Testing, Testing – 19 September 2023

Testing yesterday’s purchase and the other acquisition.

I drove over to Alex’s to borrow his K mount adapter so I could test the ‘new’ lens. New, is a bit of a misnomer as it’s at least second hand and maybe has passed through a great many more hands since it was really New. Last night I’d found a tiny bit of mould in one of the internal elements. Nothing that would have a detrimental effect on any of the shots I was hoping to take with this piece of ‘Old Glass’. I also found a few fine scratches on the rear element, but again, they wouldn’t make any difference to the photos. Sat and talked about family and stuff with Alex and Carol and I’m sure the two cats were listening too. Pretty wee things that reminded me of Tibby.

After an hour or so I drove home and took a detour in the direction of Lenzie to a wee draw in by the side of the road to get some test photos taken of a bit of farm land that looked like a promising photo opportunity. As it happened, the light wasn’t quite as good as I thought, but it did give me a chance to test out the Pentax 50mm f2 lens I’d splashed out some money on yesterday. I was surprised at the quality of what is really a kit lens, and not really all that well rated. Last night I was having ‘buyers remorse’, but today I was delighted. It’s circa 1995 vintage, so it’s manual focus, but I knew that and it’s also very compact, especially when it’s bolted onto the Sony A7. One of the Pentax’s shots became PoD. The storm clouds you can see from the PoD followed me home and didn’t drop any rain until I was safely in the house. Sitting in the living room I took a few shots of the raindrops on the leaves of Alec’s Red and they looked good too.

Scamp had roasted a chicken for dinner with roast potatoes and cabbage to go with it. It truly was the best chicken I’ve eaten for a long time. The pudding was rhubarb and apple crumble using our own rhubarb and apples. It too was delicious. Then it was time for the test. It was time to pack the dishwasher, slide in the washer tablet, choose the program and press the start button. Like new parents we watched the counter light up and listened to the water trickling into the reservoir, then it was off and running. We could leave it to do what it was bought for. An hour and a bit later it had washed all the dishes and they were drying. A sigh or relief all round!

We had a longer practise session than I’d intended tonight, but there were rough corners to rub off the new waltz and it’s dance night tomorrow, so Kirsty will be looking for mistakes, I’m sure. Finally I got a grip on things and worked out where I was and what came next. I think most of it was muscle memory, but internal clues helped too. Not least in the help category were Scamp’s whispered prompts. We might need a reminder tomorrow, but I think we’re good to go.

No plans for tomorrow. The weather fairies are warning of heavy rain and strong winds tonight and tomorrow morning.

Gardening, shopping and organising – 18 July 2023

Not necessarily in that order, so it’s probably best to get things sorted by date and time.

The shopping came first. I wanted a bag of rolls to enclose the sausages I was intending to cook for my lunch. That meant a trip to Tesco, because The Shops only sell soft bap rolls, not the crispy Scottish rolls we like. So I drove up to Tesco to get the rolls, milk and also some raspberries for Scamp. While I was there I had a look at their selection of hardback books. I’m not entirely sold on my most recent Kindle book, so I might go for something mainstream for a change. Must ask John who the author he told me about is (and write it down this time). So no books for now, but I did get the milk, rolls and rasps. One roll with ordinary sausage and one with red onion sausage. I think the red onion sausage was the better of the two. Scamp had her usual one roll ’n’ egg.

With the afternoon came a shower of rain that looked as if it was going to be heavy and prolonged, so we took the nearly dry washing in. Of course that was what it was waiting for and the rain promptly stopped. Meanwhile I was making tomato soup. Scamp bought two packs of tomatoes that had been reduced in Tesco on Sunday and yesterday I roasted them with an onion and some oil for an hour to concentrate the taste. Today all I had to do was add a litre of water, two stock pots, a tin of tomatoes and a cup water, bring to the boil and simmer for an hour. That left time for mixing up some seaweed fertiliser (disgusting stuff) and giving all the plants front and back a bit of a feed. Meanwhile Scamp was pruning the climbing rose in the back garden. I used the loppers to chop down the higher branches she couldn’t reach, accidentally slicing off two branches with buds still unopened. One of them Scamp managed to retrieve and put in a glass with water on the window ledge. It will open. She has a knack for these things.

We walked down to the shops to get the makings of a stir fry for dinner. Back home the soup had been cooling, and I blitzed it so we could have it as a starter for dinner.

I’ve been meaning to phone Val and take him for coffee. This week I went one further I got Val to set a date and then told Fred who said he was free that day too. So we three are going out for coffee together next week, for the first time in ages – fingers crossed.

I went for a walk around St Mo’s while Scamp interrogated June over the phone about her weekend with Shona. I’m glad to say the bus trip went well. My photography gave me a few insect photos, one of which got PoD. Must get out and do more landscape photos. Insects are ok, but this time of year is great for landscapes too.

The soup was the best I’ve made for a while, but the stir fry didn’t turn out all that well. The pork which was the protein in my share was a bit tough and Scamp’s veggy version was just a bit too spicy hot for comfort and also she thought the veg needed more cooking. I had to agree about the veg, but the sauce was just spicy enough for me. Foodies! Never happy.

So, you see, Gardening, Shopping and Organising, but not necessarily in that order!

Tomorrow if the weather is favourable we may go out somewhere.  Otherwise we’ve got some more shopping to do.

Out to lunch – 15 May 2023

We got the text just after 9am. Ben went to school!

That meant we were on track to take Ben’s mum, Shona to lunch. Picked her up just before midday and drove by the backroads to The Stables because it was such a lovely day. Shona was adamant that this was her treat. In fact this was her contribution to our Golden Wedding anniversary. When she told us that, how could we refuse. Scamp and Shona had a Fish Finger Sandwich each. Big chunks of fish in batter in a panini, with a cup of chips each. I had the meat eater’s version which was a slice of fillet steak cooked rare and also served on a panini and also with a cup of chips. Both lunch meals were delicious.

After lunch we went for a walk along the towpath of the Forth & Clyde canal which runs past the front of the restaurant. We walked for about a mile in the general direction of Glasgow before we turned back. Loads to see today. Butterflies all along the path, Peacock, Orange Tip and Cabbage Whites, mainly. Bluebells growing under the trees and a big Aquilegia growing wild in the hedgerow. Loads of people out on bikes making the most of an unexpectedly good day. There was even a canal boat chugging sedately heading for Glasgow, probably. It was the Yarrow Seagull and it got PoD with Scamp and Shona getting in on the photo too.

We dropped Shona off at her house and we drove home via Tesco. Back home, Scamp swithered, whether to cut the front grass or not. Eventually she decide she would and I was enlisted to lift the flower pots out of the way of the mower and replace them when she was finished.

Some of the roses needed a last trim before the flower buds appear and that was my job. I also pruned the Forsythia now that the flowers had gone over and before the leaves come fully out. My final job was to tie back the pink fluffy plant in the back garden. I can never remember its name. I know there are two of them, slightly different from each other but both are planted beside each other. The one I was working with today is really tall and although I’m sure it can stand up for itself, a bamboo stake and a couple of fairly loose cable ties wouldn’t do any harm to give it a little more support in today’s gusty breeze.

Today’s prompt asked for “Artwork you love”. Scamp and I both love the massive Kelpies. The 30m (100ft) high artwork was created by Scottish sculptor Andy Scott. They stand in Helix Park in Falkirk at the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde canal. They are made from steel and each one weighs over 300 tonnes. They were modelled on real Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron.

We’d ordered a pair of slipper shoes for Scamp at a fair discount last Friday. They were supposed to be delivered today, but the postcode was wrong. A mix up at the ordering stage. My fault for not checking properly. However when we got home the parcel was there waiting for us. One of the benefits of having the same postman all the time is that they get to know the names and addresses and don’t rely too much on postcodes.  And while I’m on the subject of shoes.  A big thank you to Scamp for sneakily getting my favourite black and white dance shoes soled and heeled for me.  I’ve been meaning to do it myself, I even bought Evostick glue to do it, but just never got round to doing it.  Sometimes you have to get the expert to do it properly, so thank you again, Scamp.

Tomorrow, unbelievably we’re hoping to go out for lunch again with Crawford & Nancy.

 

Officially Spring – 1 March 2023

We drove up to Costa at the town centre this morning for coffee with Isobel on the first day of metrological spring.

Unfortunately, half the weans in the town were also there roaring and shouting, crying and screaming and generally being obnoxious. For the second day this week, all the schools in Scotland were closed while their teachers were out protesting. The noise made this the most uncomfortable couple of hours I’ve had although the coffee was good for a change. I just feel sorry for the folk who have to work in that place with that noise all day.

Isobel gave Scamp a bunch of roses, and gave me a bottle of wine as anniversary presents. Then she explained the tortuous details of her side of the family tree while Scamp made notes to send to her cousin in Australia. I’ve never really been interested in genealogy, and seeing the complexity of this family’s family tree ensured that I won’t be delving into ours any time soon. We dropped Isobel off at her house afterwards and did some shopping in Tesco on our way home.

My daily walk in St Mo’s brought a hibernating or perhaps a just hatched sixteen spot orange ladybird as PoD. I now know where at least around ten of these insects can be found. All orange and all with sixteen spots. I did take a couple of photos of some clumps of Cladonia lichen too, but the ladybird was the winner.

Scamp made leek & potato soup for a starter and she had cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes for her main course. I had soup and then steak and kidney stew with potatoes and the left over cauliflower and broccoli. The Instant Pot heated the stew using the slow cooker function. Useful tool.

Watched Landscape Artist of the Year and we both disagreed with the judges decision. Of the three finalists, the winner would have been in last place if they’d asked me to judge.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to go out somewhere different. I’ll sleep with my thinking cap on tonight.

Bobby Flavell – 24 February 2023

We found out today that Bobby Flavell, one of our long term neighbours had died suddenly on Tuesday. Such a sad thing to happen to a true gentleman.

It was a dull day. Like Tenerife, but without the heat. I walked over to St Mo’s and got one dull shot that became PoD.

The day after you return from holiday is always dull, but losing an old friend makes it feel worse.

We did have one bright spot in the day that lifted our spirits. That was the delivery of a tall, square parcel. Inside was a wooden crate made from thin laths of wood. Inside that was a bundle of wood shavings that protected a rose plant. A Golden Wedding rose. Of course it had come from Hazel, Jamie, Neil and Simonne. A lovely present to get on a dull day. Thank you all.

Tomorrow we’re going dancing.

Dance Class – 29 October 2022

Today being Saturday we were off to Brookfield for dance class.

Sometimes the class goes well, sometimes I have a few problems, but this class was an utter disaster for me today. I seemed to be able to do nothing right. We were dancing Foxtrot. Well, the rest of the class were dancing foxtrot, I was staggering around the floor for most of the time. I just couldn’t get one part of it right. The part is called the Continuous Hover Cross and it was indeed making me cross. I’d practised it in class last week and after following Stewart with the rest of the leaders, I could do it. When I tried dancing it with Scamp, it didn’t work. We also practised it last night and after a few mistakes, it fell into place. Today it just fell. I had to admit defeat after a while. Gave up and thankfully could manage the Tango we did after the (bloody) Foxtrot.

Driving home was a bit of a slog. Even using my shortcut through the Clyde Tunnel, we were still locked into a long queue of slow moving traffic. In retrospect, I think the problem was a weekend rail strike, meaning that those folk wanting to get to the football had to drive there. Whatever it was, it meant an extra half an hour added to our journey.

The clouds that we’d seen beginning to break as we left Brookfield were joining together the nearer we got to Cumbersheugh and they’d invited all their cloud pals along too. So much so that it felt like evening was coming by about 3pm.

I did manage to get one or two photos of a beautiful rose flowering for the second time this year in the garden. It’s called Simply The Best and it’s living up to its name. It became PoD.

The prompt for today was “Uh-Oh”. So my interpretation of that was a broken egg. There is a saying that you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Sometimes I can’t make anything without an egg catastrophe!

I remember reading somewhere “You always get a second chance. It’s called Tomorrow.” We have no plans for Sunday.

Roses and lunch – 15 October 2022

We’d intended going in to Glasgow today, but …

We really had intended going in to Glasgow on the bus today, but half way to Condorrat I realised my watch was still charging in the house. By the time we went back, we’d missed the bus, the only bus for an hour. The best thing to do was to have lunch, but then I mentioned to Scamp that I’d seen one of the roses she loves in Torwood the other day. That changed the whole complexion of the day. We would drive to Torwood for a rose and grab a spot of lunch while we were there.

There were a host of roses in the garden centre and thankfully they had her rose too, Sheila’s Perfume. She’s had one for a few years now, but she transplanted it last year and it never made any decent growth this year. Just to insure against the original rose being lost in the winter, a second one wouldn’t go amiss. That was the theory, anyway. The fact that another rose in the garden would never go amiss wasn’t in her head at all …! For the new rose we needed a pot, but we had enough compost at home to give it a good start. With plant and pot bought, I put them in the boot of the car and we had that spot of lunch.

First I had to drag Scamp away from the knitwear that attracts ladies of all ages like moths to a flame (some of them do get burned!) Lunch for both of us was a Tuna Toastie and half a Tipsy Cake each. Nothing very tipsy tasting in the cake. More rum essence than real rum in the cakes. Strangely, for a little tea room in a garden centre, their coffee is made with real coffee and tastes like real coffee too. Impressed. On the way out, that flame was still attracting the lady moths, but Scamp resolutely passed it by and we drove home.

Back home, Scamp was set up with another coffee and a good book, but I needed a PoD which turned out to be a picture of a bunch of rosehips framed in branches with wicked looking thorns. Pretty to look at but you’ll rip yourself to shreds if you try to pick them. That was the only decent photo of the day.

Dinner tonight was going to be a fish pie from M&S, but that has been postponed until tomorrow. We had a pizza instead. Then it was time to watch Strictly. I did watch a bit, but concentrated more on getting a decent score in Angry Birds. Matt Goss really needs to go and seek some medical help. I don’t think his head is securely fixed to his body. One of these time it will come clean off. I hope I’m there to see it. There seemed to be a dichotomy in the acts I did watch. Half were wonderful and clever. Half were dangerously bad.

Found out today that Isobel has Covid. She’s had it for about a week and is still positive. She sounds terrible on the phone according to Scamp. Hope she gets rid of it soon.

Today’s prompt was “Armadillo”. I chose The Armadillo in Glasgow. Originally it was called the Clyde Auditorium but as with so many structures in Glasgow it was becoming better know by its nickname “The Armadillo”. Now it’s officially the SEC Armadillo. It was completed in 1997 and is meant to represent a series of ships hulls.

Tomorrow we’re off to a tea dance in the Lantern House in the new Cumbernauld Academy. I won’t like it. It’s not my school.

Just a lazy Sunday – 28 August 2022

I’d thought we might drive down to Auchinstarry for a walk along the canal, but Scamp had other ideas.

After lunch, Scamp was looking longingly at the front grass and I could see her arguing with herself that it was a warm, dry day and the grass really did need cutting. I, on the other hand was going to make a Tagine with a couple of pieces of lamb neck I had taken out of the freezer last night. Decision made. Scamp would cut the front grass and I would make my tagine. There was no point in me doing the grass cutting, Scamp would only go and redo it … properly. Since I’m the meat-eater of the family, she was happy for me to cook my dinner.

That’s how it turned out. I let the slow cooker do the hard work of making the tagine after I’d filled it with chopped onions, fried lamb chunks, lots of different spices, chopped dates, chopped apricots and some orange juice. I took the slow cooker up to the back bedroom to bubble away to its heart’s content. That’s the great thing about slow cookers, you can dump them anywhere there’s a power socket. They don’t need to be taking up real estate on the kitchen worktop. Scamp was still grass cutting and trimming and blowing the cuttings away with the blower, so I wrote an email to Alex with some photos.

Speaking of photos, today’s PoD is a yellow rose that’s just “going over” to use the technical term for losing all its petals. Not my best work, but I couldn’t be bothered going anywhere today. Too much driving in the past few days and no real wish to go for yet another walk in St Mo’s.

A thin gin and tonic after we were both done made the slide from afternoon to early evening quite pleasant. Dinner was OK. Just OK. In retrospect, I’d have preferred potatoes or even rice with the tagine, but I’d opted for couscous. It was too dry and it didn’t really go with Scamp’s Ratatouille. I must make a note on my recipe not to use couscous. I’ve never really liked it anyway!

Watched an amazing drive by Verstappen coming from 14th on the grid (after losing his pole position because he’d used too many engine components) to win the Belgian GP. I almost felt sorry for Leclerc only able to achieve a 6th place after some startlingly poor tactical decisions by Ferrari. It would appear that the team have a death wish at present.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about his troubles with squirrels or mice eating his big tomatoes, but leaving the small ones alone. It being a bank holiday tomorrow in England, he has an extra long weekend.

No plans as yet for tomorrow. We’ll take it as it comes.

Preparations – 27 May 2022

One day’s rest and back to preparations again.

More washing in the morning. Thankfully, Scamp took charge of that. Then a fruitless walk for her over to Condorrat looking for roses. We have our own roses, but they are either too big or not quite opened yet, so not suitable for today’s task. Finally gave in and had lunch. Scamp’s attempt at making Crimpets with plain brown bread was a bit of a disaster. Maybe they weren’t pressed enough. Maybe they don’t work with ordinary bread. Maybe there was just a little bit too much filling. Whatever the reason, the Crimpet came apart in the toaster and it took a bit of jiggery pokery with a knife (the toaster was unplugged) to get the remains of the Crimpet out. Inedible was the word that sprang to mind. Glad I had nothing to do with it this time.

After lunch Scamp started the ironing and the first item to receive a pressing was my kilt. A kilt is a heavy garment and it took two of us, one manoeuvring it around the ironing board and the other applying the steam iron to get the creases out from where they shouldn’t be while leaving the creases in where they should. It didn’t take that long and the result once she was finished was amazing. Then I spent half an hour trying to work out how and where to put the kilt pin. It’s a fiddly little thing with a lock that doesn’t lock. I think I’ve got it sorted with a tiny bit of black electrical tape. The whole thing looks so much better now.

While Scamp started on the bulk of the ironing, I took the camera for a walk around St Mo’s. Once round the pond and a wander into the woods before I took a walk down behind St Mo’s school and found today’s PoD which is a Flag Iris just about ready to burst into the sunlight. The real reason I was walking this path was to go to the shops looking for roses. White ones or pink ones were on today’s list, so I got both just in case I chose the wrong ones, as is my wont.

Back home it was time for dinner which today was Scamp’s macaroni cheese with streaky bacon on mine. Toasting hot and delicious as usual. The wind that had been gusting all day had calmed down by evening, thank goodness. This is really strange weather for May.

Tomorrow we’re intending to take a run to Hamilton and perhaps a little further.

Mothers Day – 27 March 2022

After the crowds and rushing about of yesterday we wanted a quieter day today.

A lazy morning, taking some photos in the garden. Completing today’s Sudoku and just generally chilling. That was the tone for today. Scamp spoke to Hazy in the morning, and found that Neil was feeling a lot better and talking about going back to work tomorrow after his Covid scare. Scamp too was in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying the good weather.

After lunch we went out and did a bit of gentle pruning of the Schoolgirl rose that grows up the trellis beside the front door. Last autumn we’d done some drastic pruning and cut it back quite hard. It seems that the brutality of the pruning has encouraged a fair amount of new growth and perhaps we can do even more cutting after the risk of frost is past.

With the work in the garden done, we went for a walk round St Mo’s. Just one circuit. I was going to go for a second round, but the light was fairly flat, even for a bright day and we both walked down to the shops to get milk and sweeties. No gin today. Back home, Scamp made herself a Pimms and I opened a cheap bottle of beer that tasted like a cheap bottle of beer. I don’t think I’ll buy another one of those, but I would definitely have another bottle or two of Wainwright. Cheap beer that tastes like good beer. We sat in the garden and had a wee drink and I took some more photos, but most of them failed the cut because of striping, something to do with the electronic shutter. Too technical for me, but annoying. PoD went to a shot from the morning of some lovely scarlet anemones. Taken with the new toy, the Lensbaby Sweet 50.

With the sun going down, the Pimms drained and the beer finished too, it was dinner time. The main constituent was there remains of yesterday’s chicken with potatoes and cauliflower. Dessert was ice cream with our new raspberry sauce which tastes a lot like the raspberry we used to get at the ice cream van when we were wee.

Later Scamp spoke to Jamie and heard about the problems of travelling to Trinidad and the difficulty of getting Covid tests in the correct time scale. Not for him, but for Sim. Also the joys of cutting an enormous lawn in the new house.

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for lunch with Nancy at The Fort. I think I may go down the Luggie to get some photos, all being well.