Category: insects

Dinner in Hamilton – 26 August 2022

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Scamp was out in the morning and I was off the leash.

Scamp was out at her FitSteps class in the morning and I had the morning at least to myself, to do with as I wished. The trouble was I didn’t have anything in mind to do. I watered the chilli plants and checked on their condition. Both the old Jalapeño plant and the new hot looking thin chillies were doing fine. The old plant has two Jalapeños which are fattening up nicely but the chilli plant I brought back from Jans Vans in Skye are producing either long, thin, straight chillies or a strange corkscrew variety, both on the same plant. The Jalapeños are staying green as Jalapeños usually do, but the Skye chillies are starting to turn red. I’m not sure what’s stronger, the red or the green. I must try them some day, to compare and contrast.

I spoke to Ray while he was making his lunch and caught up with all that’s happening in his world.  I’d hoped that he would agree to join the Auld Guys for a beer or two in Glasgow, but he carefully avoided the subject.  However it was good to keep in touch.

In the afternoon I took a camera out to see what I could find in St Mo’s. Lots of dragonflies about, but the PoD went to a little grey and black spider on its web, just sitting beside the boardwalk.

In the evening we got dressed to go out to John & Marion’s in Hamilton. It’s ages since we’ve been together with Covid, holidays and weddings we’ve passed like ships in the night. All the talk tonight was of weddings and photo albums and catching up with what the families are doing now. While Scamp and Marion were discussing the photos and the weddings, John and I were planning a day with the Auld Guys in Glasgow. Hopefully that will come to pass soon.

We eventually left around 11pm and were home and parked just before the witching hour.  I got a surprise present from Marion.  A wee bottle of Limoncello!  All the way from Sorrento.  How nice was that!

Early(ish) rise tomorrow to drive to Brookfield for dance class, but with the sweetener of lunch booked at Coast in Langbank.

Dancin’ – 25 August 2022

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Tea dance. The first one in ages.

An accident on the M8 set us back by at least 20mins on our way to the first tea dance in at least a couple of months. We shouldn’t have complained, the poor soul(s) in the badly bashed red car on the hard shoulder were having a far worse day than us.

We drove on and ignored the route the sat nav was giving us and instead we forged our own route, one the sat nav had given us months ago. Why it changed its mind on the best route to the outskirts of Paisley is anyone’s guess. It was a good day for a drive round the motorways of Glasgow, even if some idiot towing a caravan almost forced us off the road. Some folk don’t realise that sitting a driving test before you take a car on the road is not an option, it’s the law. Maybe he just forgot he was towing a massive big white brick behind him. Maybe he was a moron. Probably all three.

We danced a decent waltz today, especially as it’s been so long since we’ve danced among so many people. Yes, we danced on the cruise, but that was in a tiny little elliptical floor. No room to show off our catalog of mistakes. Today we had the whole room to impress with our footwork. We even managed a reasonable Social Foxtrot as well, but we did stumble a bit in the rumba. More practise needed there to smarten up the routine. Lots of sequence dances in between and most of them I got right.

We left early to try to avoid the traffic on the Kingston Bridge. Scamp thought the traffic was lighter than yesterday, but I’m not so sure. In retrospect, I should have taken the M74 rather than the M8. Short term pain for long term gain.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s later and found a compliant dragonfly that sat very patiently for me to get some ‘head on’ shots of it. It almost feels like dragonflies, and damselflies too, are studying you while you’re studying them. The head to head shot got PoD, but a close second was a little hoverfly pretending it was a bee on a wild Scabious flower. The wee thing was completely covered in pollen and you could actually see the pollen on the stamens of the flower. That’s how pollination works and that’s why we need insects, even if some of them are a bit of a pain, literally!

One of Scamp’s specialities for dinner today, Potatoes with Cabbage and Bacon. Scamp going for the vegetarian version without the bacon. It’s one of those meals that doesn’t sound as if it works, but it does.

Tomorrow, Scamp is heading for her FitSteps class. I’ve got a couple of phone calls to make.

Feeling a bit flat – 19 August 2022

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Well actually it was Scamp’s red car that was a bit flat, the battery was at least.

Scamp had been intending going out to her FitSteps class in the morning, but one turn of the key in the red car put and end to that plan. Just a clunk and a rattle said it wasn’t going anywhere today, and neither was Scamp. She saw it as a sign that maybe she was overstitching herself and would leave the FitSteps until her own steps were a bit fitter.

For me it was an opportunity to get an old newspaper laid down in the back bedroom and after finding the socket set and the elusive 10mm socket that would release the nut holding the battery terminals in place, it was an easy job to undo the battery locking plate and lift the heavy black box out of the engine compartment. Placed the battery on the newspaper and connected it to the charger which then hummed away happily putting some energy into the battery. Meanwhile, lunch was tea and toast. No appetite for anything more adventurous.

In the afternoon I risked a walk in St Mo’s with the constant threat of rain. The threat never materialised, but if I hadn’t prepared for it, it would surely have come. A fair few insects were on the wing today, dragonflies and butterflies mainly. It was one of the peacock butterflies that made PoD.

By late afternoon the battery charger had done its work and was now just ticking over. As the Haynes Manual says, “Replacement is the reversal of removal.” The battery went back in and the the wee red car coughed into life at a turn of the key. Success.

I waited until 6pm for no particular reason to do my up the nose test today. It made little difference, because the outcome was the same. Still positive. Maybe the line was a little lighter today, but realistically it meant the same thing. Still in quarantine.

We might need to go shopping tomorrow, but it depends on how we’re feeling.

An improving picture – 18 August 2022

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Scamp tested negative this morning. Me, I’m at the coo’s tail as usual, still positive.

Scamp was careful not to look at the pink column as it rose in the recording window of the test kit. Then after about twelve of the required fifteen minutes she gave a yelp. It was a negative result. Not even the slightest ghost of a ’T’ trace. At last, one of us had broken free. Mine was slower than usual to confirm a positive, but it was there for all to see by the fifteenth minute. I didn’t expect it to be any better, but it would have been a nice surprise …

I took a walk down to the shops to get some bread and a bunch of flowers to brighten the house. Also got some cherries and the stuff to make a stir fry for dinner. Later in the afternoon we both went for a walk in St Mo’s. Just once round the pond, but that was enough for me to snag a few shots of dragonflies resting on the boardwalk. I reckon it’s the daily rain showers,  another of which we had in the late afternoon, that are increasing the water level in the ponds and that’s encouraging the hatch of dragons. Mostly Common Darters, both male and female, but a few Black Darters occasionally added to the mix. One of the low down views of a dragonfly made PoD.

Stir fry was ok, but I inadvertently picked up a carton of Vegan broth mix instead of Chicken. I’ll be more careful in future. I much prefer the milder chicken flavour.

It was a bit dull today. Couldn’t really get myself interested in anything. I’m just finishing my first Stuart McBride book in years and am not all that impressed with it. Too predictable, I think. However, I bought the Audible version with the Kindle book and it helped the flight home pass much more quickly than reading.

We may go out somewhere tomorrow, just to get out of the house.

Another day, another test – 17 August 2022

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This morning Scamp did another test, but it was just positive and no more.

The general rule seems to be that you have to stay at home for five days from the first positive test. I assume that after that time you aren’t definitely clear, but are unlikely to pass on the infection. Everything is so vague now that hospitalisations are so much fewer than they were last year.

Anyway, Scamp declared herself still positive although she was feeling better than yesterday. I declared myself happy that today I was up to date with blog posts and also with Flickr posts, but was intending going for a walk in the afternoon to get more photos to post and stories to tell.

While Scamp was busy in the garden I went for a walk in St Mo’s. There were lots of lovely dragonflies fluttering around the boardwalk at St Mo’s pond. Mostly common darter males but also a few black darters circling the ponds. Butterflies too were in plentiful supply almost all of them were Peacocks. Had a chat with Fred while I was out and before my signal broke up. I really do need to look into the possibility of changing my phone. One of the common darter males (head on) got PoD.

Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

Back to life – 12 August 2022

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Back to reality. Back to the here and now.

This was the day for unpacking and for bundling clothes into the washing machine and then hanging them out to dry. Admittedly, I wasn’t doing much of that. Scamp did most of it.

After lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s to get some ‘ordinary’ photos. PoD was a close-up of a Yellow Rattle plant. It’s a parasite, feeding on the nutrients in the roots of any nearby grasses. And yes, it really does rattle when you brush past it! It’s the dried seeds in the desiccated pods that make the noise. I also got a shot of a grasshopper hiding deep in the grass, but no Hummingbird Hawk Moths I’m afraid. Too cold for them up here in the frozen north.

It wasn’t really that cold, in fact it was pleasantly warm sitting in the garden. Thunder and lightning predicted for the next few days. We really should make the most of this warm weather before it all comes to a crashing end.

We’re not going anywhere any time soon.

Šibenik – 9 August 2022

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We’ve been pronouncing it ‘Sibenik’, but the folk who live there pronounce it ‘Shibenik’. I’d assume they’ve got it right.

Looking out from our balcony at just after 9am, we were looking out over a bay to wooded hills echoing with the constant scratchy sound of a million cicadas. A couple of hours later we were walking along the seafront of Šibenik town, after being ferried from the ship’s anchorage over to the a little township in a tender and then on to one of a host of local buses out along country roads and dropped in a car park near the ferry terminal for Šibenik. We just followed our noses, admiring the expensive looking seagoing yachts, until we reached the old town and found a road taking us up and away from the sea. There was a castle right at the top of the hill, but we’d no intention of climbing up to it. A walk through the narrow streets that opened out into open squares with roads leading in different directions would do for today. Maybe a spot of lunch too.

It was very hot and we found a wee outdoor cafe where we had a beer and then decided we could manage some lunch too. I had a beef burger and Scamp had a chicken wrap, both with chips. Then I had another beer. Service was pretty slow, but we weren’t in a rush to go anywhere.

From there we walked back to the car park to get the bus that took us to the jetty and the tender back to the ship. On the way we passed a municipal building with a walkway over another path. Under the walkway a cat was snoozing in the shade. I grabbed a couple of shots, then thought I’d get a better angle from the other side. I thought I might have spooked it, but it just lazily opened one eye and then dismissively went back to sleep.

Big queue for the bus, but then four buses came at the same time. Same big queue for the tender, but there were cups of cold water ready for us on the jetty, so time passed quite quickly.

Dinner in The Glasshouse tonight and although the steak I had was lovely, the menu was limited for vegetarians and also for those with shellfish allergies. I think, too that we’d eaten more than we should have at lunch and didn’t really do the meal justice.

Tomorrow is going to be packing day. It’s a sea day and our last full day on the ship.

 

Koper – 8 August 2022

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Looked for a flea market but found a hummingbird. Read on!

We got off the ship early because there are lots of things to see in Koper.

We opted for the sit-down breakfast restaurant where you’re not tempted to go back again and again for more from the buffet, especially after last night’s Indian feast. After breakfast and after checking out of the ship, we walked out of the port and headed for the lift to take us up to the viewing gallery and the town. I was impressed by the artwork advertising what I think was a ballet company’s “In a Dark Rabbit Hole”. Weird black and white photos overlayed with splashes of black ink hinting at scary things. Very arty and very clever. I photographed each of the billboards.

We didn’t actually go up in the lift, instead I suggested we climb the stairs to the viewing gallery where we took the mandatory photos of the ship and also photographed our reflection in the mirror panels that enclose the lift that the lazy folk use to avoid all those stairs.

Once we’d taken our photos and got our breath back, we walked in to the town and admired the cathedral and its bell tower. Scamp likes churches and she wandered into this one after covering her head and shoulders as is required. I’m not really all that interested in churches, but this one really shone inside with sunlight coming in through the high windows. We walked round and I took some photos, listening to what I thought was piped organ music, but it wasn’t piped. Someone was playing this massive church organ with an assistant turning the pages for him. That made it even more impressive.

After we left we walked in through the narrow streets of the town. I found some graffiti that I thought Alex would like because he’s into that sort of thing. In one shop they had a handbag shaped like a full size acoustic guitar. A snip at just over €80 and another about 60cm diameter shaped like an old style alarm clock with a working movement, a bit more expensive at €250. We walked on!

It’s an old town with cobbled streets and narrow alleyways that are just asking to be photographed, so that’s what I did, while Scamp found a dress shop with a reasonably priced dress that she bought. We found a real old fashioned cobbler’s shop where you could get a pair of hand made shoes made to measure. Luckily we didn’t have the time to wait, but the shoes looked lovely. There was a beautiful Yamaha Midnight Star motorbike just on a prop stand I took its photo, also for Alex.

I was looking for a flea market we’d wandered round the last time we were here and eventually had to agree that it was no longer there. There were some stalls in a park, but it looked as if it wasn’t going to be open today. Such a shame. We had a beer in an outside cafe and then headed back towards the ship.

We passed busts of what I think would translate as “National Heroes” all with a red star on them somewhere, so probably dating back to Soviet times. Further on, there were planters with great pillars of red flowers and … a Hummingbird Hawk Moth feeding on the flowers. I can’t remember who saw it first, Scamp or me, but the cameras were out in seconds and we were hammering away trying to capture an image of this fast flying insect. I remember seeing one, easily twenty years ago in France and maybe one since then. You just don’t get them in Scotland, even with climate change. There may be some in England, but I doubt it. Eventually after I’d shot over 50 images, I gave up.

As we were walking away from the flowers and the insect Scamp noticed a man on a wee electric ‘Monkey Bike’ with his dog sitting quite happily on a rack underneath him. Maybe that’s normal in Koper. We bought some things to take home at the supermarket in town and got them through security without any problem.

Back at the ship, Scamp went to the pool again for a swim. I grabbed my sketch book and pens and went back through security to draw the cathedral and bell tower. I’d sketched it the last time we were here, but for some reason I’d painted the clock face black – it’s white. This time at the third attempt I got what I wanted.

Normal sit-down dinner tonight with the couple we’ve been sitting with. Alan is a Senior chef and his wife is a Tax Consultant. Both from Newcastle area. Good company. We went to an awful show after dinner. That’s the last show I’ll go to on this ship. I’ve seen school shows that demonstrated more acting and singing talent.

Tomorrow it’s our last port, Šibenik, and we get to go in the wee boat, the tender to shore, then a free bus to the town itself.

One Hot Day – 18 July 2022

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We were well warned about today. It was going to be hot. They were right.

Last night we slept under a sheet. No duvet, not even our summer 1 TOG. It was going to be one hot day.

Scamp wanted to drive to Tesco to get veg and fruit because we were making a salad for dinner. That was the furthest we went. There was an enormous queue for the petrol station. I wondered what it was all about, then I remembered Scamp saying the other Tesco store in the town was closed for ‘essential maintenance’ and everyone was flocking to our local one. When we got back we put the lounger and the chair out in the back garden where we sat and read for a while. Even I found it too hot to sit for long and wandered in and out of the house trying to find the coolest spot. I didn’t find it. As usually happens with this house in summer, the inside was cooler than the outside.

After an al fresco lunch we went for a walk round St Mo’s for something to do. I took a camera, but find anything worth photographing. However, when we got back to the house we saw lots of Soldier beetles on the Sea Holly (Eryngium planum) in the garden. That was to be PoD. I have no idea what the beetles below are doing! Probably something to do with their alternative name!

Later in the day we walked down to the shops to buy some ice lollies, Mivvies! Just the thing for a hot summer’s day. When we got back it was beers in the garden. Just relaxing in the sun this time with a gentle breeze to cool us slightly.

Dinner was a salad feast. Tuna pasta, Potato salad, Little Gem lettuce, Prawns, Carrots matchsticks in orange juice (try it!), Beetroot, Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Dessert was jelly and fruit with ice cream.

More reading and relaxing after dinner and eventually we had to call it a day at about 9pm. It’s almost 10.30 now and the temperature is still 22ºc. It was 28.5ºc in the afternoon. Tomorrow the weather fairies predict it will get even hotter. Oh, to live in Shetland where it was 16ºc!

Hopefully more of the same tomorrow. I had hoped to go for a walk with Alex this week, but the whole family are down with Covid … except Alex. He was negative!

The warm-up begins – 17 July 2022

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Today was the start of a heatwave. We were warned that temperatures would rise significantly in the next few days.

Nobody informed the weather. It was raining when we woke and it kept on raining for about half an hour. But they were right about the temperature rising. The temperature was around 23ºc in the afternoon which although not earth shattering, was more than we’d had for the last few weeks. Probably that was due in part to the lack of wind which always cools the place down. It has been an extremely windy year so far. Is that to do with global warming too? I don’t know. All I know is that it’s been the windiest year I can remember.

In the morning, we took the tomato plant and the two chilli plants out to get the benefit of the rain, then we just left them outside to talk to the rest of the plants. While I was inspecting the flowers in the front garden (and getting some steps recorded) I noticed a little wee Marmalade hoverfly on one of Scamp’s dahlia flowers. It was kind enough to sit there for me and get its photo taken with not one, but three different cameras from three different dynasties. Ranging from the half frame Oly E-PL5 up to the mighty Sony A7iii with the Sony A6000 wedged in between. All of them produced great images, but the best of the lot was a shot from the A7iii. That photo became PoD.

In the afternoon we emptied out another ‘tattie’ bag. Not as many tatties in this one, but they were bigger. Some were pretty scabby too. Must ask Colin about that the next time I see him. There wasn’t much more to the day. Scamp watered some of the plants in the back garden with a watering can, then set up her lounger and read. In the meantime, I put my boots on and sprayed myself with insect repellant and went photographing insects (?) in St Mo’s where I almost got bitten by a cleg. Not a very clever one, because I felt it land on my leg and smacked it off. Clegs 0 – Photogs 1. I took a fair few photos, but nothing to beat the Marmalade.

Came home made a Pimms for Scamp and opened a bottle of Estrella for me. Sat in the warm garden. Note, warm but not sunny. The milky white sky from the morning hadn’t opened up to reveal blue skies and sunshine. A bit disappointing.

Dinner was Trout fillets with our potatoes and a salad. The potatoes might have been scabby, but once that was removed they tasted fine.

Spoke to Jamie and heard all about Hedgehog Houses and surveillance cameras to photograph the poor things. Must be a bit like being in Colditz! I think they’re resigned to the high temperatures predicted for the next few days. Thankfully the thick walls of their house will keep the temperature from rising too much inside.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk somewhere. Hope the sun shines.