Category: photography

A beautiful day – 4 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Rather spoilt by a bad mood, a dodgy lens and a broken dishwasher.

Dishwasher first. It’s been playing up for a while, but we always managed to cajole it into getting its act together. Not so today. It refused to do anything but petulantly show its “Check Water” light. Even worse, there was a pool of water in the machine about100mm deep at its deepest. I baled out the water into a basin which Scamp emptied for me. Next I checked the impeller and it was turning freely. Put everything back together and tried again without any luck. Disconnected the water outlet to the main drain in the sink and it was clear. Even checked the water inlet filter and it too was a bid mucky, but nothing that would bring the machine to a grinding halt. After an hour and a half, I gave up and tightened everything back up and left it sitting where it had been with the light still glowing until I pulled the plug. We may need to call in a repair man to fix it, or bite the bullet and buy a new one.

The dodgy lens. Like the dishwasher, it’s been playing up for a month or so. It sometimes refuses to focus. I’ve tried cleaning the electronic contacts, but they were shiny clean to start with. I know it’s a ‘kit’ lens, the one you get with the camera, and it’s probably not the best quality, but up until now it’s focussed perfectly. According to some reports in the photography forums, the lens suffers from a dodgy focus motor. Not all of the lenses have the problem and if the focus motor does start to fail, it doesn’t fail all the time. I don’t think I can call in a lens repair man to fix it.

I don’t think the bad mood came from the dodgy lens or the broken dishwasher. I don’t know what brought it on. I went out this morning to get my hair cut (a number 3 all over) and when I came home, I brought a ‘black monkey’ home with me. I didn’t want to do anything and, like the dishwasher, I petulantly refused every offer of help. Eventually we decided to go to Chatelherault for a walk in the countryside. Even that didn’t help. However as well as the walk, we were also looking for a planter for a pot of miniature chrysanthemums Scamp had got last Thursday. We ended up with two pots, one for a Rudbeckia that I liked and one for an Astrantia that Scamp liked. That broke the spell and I think I might have passed the ‘black monkey’ on to someone else. I pity them, whoever and wherever they are.

PoD was a laser cut rusty steel silhouette of David Livingstone (of “Doctor Livingstone I presume” fame) that I took with the dodgy lens at Chatelherault.

Today Mairi Gillies went through her operation. She is being kept in overnight because her op was delayed and she didn’t come out of theatre until late in the day. Hope she doesn’t have too hard a time recovering.

Tomorrow, Scamp is out in the morning for her dentist’s checkup, and I’m going to put on a happy face!

A morning at the races – 3 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

This morning we headed off to see the start of the annual 10K race just half a mile away from the house.

Unfortunately (1) when we got to the football stadium where the race was to set off from, we were just in time to see the runners, in the distance, leaving the stadium. I’d intended getting some sharp, slow shutter shots of the runners with the blurred out faces of the audience behind. Unfortunately (2), there was no audience. Not one person standing applauding as the runners sped past. Maybe because there was virtually no publicity and no map of the route. The best I could find was one of a Strava map from 2018. Now, I’m sure that if it was a Motherwell 10k we would have been overloaded with information and maps galore. There wasn’t even a countdown in the stadium. Maybe the bloke whose tannoy the council usually borrow couldn’t make it today. Disappointed and disillusion. It’s time Cumbersheugh shucked off NLC and became a notion in its own right. We stayed to watch the first men and the first women finishers running past.  I also say Scott Meenagh the double amputee who went to Cumby High run past.

We walked home and had badly made, scrambled egg and smoked salmon. I made it. After that, and after Laura Kuenssberg getting stuck into a Tory, we walked down to the shops to get the basic ingredients for tonight’s dinner which was to be Chicken and Orzo One Pot thing. It was also, almost a disaster. Should have been Skin on, Bone in chicken thighs and we got the Skinned and Boned variety. The orzo went claggy and although it was one pot, there was a lot of decanting and recanting (if that’s a word) of the various ingredients. The chicken was fine, as was everything else. We may try again, but use rice instead of orzo.

I’d gone out in the afternoon while Scamp was gardening. I was looking for something that would generate some photographic interest in me.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and learned that his and Simonne’s car insurance had gone up by as much as ours. That, in a strange was made me feel a bit better, but not a great deal.

I’d walked half way round the pond at St Mo’s when I sat down on an old wooden bench and found a Female Common Darter sitting beside me. It allowed me only three shots before it took off. Lots of male common darter about this year, but few females. Don’t know why. Later in my walk, I found a male darter on the boardalk. Always be wary when a dragonfly stands up, especially if it lifts its wings. It’s getting ready to flee, like the male common darter in today’s photo did. It was PoD.

Tomorrow I must write to Alex and find out where we’re going on Wednesday if he’s still free. Other than that, no plans.

 

 

Brambling on a Dewdrop – 28 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

I dusted off the Kona Dewdrop today and took it out for a spin.

I’d forgotten just how steep some of the hills are around here. Probably they aren’t so steep, but they felt it today. It’s been almost a year since I’ve had the Dewdrop out and it shows. I really need to get more exercise. Simply walking isn’t enough. Cycling not only works on the legs, but also on the arms, as I found out today. I think it’s coming to crunch time. If I’m going to keep the bike, it’s got to be something more than an ornament in the spare room.

A bit of light shopping in the morning put some more money into Tesco’s coffers and also put some veg and stuff into the fridge. Pizza for lunch and then it was time to decide if I was going to use the bike to get me down to the path where the big fat brambles (Blackberries to some, but always Brambles north of the border) are to be found. There’s no real place to park a car there, but a bike can go almost anywhere and doesn’t seem to mind if you leave it in a hedge row for an hour. The first thing I noticed was that my balance needs some work. It’s easy when you’re going fast, but when you’re travelling slowly the gyroscope effect of the rotating wheels isn’t there and that’s when the wobbles set in.

The first place I looked had only a few big fat berries. I took some anyway, but made sure the ones I picked were far enough away from the fairly busy road, so had less change of being contaminated with exhaust fumes. The main path I was looking for was much further away from the road and it was there I was fairly sure I’d find some decent fruit, which I did, but not as many as there were last year. After an hour or so’s picking I had collected enough to have made it worth my while.

While I was out I spotted a fly on a reed stem and after a few misses, managed one good clean shot of it. When I checked the magnified view on the screen I thought it was a Robber Fly. Quite a nasty piece of work. After checking when I got home, Google agreed with me.

The road home was fairly easy, downhill and with a tail wind for most of the way. The cyclist’s delight. That’s when I felt the ache in my arms. Maybe the seat is too high or the bars need to be raised, but I don’t remember changing anything since last year. Maybe I just need more practise.

For dinner we had arancini made with the leftover risotto from last night’s dinner. Little balls of risotto dunked in to flour, then egg, then coated in breadcrumbs. It’s one of those occasions when you really need three hands and preferably four! Scamp did the forming of the balls and the dusting with flour while I took over from there coating the balls in egg wash and then coating them in breadcrumbs. They were left for a while before being deep fried in oil, then left in the warm oven to let the heat percolate right through. They were absolutely delicious, eaten with tomato sauce.

Spoke to Jamie and were shocked at the cost of getting their roof repaired. I think he knew it was going to be expensive, but was hoping for a little less. We’ll probably take the pair of them out to lunch when they come up to visit in the autumn.

Scamp is out with Shona tomorrow after she (Scamp) gets her nails done. I’m hoping to have a more relaxing day than today. Oh yes, and 670g of brambles are now in the freezer!

 

Out to Lunch – 25 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It was Scamp who suggested that we go out to lunch today.

In the morning she went to her FitSteps class and I did some housekeeping. Actual, physical tidying-up housekeeping, but also the more interesting and almost invisible housekeeping on the computer. I was searching for a sofa bed that I knew was in the back bedroom / painting room / spare room. I’d seen it recently under a pile of books, a rucksack and a blizzard of paper. After some rearranging of things, a disposing of rubbish and just finding better places for jackets and hats to live, there, under it all was the sofa bed. It’s not completely unearthed yet, but now I know where to look the next time I might need it.

The computer clean-up took longer, although there was far less physical work involved. It’s so easy to get sidetracked into looking at photos you haven’t seen for a while and then that leads to more photos that look interesting until nearly an hour has gone and you still haven’t accomplished what you set out to do. It was when Scamp returned I realised that I was only half way through the clean up or what became a clear out. However I did manage to get the required photos put in the bin and their replacement put in place. I’ve still to empty the bin, because, well, I’ll need to check that I wasn’t throwing good photos out with the bad, and you never know when I’ll need that one or that one or …

I shut the computer down. I powered it off and we went out to lunch, just as the rain came on. Thankfully it didn’t last long because we’d agreed to walk down to Broadwood Farm for a cheap lunch and a glass of something alcoholic. After all it was Friday and the end of the historical working week. Not that I’ve been involved in any working for a while now, but you have to keep these traditions alive! Fish & Chips for Scamp and small carvery for me. Small because that means two of the three meats that are always available, Gammon, Turkey and Cardboard. It’s actually advertised as Roast Beef, but it’s so dry the gravy won’t be absorbed into it and it tastes like cardboard, so let’s cut to the chase here and call it what it is – Cardboard. Some mixed veg and Cauliflower Cheese brightened up the plate and actually the food was good, washed down with a pint of Tennents for me and a glass of 19 Crimes Red for Scamp. The father of a family sitting on the other side of the room had a broad southern Irish accent, and although he was speaking quite loudly, I couldn’t understand more than about three words in every sentence. This got me thinking: Is that what I sound like to English folk? I must ask Simonne the next time we meet. Scamp thinks Simonne can probably decode my accent by now!

Back home the streets were drying, but not for long. I was just thinking I might get an hour in St Mo’s when down it came, straight down rain. As soon as it had disappeared to bother somebody else, I got my boots on and went for a walk with the A6500 and a 50mm macro lens. The 50 did its magic again. 50mm used to be the lens to stick on your camera. A general purpose go anywhere lens that could handle most things. That part hasn’t really changed, but having the ‘macro’ part means it’s possible to focus down to about 30mm from the front of the lens and still get super sharp images. Kind of two lenses in one. Today it took a photo of a swan drying its wings while standing on a rock in the middle of St Mo’s pond – the swan was standing on the rock, not me, BTW! Daft, but not stupid. It took a photo of a tiny, about 3mm long spider on a web. Last, but not least it took a photo of a Red Admiral butterfly sunning itself on a bush. First red admiral I’ve seen this year and even better, there were actually two of them! The butterfly got PoD and the other two are able to be viewed on Flickr.

Swans are sneaky things.  You’ve only got to ask Jamie about their wiles!  The one referred to in the previous paragraph successfully enveigled itself into the photograph, but it’s now been bounced out and replaced with the butterfly.  Swan’s! You can never turn your back on them for a minute.  Ask Jamie!

A thin G&T each tonight because we’re out early tomorrow intending to drive to Brookfield to demonstrate that we have been practising the Outside Spin, if not the Cross Basic.

Country Roads – 18 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out in the morning, going to the dentist to see if the new crown would pass muster with the dentist.

Thankfully it passed with flying colours and although it won’t be seen in her pearly shine because it’s a back tooth, it will make eating much more pleasurable, I’m sure. We had to wait a while for the anaesthetic to wear off before we made plans for the day.

It was quite windy and there was the threat of heavy rain overnight and Scamp was desperate to get the back garden grass cut. I was going shopping instead. Grass cutting doesn’t enthral me, but eating does and I was making dinner tonight. Another traybake, this time a Chicken, Red Onion and Tomato one. We needed a lot of stuff for it and as I wanted to visit the phone shop in the town centre Tesco, I thought I could combine both expeditions in the one place. The food shopping was not a problem, but the tiny wee booth they have for the phone shop was busy when I went, so I dumped the dinner ingredients in the car and went back where, thankfully it was quiet. Got myself a trial 30 days sim to test the ability of the Samsung to work with the O2 masts that Tesco runs on.

Instead of going straight home I drove up to Fannyside and found my usual space. Luckily I’d brought an old rainproof jacket with me because it was blowing a hoolie up there on the moor. The wind was from the east and there was nothing to stop in for miles. I took a couple of photos of buttercups blowing at the side of the single track road, but they didn’t appeal to me, besides, with the sun behind me I was casting a shadow over my subjects. I tried the other side and found that was where the bright yellow Hawkbit grew. A much more interesting shot and my shadow was slightly left of centre, so if I moved further left to wouldn’t be in the shot at all! Success!

Further on I took a few shots of the old ruined farm about half a mile away across the fields. It looked good with the lens at 35mm, but the dramatic sky above just looked ordinary. But if I set the lens to its ultra wide setting of 16mm the sky looked great, but the farm was a tiny wee dot in the distance. Then I decided to take two photos, one of the farm and one of the sky and blend them together on the computer.

That wind was really strengthening now and drawing all the heat out of the sun, so I turned around and headed for the car. Another car, a nice shiny one, was heading up the road towards me and I stepped to the side to let him pass, me being used to single track roads, but he wasn’t. He drove past me and on for a few metres and met a farmer coming the other way in what an old friend of mine in Australia called a ‘Ute’. A four wheel drive utility vehicle. Two won’t go into one on this road, so Mr Shiny Car had to reverse right back to where I was parked and the farmer passed glaring at both of us. Mr Shiny Car decided he’d had enough of Country Roads and did a 7 point turn and headed back the way he’d come. So did I.

Back home, I started the prep for the dinner. I think it was seven different spices, herbs and liquids went into a big resealable bag and then the chicken legs went in. The bag was sealed and it went into the fridge to marinade. I had a look at today’s photos and only rejected one out of the dozen or so I’d taken, and despite the time I took to get the clouds and the landscape just right, it was the five minute job on the Hawkbit ( a bit like a thin dandelion) that got PoD.

After the chicken had been soaking in it’s manky brown but interestingly smelling marinade for about an hour, everything went into baking tray and that slid into a pre-heated oven @ gas 6 for 15mins which seemed an awfully short time. As it happened, it was indeed far too short. In all, the roasting took just over half an hour, and it was fine. The chicken was fine, but the onions, oh the red onions!! They were the stars of the show. Deliciously crunchy and soaking up most of the flavour from the marinade. We’ll make it again, but give it twice the time the recipe says.

It appears that Storm Betty will be visiting us overnight. Heavy rain and high winds with the chance of thunder too. Oh what fun. I think we may be going to a dance class too.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Hope you had a good day.

We didn’t do very much this morning. Yesterday was a bit of a buzz. Scamp was out in the morning and in the afternoon. I was out in the morning then spread my 10,000 odd steps all over the west end before I brought the street legal blue car back. Today was different. We weren’t sure what the weather was going to do, and neither was the weather. Eventually we settled on lunch in a new restaurant that seemed as if it was in the middle of a building site.

We got a seat next to the loudest woman in the place. She had finished her main course by the time we arrived and was just starting into what looked like a 15cm x 15cm x 15cm brick of Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard. All she seemed to do was stuff her face with the chocolate coated pudding while she FaceTimed with someone on her phone. Eventually she decided she had to leave NOW and got up and left, leaving most of the dark brown brick untouched Suddenly the restaurant was a much quieter place.

The food was good, but not exceptional. I had a double gammon steak with egg, pineapple and chips. Steaks were small, so they ended up being the same size as a normal one. Scamp had fish ’n’ chips one of her standard tests for a new restaurant. The food was fine for a cheap lunch. We agreed we’d probably go back, but maybe to the carvery next time.

Drove home via Lidl where I wanted a cob loaf and between us added more to the basket than we really wanted, or needed, but Lidl’s like that. You see things in there you haven’t seen for ages.

About a month ago I scraped the rear wing of the car when I was parking. Today I wondered if the old trick of using Brasso to spread the top coat over the scratch would still work. The answer is it works a treat. Brasso is a very fine abrasive and if you rub it on to the affected area it heats up and the paint skin melts into the scrape. Allegedly toothpaste does the same thing.

I took the A7 out for a walk in the afternoon while Scamp was reading. For the first time in ages I got lots of photos. I’d actually taken some in the morning. The Shooting Stars that had flowered so well in May were now spreading their tiny seeds anywhere they could find some damp earth and the seed pods were almost empty, but very photogenic. St Mo’s however produced some insect life. Dragonflies, peacock butterflies and mating damselflies especially were in great supply, but the PoD went to a teasel in the garden that’s beginning to show its needles. This is the first time I’ve grown them and I’m looking to see them flowering.

No plans yet for tomorrow. As usual it all depends on the weather.

MoT day and a dauner round Glasgow – 15 August 2023

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The big day was here.

Up and out just after 9am. Dropped Scamp off at the town centre for her to go and get her shiny nails removed for a couple of weeks before she gets new ones again. I can see how this is a very profitable idea for the nail salons. I think they did miss a trick there though. They could be called “Salons for Talons”! I’ve copyrighted that name, but if anyone out there wants to use it, just drop me a line and we can come to an agreement.

Drove in to Glasgow, parked at the dealer’s and handed over my keys and log book, then walked over to Cowcaddens and got the subway to Kelvinbridge. Just behind the subway there is a bridge where the River Kelvin splits and both parts flow diagonally through a couple of rapids either side of one of the bridge supports to join up again on the far side. Once, Alex and I photographed a kayaker doing the most amazing manoeuvres when the river was in spate. It was much calmer today and the water was tea coloured, a fisherman’s delight. But there were no fishers today, so I grabbed a few shots and walked along South Woodlands Road which is really just a narrow cobbled street with delusions of grandeur and got some shots looking back at the bridge. The bridge, by the way, carries Great Western Road over the river and S. Woodlands Road. One of the views looking over the river and beneath the bridge got PoD.

I walked up the steep steps with cast iron hand rails that lead up from the subway station to Great Western Road and headed west. Almost bumped into another retired teacher, but she nipped into a shop and I walked on up to Byres Road. I’d have stopped for a pint in Òran Mór, but I was driving later and didn’t fancy a zero alcohol beer, a contradiction in terms, if you ask me. Instead I went in to Waterstones and had a coffee and cake in the sun. I also used up more than half of my last book token and bought myself a paperback. It felt very continental sitting outside with a coffee in Glasgow in the sun. Very unusual.

I walked back down Gt Western Road to the subway and took the outside loop back to Glasgow City Centre. Walking up Sausageroll Street my phone bleeped to tell me that the car was ready and all I had to do was hand over a large wodge of money to get my key back. The car had passed the MoT, of course, but there were recommendations for new front tyres. I knew there would be. Not official ones on the MoT certificate, just word of mouth.

Drove home and developed the film I had in the camera. I know you don’t develop photos now, you just download them, but it sounds very photographer-like to say that.

Scamp arrived later and dinner was going to be a salmon and broccoli quiche. Scamp had bought some broccoli and a frozen slab of shortcrust pastry, so under her tutelage I made a passable quiche that needed no extra veg or potatoes.

Tomorrow we may be going out for lunch. It depends on the weather.

Back to Glasgow – 13 August 2023

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Back to Glasgow for the final race of this year’s championship. So much more interesting in my opinion, than watching 22 overpaid blokes kicking a ball around a park for 90 minutes.

Today was the Women’s Elite Road Race and I didn’t envy them the climb up the Crow Road, although the ride down the other side might have been quite enjoyable! We stayed within a square section of Glasgow, bounded by George Square to the North and Ingram Street to the north. We didn’t wander far from South Frederick Street to the east and Queen Street to the west. We’d travelled in by train for a change. Much more comfortable and certainly faster than the X3 bus. We had arrived with time to spare and had a coffee in the Costa in Queen Street. That used to be our place to confer on what we’d learned (or not) in Michael’s dance class on a Wednesday.

Suitably refreshed we walked along through the barricades to find a suitable place to watch the race. It took longer than we’d anticipated for the riders to arrive in the city centre, but immediately there was a breakaway followed by the pursuing peloton. Scamp was satisfied with her spot, but I moved around finding more interesting perspectives all around the square we’d nominated as ‘Ours.’

From Scamp’s lookout position she could see the progress of the riders who were riding along one side of Cathedral Street, eastbound then after returning along George Street and up the awkward climb up Montrose Street, returned along Cathedral Street and down to George Square. On second thoughts, maybe the Crow Road was easier because they only had to do the climb once. Montrose Street they had to do six times. This was a devious and demanding circuit. Allegedly there were 50 corners in the city centre circuit!

I think for once we saw the whole race and today my shot count was about 330 of which around 95 were rejected. Not bad for the A6500.

We managed to get the fast train back to Cumbersheugh and then drove home.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his pizza making skills. We were most impressed, Jamie. When you next visit you must make one for us! His tomatoes are also looking good. Glad your garden is growing well.

PoD was a breakaway group on Ingram Street in Glasgow

Tomorrow we have no cycling dates although I may need to go and get a new rear wiper for the blue car or I fear it won’t pass MoT. A good hoovering would help too!

 

Bikes, bikes and more bikes – 12 August 2023

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And a Paesano pizza!

We took the bus in to Glasgow today to watch the second last road race in the cycling world championships. Today it was the turn of the Men’s under 23 group. Weather was mixed. The first place we tried was under the Buchanan Galleries bridge where riders were coming from the light into the dark. It wasn’t ideal, but it gave me some shelter to get my settings the way I wanted them. The Sony kit lens was acting up again, just refusing to focus. The only way I’ve found to fix the problem is to focus manually and sometimes that kicks some sense into the lens and it begins to work properly, but not today. Far too many opportunities lost to a lens that I just don’t trust any more.

We had just left the shelter of the bridge when the rain started. It just got heavier and heavier and luckily I found a tree on Nelson Mandela Place to shelter under. Scamp had been browsing in a shop and appeared round a corner holding an umbrella. I wished I’d brought one to shelter me from the rain that was coming straight down!

After the rain stopped, we crossed the road to the other side of NM Place and I found a spot I’d been taking photos from last Sunday. I grabbed a few there of small groups of riders splashing through the puddles caused by the rain. Got fed up with that and walked on to where Renfield Street met St Vincent Street and caught a nice tight group rounding the bend and that made PoD.

We were actually inside the circuit now with cyclists riding clockwise around where we were standing. This gave us the opportunity to see groups heading out to the West End and others on their way back into the city centre. It was at that point we saw one heart stopping moment when a dozy marshall allows a man and his son to cross the road in front of two cyclist rounding the corner. The chief marshall in charge of the gave the bloke such a bollocking I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel! Luckily both father and son survived to tell the tale, but I don’t know if the marshall will will be working the ladies race tomorrow!

The other interesting place we saw was the feeding station with helpers holding out bottles and food sachets for the riders. One man walking down the street with his wife seemed to want one of the water bottles as a souvenir. I heard his wife say “Just do what you must do” as he bent to grab a used bottle. I think the hidden message was “I’m not with him!”

Not long after that the feeding station was being closed down, so that must have been the last lap. We walked back down to the centre of the town and saw the leading group heading to the finishing line, but it wasn’t until later we heard it was a French rider who had won.

We went for a late lunch in Paesano. A number 1 (tomato sauce, no garlic and no cheese) for Scamp and a number 3 (anchovies, garlic, olives and basil) for me. A Prosecco for Scamp and, since I wasn’t driving, a half pint of beer for me.

Got the bus home and were able to watch the rain clouds breaking over the Campsie Fells. That was a busy and interesting day.

It’s the Women’s road race tomorrow. Weather looks worse than today. I may go in to see it, but I think we’re both almost ‘Raced Out’ by now.

At the Carwash – 11 August 2023

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I actually took it to the carwash earlier in the week, but it was closed for maintenance.

Scamp was out in the morning to FitSteps and when she came home she looked exhausted, but happy. A sign of a good workout, or so I’m told, never having driven myself that close to the edge for a looooong while.

We also got a text from Hazy to say they were on their way home from their holiday in Wales. A change is as good as a rest, they say. I’m not so sure there was much of a rest for them with three children running round their feet!

I’d volunteered to make Chicken Ramen for dinner tonight. Basically a stir fry with soup added. For that we needed Chicken, of course and maybe some veg. That meant a trip to Tesco, because I already knew that M&S didn’t have Pak Choi. Unfortunately, although Tesco had pak choi, the only spring onions they had (another essential ingredient) were absolutely manky and Scamp rejected them out of hand. A few other things went in the trolley and a box of beer for me too. Cheap ‘holiday beer’ as Scamp calls it. Beer for drinking, sitting in the sun in the garden. The weather wasn’t really settled into sitting in the sun weather yet, but we always live in the hope that it might just change its mind.

We drove home and after a spot of lunch, I decided I’d wash the car, a sort of cheapo home carwash. We’d just got fed up with the car feeling like sandpaper. Sap from the trees we park under drips on the car and becomes semi solid just making everything, metal and glass feel rough. It also attracts wasps that love the sweet sap. It took me longer than I’d anticipated to get the car cleaned of all the sticky stuff and I even cleaned the inside of the boot and decanted some of the detritus that lives in there. It will find its way back in, I’m sure, after MOT on Tuesday.

Before I knew it, it was dinner time. The chicken ramen didn’t generate too many negative comments from Scamp which was surprising because I know she doesn’t really like noodles and there were loads of them in this recipe. Maybe a decent bottle of red to help wash it down helped.

The clouds began gathering in the late afternoon and then the first raindrops hit the window. No, I don’t think we were going to be sitting outside with a beer or a Pimms today. The PoD was taken just as the rain started in earnest. It’s a hanging basket of pink and white fuchsias from the garden. I thought that since Barbie is everywhere this summer, a little pink and white border would be appropriate!

Jamie had asked me for a recipe for pizza dough. I hope it works or worked out well for you and that the pizzas rise to the occasion!

Tomorrow we may go to Glasgow to see the Under 23 Men’s Race. Rain is forecast, so let’s hope they all get through unscathed.