’s still a bit complicated than our usual rumba.

Just to break things up and because there was nowhere to hide, the next track was House of Bamboo. I’ve never danced it apart from an aborted try about a month ago. I tried it again and although I did fill in some of the spaces I’d created in my last attempt, but I’m still not sold on it.

A chance to dance the new quickstep took us into the details of dancing a Fish Tail. The little details make this dance worth trying again and again. By the end of it, I was more secure in my dancing of this shape I’ve tried sometimes successfully and often unsuccessfully. It needs work.
A couple of sequence dances finished a strange morning at Brookfield.

Drove home half intending to go the M74/M73 route, but then decided Kingston Bridge would be more sensible. In the end, Kingston won, and it was the right answer.

The rest of the day can be summed up in two words “It Rained”. We had been warned by the weather fairies that there might be Thundery Rain. Although we didn’t see or hear any actual thunder, we did hear the rain and it was heavy.

In one of the dry spells I took the chance to shoot a couple of flowers. A bloom from Gertrude Jekyll got PoD, with my Peony Karl Rosenfield a close second. I had one flower from it last year, but this year I have at least five flower heads. A beautiful flower and one of my mum’s favourites. I hope she likes it.

No plans for tomorrow, but the weather doesn’t look promising.

A better day today – 25 May 2025

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Today was a better day. More sunshine and some broken cloud.

  • Jamie arrived right on time and he, Neil, Scamp and I went to a different garden centre for lunch
  • Hazy was resting at home and Simonne was looking after Vixen.
  • We had lunch and were careful not to overdo things because we were having dinner later.
  • Scamp was in her element wandering round the plants, mostly varieties of lavender.
  • I do believe, if we had the space, she would have brought half of the plants home with her.
  • After Neil drove us home we said goodbye to Jamie who had a two hour and more journey home.
  • Hopefully we’ll see him and Simonne in a month or so’s time when they break a journey to Arran, with us.
  • I got some photos of the sparrows and bluetits feeding on seeds in the garden.
  • Later Scamp and I went for a walk in Horton Country Park. A maze of paths through trees that we’d ventured through the last time we’d been here, five years ago.
  • On the way home we passed the strangest garden. The front garden of the house was a collection on toys and hand painted signs. Weird!

Hopefully we’ll visit London tomorrow while Neil and Canute go to football on the other side of the capital and Hazy has another day’s rest.

A dull day – 24 May 2025

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  • After a lazy morning, we intended to go to the Lavender fields, but after some investigation we found that they weren’t open for another two weeks.
  • Instead, Neil drove us to the Lavender fields cafe where we had lunch.
  • We spoke to one of the gardeners at the cafe who had once lived with a man from Glasgow, but left him because she couldn’t understand a word he said. Cheek!!
  • Neil made Turkey Pilaff for dinner.
  • PoD was a rose from Hazel’s front garden.

Hot again today – 21 May 2025

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A day that started with 14ºc but which did have a few sprinkles of rain to cool us down.

It wasn’t a day for doing much or for going anywhere. Most of the work we were doing was in the house for a change, at least it was cool there. I couldn’t be bothered going over to St Mo’s for photos, so restricted myself to photos of the bees on the rhododendrons and a few from the aquilegia that are beginning to set seeds now, although there are plenty of flowers on them yet. Both the flowers and the seedheads are good subjects for photography.

In the afternoon, Scamp treated us to a glass of Pimms and dinner tonight was another variation on Neil’s Chicken Rice. This was the third meal we’ve had from the chicken we bought on Sunday!

The sprinkles of rain we got wasn’t as heavy, nor as long lasting as we’d hoped, but the weather fairies are adamant that there will be heavy and more prolonged rain next week. Let’s hope they have it right this time.

No real plans for tomorrow.