Category: Shopping

Back to rain and leaden skies – 1 July 2020

Posted on by Zogman

After a wee respite yesterday, the weather reverted to normal.

Yesterday was just a ‘lucky’. Today it rained for most of the day, but there were a few intervals when the sun looked as if it was going to shine on us, but then it disappeared again.

It was my turn to cook from a trio of magazines. We’d both chosen things that sounded interesting and to kick it off, I was going to make Fennel, Leek and Smoked Salmon Fritatta. Unfortunately we didn’t have any leeks or smoked salmon. We did however have a fennel bulb, so that was a start. After lunch we walked down to the shops in the rain to get the missing ingredients. Apart from the rain it was fairly pleasant. When you look out at the drizzle falling you instantly think of the cold and damp. It was damp, but not cold.

Decided I’d better go out and see if I could photograph anything interesting. I wasn’t really expecting to see anything and I wasn’t disappointed. Hardly a beastie was stirring today. I got a PoD which looks like a little stunted tree, but is actually a little stunted Cladonia lichen. That was about it. Stood and watched two guys racing their radio controlled petrol driven dune buggies over the BMX track. Incredible speeds they get up to once they’ve built up a head of torque. Some magnificent jumps too.

The Fritatta worked out well, although the instructions suggested a 15 minute bake in the oven at gas 4 (180ºc) and that was nowhere near enough. It took twice that long. It could, however be our oven that’s at fault. If it says gas 4, we usually use halfway between 4 and 5. I’ve never managed to successfully calibrate the temperature settings. Maybe someday.

Sketch today was a trio of mushrooms that were heading for the compost bin until I retrieved them temporarily to paint them. It took two attempts and the second was by far the best. I used Cotman colours which aren’t quite as strong as the professional range. I’ve run out of quite a few colours in the W&N professional paintbox and hopefully will get it refilled soon. Until then I’ll use the Cotman colours. I also used Cass Art watercolour paper and it made a bit difference again.

Tomorrow we may drive in to Glasgow just to see how the city is faring. Some shops are already open and it looks like John Lewis is reopening on Monday. Things might be slowly returning to something like normal. Did I mention Cass Art opened today. That’s got nothing at all to do with the intended visit to Glasgow. 😉

The big city – 30 June 2020

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Not Glasgow or Embra, but the minor city of Stirling.  Granted City status by The Queen in 2002.  Queen Lizzie, not Nicola, who is the queen in waiting.

Today we went to Stirling for ‘the messages’. Since we, the common people are still restricted to approximately five miles from home for exercise and recreation, we wouldn’t be allowed to travel the fifteen or so miles to Stirling, BUT if we were travelling for essential food supplies, like Waitrose might have, permission is granted. We drove to Stirling. Parked at an almost deserted Waitrose and went for a walk in the city centre.

It was a bit strange walking past the closed up shops in the Thistle Centre. Y’see, according to Her Majesty Nicola’s decree, only shops with an outside entrance may open. Those that only have an entrance to a mall may not. Since most of the shops in centre fail that test, they can’t open yet. In fact, only Boots can tick that box, having an entrance to the pedestrian precinct through Boots Opticians. However, WH Smith was open and it doesn’t have an outside entrance. Aha, but it does house the post office and that way it can thwart the rule. One rule for Post Offices and another for the ordinary shops. We didn’t tarry long, Scamp didn’t even go in to M&S.

We walked back to Waitrose and made a valiant attempt at buying it. I can’t say Scamp did that on her own, I aided and abetted her, buying more than we really needed, but not as much as we really wanted. It felt very strange to me to be wearing a mask and taking care to dance around people in Waitrose. It put it down to accepting the queueing and the gradual return to almost normality in Tesco and the new shops, Waitrose was a known quantity in a known town. This was the first time we’d been there since about February and you grow to expect all the restrictions in the place you live in, but once you go to somewhere you haven’t visited in a while, it feels a but alien almost. Maybe it’s just me.

Back home and after lunch, Scamp went out to cut the grass. I did the strimming round the plant pots. I was also trusted with using the blower to scatter the loose grass cuttings to the four winds. I didn’t realise just how strong the torque is in that leaf blower. It’s a powerful motor.

Afterwards I laid in a sky for a wee acrylic painting that’s been in my head for weeks. Hopefully the sky will follow tomorrow.

Headed off for a walk round St Mo’s and got another photo of a grasshopper. It may be the same one, or perhaps it’s a different one. I never got to find out its name. I thought it might make PoD, but that went to a woman walking her dog.

Not a bad day, and a day without any rain. That doesn’t look set to last. More of the wet stuff on the way and we have no plans for tomorrow, even although Cass Art will be open tomorrow! Yes, I’ve checked and it does have the required type of entrance.

Disobeying orders – 24 June 2020

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Well, not really. We were travelling more than 5 miles from home, but not for exercise or leisure, we were going shopping. Honest!

In the morning we did a bit of cutting and cropping of various bushes. Scamp was dead heading anything that didn’t move and I was taking cuttings from a rosemary bush, then giving it a more serious short back and sides. Might have to do my own hair tomorrow if I can find the time, but I’ll use a pair of clippers, not a pair of secateurs.

We drove to The Fort after the gardening was deemed done and walked around shops that were now coming out of the mothball stage they’ve been in since March. There was a lot more activity in them than I’d anticipated. All sorts of shops, too. It seems that Nick the Chick has turned a corner and is actually taking steps to get people back to ‘normal’ and perhaps trying to kick start business into life again. Let’s hope it’s not too little, too late.

However, this was not leisure or exercise although to the casual observer it might have looked like that. No, we got back in the car and drove on to Morrisons and bought such essentials as yoghurt and fish plus a couple of bags of Yorkshire Mixture sweeties. The place was busy but not overcrowded. We did, however, have our masks on, unlike most of the Glaswegians who are made of sterner stuff and don’t need such fripperies.

Back home lunch was two ‘pieces’ on corned beef with a fair dash of brown sauce for me and one ‘piece’ on cheese for Scamp. Then it was out to sit in the sunshine for a while. I chose not to take the lazy route and went for a walk round St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a dragonfly emerging from its nymphal stage. They can live for about two years as a nymph in shallow water before emerging and turning into the adult flying insect. They only live out of the water for about two months maximum. It’s a hard life being a dragonfly.

No sketch today. Too warm, couldn’t find anything interesting, just couldn’t be bothered, to be honest. Maybe I’ll do catchup tomorrow. No other plans for tomorrow, but it’s going to be hot we’re told and with the threat of thunderstorms too.

Brighter Later – 16 June 2020

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A dull start to the day with this week’s white cloud hanging over us.

Spent the morning spending money on Amazon. Nothing specific, but lots of little things that all mounted up, then there’s the inevitable delivery costs for the items that aren’t covered by the free delivery con. Eventually we agreed that it was worthwhile taking on another month or two of Prime. I just have to put a reminder in my calendar to make sure I cancel it when we’re finished spending!

After lunch I took the Oly E-M1 with the new lens and went for a walk in St Mo’s. Lovely warm weather much nicer than it had been in the morning because that white cloud had burned off. The new lens worked much better today with decent light. Still not that fast to focus, but the results are worth the small inconvenience. Lots of damselflies round the wee pond by the boardwalk. One dragonfly that was cruising round and round, either looking for a likely mate or for some tasty morsel for lunch. Saw a fairly large grasshopper sunning itself on the edge of the boardwalk and got a few closeup shots of it. One of those got PoD.

Back home we sat in the garden for a while before Scamp went in to start tonight’s dinner. We’d pulled some rhubarb earlier in the day and she was making a rhubarb pie for pudding. I’d asked for macaroni ’n’ cheese for dinner and that’s what we were having. It was delicious and served with tomato ketchup. Scamp of course had brown sauce. Rhubarb pie was just excellent. Her shortcrust pastry was just perfect.

The Lockdown Library topic for today was Something You Have Made. I’ve made a lot of things, mainly mischief, but one of the things I’m most proud of is my waistcoat. Complete with dummy pockets, lining, button holes and buttons. I made it all. It was a bit of a trial at times with a whole new language to learn. Interfacing, darts and basting, but it was worth the effort. The first ‘rough’ turned out really good and by comparison it’s better than the ‘finished’ sketch. That’s often the way, but I’d used it as an experiment to find out what medium worked best for the yellow check, and it wasn’t fit to be shown. The final painting is ok, but not much better than that.

Tomorrow we have no plans, but we’ve a Tesco delivery scheduled for between 5pm and 6pm. Chance of rain and thunderstorms during the night and again tomorrow afternoon. If the rain doesn’t come we might need to water the garden.

We went shopping – 13 June 2020

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We even travelled further than the statutory five miles, but don’t broadcast that.

It was a dull old morning with milk white skies the glowered over us. The hills were shrouded in the stuff, so the only thing to do was go out, and that’s what we did. But first the coffee machine had to be warmed up to dispense some Sumatran joy! A sudoku had to be started and some mind bending puzzles had to be completed on a new tablet. A big tablet with thousands of colours and big icons that deafened the eyes with their brightness. Scamp was getting used to her new toy. Me? I was wondering if I should get myself a new tablet too. My ‘new’ tablet is six years old now, stuffed to the gunwales with games and rubbish. I still use it because it has a lovely screen, but it’s getting slow, you can’t update the OS and, well, Scamp’s got a new tablet and it’s better than mine. Couldn’t quite square the ‘want’ with the ‘need’, so it ended up in abeyance … for now.

After coffee and puzzles, came lunch which was scrambled egg with smoked salmon on toast. Another cup of coffee for me and a white tea for Scamp then the decision – where to go. We settled on Kilsyth for a bottle of Hortus Gin from Lidl, some veg, some chicken breasts, pastries to go with another coffee, milk, chocolate raisins and beer, but mainly Hortus Gin! Scamp had wanted to go to the Kilsyth fish shop, but Lidl managed to supply enough fish to satisfy her. Dinner was discussed, but we settled on eating out of the freezer. Chicken Tikka curry with a starter of cauliflower pakora and fish pakora. Never made fish pakora before, but it turned out to be quite simple.

Before the dinner could be begun, there were photos to be taken. Walked over to St Mo’s then followed the path behind the school and found a great mound of Flag Irises growing there (I checked and Irises is the plural of Iris, just so you know). Managed to get a few shots of bees bums as they plundered the flowers, but the almost symmetrical yellow bloom got PoD.

Back home, dinner went well. I made the starter and Scamp did the main. Shared the washing up. The gin was just as good as I remembered it and just about the same price too. I commend it to you. Sketch today was “A Tree, A Branch or A Leaf”. I was late getting round to starting it and it ended up being a trio of of bramble leaves in autumn regalia. At least I think that’s what it will be. It’s still drying as I write this and won’t be posted until tomorrow, hopefully. In the intervening twelve hours or so the situation may change. Like the very wet watercolour, it’s a bit fluid!

Tomorrow we have no plans, but if it’s dry it may be a walk or it may be cycling. At present it’s still a mystery!

A wet, wet day – 10 June 2020

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I think from the outset that it wasn’t going to be a day for working in the garden, or even for getting some outside photos.

Today’s topic was ‘Draw your lunch’. For once a simple, yet difficult task. We take lunch for granted, it’s just something to fill your stomach until dinner time. It’s usually simple, often quickly cobbled together and sometimes it’s something to use up leftovers. It’s never anything you’d ever consider drawing, and that’s the genius of this topic. The other thing that’s unstated is that if it’s to be done properly, it has to be sketched in the morning, before lunch, and I needed that nudge to get started.

We were sharing half of yesterday’s second Quiche Lorraine, so I sliced it up and got started. I started on the last page of my A4 Seawhite sketchbook and even after having a telephone conversation with Scamp’s aunt halfway through, got it done in time to have lunch. I’d like to say I ate the evidence, but this time Scamp beat me to it and I ended up with the other slice! It was ok yesterday, not as good as the smoked salmon and broccoli, but today, eaten cold it was delicious. Maybe the flavours intensified with the time in the fridge. After lunch I posted the painting on Instagram and Facebook.

While I was talking to Isobel and then laying down the washes on the sketch, Scamp was off in Tesco, originally to get some soft cheese for tonight’s dinner. However when she came home with, I think I counted four bags worth of stuff, I knew she had had a great time buying Tesco!

With no sign of a let up in the rain, I adjourned to the Craft Room. The conversion from Painting Room to Craft Room involves removing the easel from the card table and replacing it with the sewing machine. I’d found a new and hopefully better pattern for a mask. This one was a more fitted mask. It seemed to work, but now we need to have three layer masks to make sure none of the little baddies get in. I’ve got another pattern ready to try to hopefully accomplish that too. Maybe tomorrow.

Dinner was macaroni with soft cheese, bacon, peas and basil. I managed to squeeze all that in and also make it taste quite good. It’s been added to the ‘worth trying again’ pile.

We are rather hoping the rain will disappear for a while tomorrow so we can get out for a while.

Out for a spin – 4 June 2020

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The weather wasn’t very promising, but we just had to get out of the house.

Drove to Torwood Garden Centre to get a pot for Scamp’s new rose. Ended up with a boot full of plants, compost and other ‘essentials’ Plus the back foot well was also being used as secondary storage. We did manage to leave some stuff at the garden centre for other folk, but not a lot. I shouldn’t complain because I got some leek plants and some chard which we did have seeds for, but were too late to sow this year.

Interesting to see their method for limiting the number of folk in the centre. Torwood is the best organised I’ve seen so far. You need to take a trolley in to the shop, you can’t go in without one. They have 30 trolleys and a maximum of two people can go in with one trolley. That way they limit the number of people in the place to a maximum of 60 at any one time. Check out is so much better than Calders. Torwood have two tills running and no big long queue. The path to the tills is clearly marked and when you get there, every step in the process is calculated and run with military precision. I was impressed.

We had bought a longer hose and back home, after lunch I assembled it. It was a lot more complicated than our old one and it gave us both a headache trying to roll it back into the carrier without any kinks. I think we’ve managed it, but it won’t be needed for a while because it rained nearly all day. This is only the start of the deluges according to the weather fairies, but we shouldn’t complain after all the hot sunny days.

Dinner tonight was Thai Chicken Stir Fry from the Muirhead butchers, but I made a mess of cooking it and it ended up too dry. I tried to blame Scamp, but we both knew it was my own fault.

PoD was a flower we saw at Torwood. It’s a Paeonia Patio ‘Kiev’. Too big and showy for Scamp and she’s probably right. It wasn’t a day for taking pictures. Sunny then wet then sunny …

Hoping against hope that the weather fairies will have got it wrong and tomorrow will be dry and sunny.

Another hot one – 28 May 2020

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Out for a walk, but only to the shops today.

Walked down to the shops to get tonight’s dinner and ended up with a fair bit more than that. That’s the problem with having to take a trolley (no baskets). There’s a tendency to lift more than you really need, and that’s what we did. Went to get a curry for dinner and came home with three bags full of stuff and a bunch of flowers. Wore our new facemasks in the shop. First thoughts are that the elastic is too tight and my mask is a bit small. Maybe I’ve just got a big head!

Listened with interest to Nick the Chick’s declaration about what phase 1 of the release from lockdown will mean. I like her delivery. It seems sensible, professional and calculated. Still don’t like her, but despite her small stature and big heels, she is head and shoulders above Bumbling Boris. Some nice little snipes from her about Dominic Cummings too. Nothing that could be seen as libel or slander, but quite pointed none the less.

Spent the afternoon trying to copy Lucy’s mask. I think I made a fair go of it, but I’m still not sure how to easily join the outside skin to the inside like she did. It’s definitely not as neat as her professional looking stitchery. May try a slightly different shape tomorrow.

Went for a walk in St Mo’s while Scamp soaked up the sun in the garden. She was well protected with factor 50, I know, I’m the one who has to rub it in to her back and today I dried my hands by rubbing the remainder into my face. Got some photos of a bright green spider. After some research I discovered it was a Cucumber Green Spider and fairly common. I’ve never seen one here before. Only one damselfly and it was far too skittish to get a decent shot of.

Sat in the garden after dinner which was actually quite good. For once I’d say it needed a bit of salt, but Scamp didn’t! Sat with a glass or red and took in some rays. Then went to do today’s sketch which is poor, very poor. The task was to sketch A Water Tap. I chose the plastic tap on the wash hand basin in the downstairs toilet, because I was fed up with drawing metal. The only good thing about drawing in a toilet is there is a place to sit!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow we will be allowed a tiny smidgin of our freedom back. We may go out for a run somewhere!

A walk in the morning – 18 May 2020

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After the rain the world looked a better place. A place we could walk in.

We just got up about 9.30 and went out for a walk. We started off by doing the circuit of St Mo’s pond a couple of times and fed the ducks, but also the crows which sometimes get forgotten. Then following on from the success of Saturday’s extended expedition, we just walked on for a bit, then another bit and finally walked through the ‘new’ housing estate opposite St Mo’s school. It’s not really new, it’s been there for around five or six years I’d say, but still relatively new. From the estate we found our way down to the underpass and turned there for home. Scamp was eager to show me a large rhododendron bush she’d found on her walk last week. It wasn’t so much a bush as a fair sized tree. We did have a look to see if there were any cuttings we could liberate, but couldn’t find any. Pity. It was a really enjoyable walk with everything looking that bit greener after the rain.

Back home and I sorted out some photos for Alex and made some notes for my monthly email. Well two-monthly email. It seems we each take about a month to reply to the emails and we always apologise to each other for taking so long to reply. Anyway, notes made and short leet of photos selected, it was lunch time. After lunch I wrote a letter to Peter H. I don’t know if he doesn’t do email, but I sent him an email a couple of weeks ago and got no reply so perhaps it was an old address that’s still live in name only. He writes letters and I enjoy communication. Signed and sealed I walked over to Condorrat to post it and managed a detour round St Mo’s on the way back. Got today’s PoD on the boardwalk. Just a wee nettle plant rejoicing in its freedom.

Scamp suggested I make a Spaghetti a la Puttanesca (Spaghetti in a tomato, capers, black olive and anchovy sauce). She doesn’t like black olives, so I could have them and she would substitute some tuna. I’d forgotten just how good it tasted. A wee glass of merlot to wash it down.

Today’s topic for a sketch was My Breakfast. That’s mine you see here. I have three different breakfasts to choose from. Muesli, Wheetabix or Porridge. Today was porridge and that’s what I drew. I was fairly happy with it, but not over the moon. Spoon handle wasn’t right, but I did a practise one later just to see what had gone wrong. I think I’ve worked it out now.

Got a great photo from Hazy and Neil-D showing off their custom Coronavirus masks. As they were well warned in the accompanying letter, they are guaranteed not to be any preventative at all, but they do look good. First Class post only took a week to go to England!

Perhaps there is an end in sight for our lockdown. If the stars align correctly we may get stage one of the release on 28th May, so the nice Nick the Chick said today. But only if we’re good!

Got a painless Click ’n’ Collect from Tesco today. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I think we’ll do that again.

No plans for tomorrow. Maybe not such an early walk tomorrow. Must try to finish City of Windows.

Just another sunny day – 5 May 2020

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It was one of those unexpectedly good days. Expected it to be overcast and right from the start it was lovely sunshine.

Possibly it was because of that sunshine, but neither of us did very much in the morning. Scamp was reading and I was struggling through today’s Sudoku. Cup of coffee each and a bit of cake. After that we agreed that we needed milk and bread, so off we trotted to the shops. Big queues everywhere except The Food Factory, so that’s where we went. They didn’t have as much as M&S or Aldi, but we weren’t looking for much, so that sufficed for our shopping.

Back home, lunch for me was a panini wrapped round some tinned red salmon and lettuce. Ages and ages since I’ve had salmon of the tinned variety. It has a totally different taste from ‘real’ salmon. Makes you wonder what it’s made from. I doubt if there’s much fish in there. Scamp had tuna with lettuce on a panini and declared it fine. There again, tinned tuna is nothing like fresh tuna. Hardly the same colour and nothing like the taste. What is it really? To finish off lunch we had a piece of banana cake. It was truly delicious. I had two bits and I think Scamp had the same.

I’d a bit more work to do in the back room. I’m thinking about making a light box to photograph my drawings in and I was scrounging around for some cardboard to make it. I think I’ve managed to find enough. May start construction tomorrow after the plans are drawn up. I’ve been watching some folk making them on YouTube and they don’t look too difficult. We’ll see.

Got fed up and decided to take the Big Dog out for a walk in St Mo’s and Scamp decided a walk would do her good, so off we went. Went round the pond twice and that’s where I got the picture of the baby coot looking really straggly and scruffy. Strange how the area around their beak is like orange fur when it will later become the iconic white plate. They were deep in the horsetails and were difficult to spot and even more difficult to get a clear shot of. I shot about 20 frames, but it was the very first one that was the best and that made PoD.

We had a bit of a dance practise tonight and covered some of the sequence dances with Scamp trying to teach me a couple of new ones she’d seen Stewart and Jane doing in their little Lockdown Videos. Really appreciate them taking the time to do them.

Tomorrow I may go cycling, just may. It was warm in the sun today, but the east wind was cold. Tomorrow is to be warmer apparently. We’ll see.