Category: Shopping

A wet, wet day – 10 June 2020

Posted on by Zogman

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.

Feeling a bit flat – 29 April 2020

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Not me, so much as the car’s battery.

It all started when Scamp wanted to go out to get her pills from the chemist. Tried to start the car and … nothing. Pressed the starter again and … nothing. Flat as the proverbial pancake. Eventually had to accept the fact that it wasn’t going anywhere today and got Scamp to take us up to Boots in her car.

She went to the chemist while I went to Tesco. I had a list, a paper one, not on my phone. Nick the Chick has been telling us that we have to wear a mask when we go in to enclosed spaces where others are milling around, so I used my Buff™ pulled up over my nose like an old time bank robber in a cowboy film, The Desperado Shopper! I have a list. I do have one somewhere. I dug in every pocket, but no list was forthcoming. I remember adding something to it at home and … and … putting my pen in my pocket, but did I put my list back in my pocket, that’s the question. Nothing for it but to phone Scamp and get her memory of what was on the list downloaded to me. Ha! Not so easy in Tesco where the lead shielding they put on the roof or the force field they have round the shop won’t allow phone messages in or out. Eventually I gave up and tried to remember what we needed. Actually came home with about three quarters of what I went for, because the list was sitting on the table at home where I’d left it. Next time I go shopping I’ll take my old iPhone, not because it’s a better phone, but because it uses a Tesco sim and maybe, just maybe that will be allowed to communicate with the outside world.

Tried the car again when we got home and it tried to start this time, but just wouldn’t catch. Tomorrow I’ll phone the Nissan recovery and get someone to come out and give it a jump start.

I walked down to the new shops to buy the things I’d forgotten, or that they didn’t have in Tesco. Took my camera of course and brought it back unused with some messages.

Tonight’s dinner was Smoked Haddock Risotto. Easy peasy risotto. No standing over a pot of boiling rice for twenty minutes. Just fry the leeks, add the rice, then add fish, stock and milk. Shove in the oven for 18mins take out and add creme fraiche and spinach leave that for 5 more minutes and serve.
Hint: For best results you should switch the oven on first. I did.

Decided today’s PoD would be an inside shot of two Horse Chestnut plants I’ve managed to get to germinate.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to make that phone call to Nissan and get the car started again.

Early delivery – 23 April 2020

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Scamp’s turn for breakfast and an early knock on the door.

Our veg box arrived this morning as Scamp was making breakfast just after 8.30. What a haul it was Pineapple, Melon, Avocados, Tomatoes, Grapes, Carrots, Potatoes and lots, lots more. Far more than we expected or needed, really. I’m sure well manage to eat our way through most of it though.

Just after I’d had my shower this morning, I felt a well remembered itch on my left wrist and sure enough, there was the little black spot that turned out to be a tick, the second one I’ve had this year and hopefully the last. It had been sitting quietly underneath my watch strap. I think I may have to stick to the main paths in the parks from now until the start of the winter when they die off.

Today was bin day and we are working our way through cleaning all the bins. Today’s customer was the green bin for bottles and plastic – recycling waste. I took up the cudgels and scrubbed it out with a big hard brush. I must admit it made a fair difference to the bin and was a worthwhile use of my time. It also gave me a chance to wander around and get some sun on me.

The unthinkable happened this morning.  The coffee machine wouldn’t work.   No coffee was forthcoming from it.  In fact, nothing was coming from it.  I could hear the pump doing its best, but not a drop was coming out of the basket.  Tried the steam jet and it worked, so it wasn’t the pump that was at fault.  After a bit of rudimentary stripping down, it turned out that some gunk was stuck in the dispenser.  The bit that the spray connects to.  There are four holes in the dispenser block and none of them were working.  After a lot of poking and prodding I got three of them back in business and that was as far as I was willing to go.  I watched a video of an engineer stripping down a Gaggia like mine and knew that it was well beyond my knowledge or tools.  I put it all back together again and went looking on the Which site to see what was available.  It’s not the cost that’s the problem, it’ sourcing the things in these difficult days.  Later I managed to make a cup of coffee with it, but it took a long time.  I’m afraid you pair (you know who you are) have probably made the right decision with my birthday present.  I’ll see what happens tomorrow.

After lunch I went in search of milk down at the shops. Beginning to see more and more people wearing masks now. Some, in fact most, seem to be home made. I might look for a pattern and put some of my ‘fat corners’ to good use. I did see a couple of example patterns somewhere and read of people having irritation from the elastic rubbing on their ears. There was a suggestion that you could modify the design to have a strap with a button and another with a button hole which would fasten behind the head instead. I don’t think I’d adopt that method it sounds a bit like “Do you think my heid buttons up the back?”

Hauled my bag of milk and chocolate (that’s the prize for going) back home and hadn’t taken one photo. Then I remembered the little basil seedlings that are growing on the kitchen window sill. They became the PoD.

Dinner tonight was an old time favourite. Cabbage, bacon and potatoes. Sounds uninteresting but it’s truly delicious.

Played a bit of catch-up with the Lockdown Library for Instagram. I got painter’s block yesterday, so today I’d two drawings to do. Actually I did do a quick sketch of my dance shoes last night, but wasn’t happy with it. Today I added some brushed on black ink and they came alive. So that worked for yesterday. Today’s sketch was a simple one of my old iPhone SE. Now it seem so small.

Tomorrow I may HAVE to cut my hair. It’s getting to be really annoying and messy. Its time may have come.

Just another glorious day – 15 April 2020

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Long may they last.

More sunshine and more warmth. Gentle breeze that didn’t really cool things down dramatically.

I walked down to the shops to get some basil for dinner and a couple of limes to make Mojitos. As it happened, the basil was used for dinner, but we both agreed the Macaroni with Bacon, Peas and Basil was promising a bit more flavour than it was producing. More, or stronger, cheese and a bit more of the creamy sauce was both our suggestions. The limes weren’t used, however. Maybe at the weekend we’ll have a couple of Mojitos to let us pretend we’re in sunny climes. I went for limes and basil, but returned with wine (never a bad thing) pizzas (they were cheap) and chicken goujon things which went into the freezer to be discovered some day when we’ve nothing in our mind for dinner. Sat in the garden and soaked up some rays when I came back from the shops. The shops were fairly quiet for a change. No need to queue at M&S!

Earlier in the day we were working in the garden. Scamp got the front grass cut and I’m sure she’ll feel better for that. She managed to do the whole grass, yet still avoid the delicate looking little Stock flower that was growing through the grass. Now that’s skill. I planted some more peas (Ambassador) in little planters this time. I also planted some teasel seeds in a tray. We brought the seeds up from our visit to Hazy in January, when N-D was off in Goa. Not sure they’ll thrive here, but I’ll try.

While I was on my way to the shops, I took a detour through St Mo’s and got today’s PoD of a ladybird taking the high road over the edge of a leaf. First ladybird I’ve seen this year, a Seven Spot.

Had a short dance practise tonight.  Jive was the subject, but we couldn’t remember how to do one of the moves, the Whip Throwaway.  It was never a favourite, but now it seems to be lost in both our heads.  Maybe a night’s sleep will bring it back.

Weather looks dull for tomorrow, but we can’t complain because the past few days have been glorious. No real plans for tomorrow. Today’s sketch was a poor rendition of an apple. I must do better tomorrow.

Another beautiful day in the sun – 11 April 2020

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Woke to grey skies and the threat of rain, but then the sun came out.

Lunch today was a reheat of yesterday’s Saag Aloo toned down a bit with some extra cream and a little water to reduce the effect of the salt and also to cool the chilli! Like most curries, it improved with age.

We needed milk today and it was my turn to go for the messages. I thought I could link it in with a walk in the park, but then decided it would be better for my step count if I did two separate walks. First one was to M&S for the essentials: Milk, cheese and tomatoes. Dumped the messages in the kitchen and took my camera for a walk in St Mo’s.

Beautiful day, bright sunshine and warm if you were out of the wind, which I made sure I was for most of the walk. Definitely saw few hoverflies and another couple of peacock butterflies. Didn’t get many photos, the spotted a couple walking along the boardwalk and grabbed the shot. I liked the way it was framed. Back home, Scamp was going out to sit in the back garden, so I joined her with a glass each of red wine. It was comfortably warm with just a little cooling breeze blowing in from the west, but the temperature was certainly high teens. It’s going to be much cooler (colder!) tomorrow with the wind swinging to the north. We stayed in the garden discussing possible rearrangements of plants and planting. Took a few shots of one of Scamp’s Christmas Rose plants. I used the Nikon with the 105mm macro lens and it did a really good job of the close up. That became PoD. Did a bit of gentle pruning and retired to the house when the sun went down. Take the chance of a seat in the sun while you can.

Scamp had found a YouTube channel with a full length stage version of JC Superstar filmed in Manchester arena. That was tonight’s entertainment. Very good interpretation of one of our favourite films. We’d actually intended watching the DVD of the film tomorrow night. Maybe we still will, or we may leave it until Monday.

It looks like the weather’s changing overnight, so we may not be sunning ourselves tomorrow!

Daddy’s gone to Iceland – 10 April 2020

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Yes, I know we’re supposed to stay home and keep safe this Easter Weekend, but this was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

The offer was a delivery slot from Iceland for Tuesday, almost brilliant. “Almost”, because it’s for a time slot between 8am and 10am and with my luck it will be at the ‘8’ end of that time period, so I need to be up early for it. That said, it’s a slot and there aren’t many of them around. Coincidentally, it was last Friday Scamp managed to snag a slot on Tesco. Perhaps Friday’s are the key to nabbing a slot.

Scamp volunteered to go shopping to the local shops and brought back a fair amount of goodies. It was a dull start to the day, but by the time she was going out (solo) it had warmed up and the sun was shining. So much so that she came back I took the Nikon out for a walk in St Mo’s. At first I couldn’t see anything worthwhile to photograph, but then I spotted a hoverfly, first one this year and was sure I’d seen a butterfly too. It wasn’t until a bit later in a different part of the park I got a good clear shot of it. Not the best photo in the world, but my first butterfly this year. It’s a Peacock and fairly common, but it’s another sign that spring is here.

PoD was a long lens shot of a crow sitting on a branch. I liked the graphical feel of the shot. It almost looked black and white on the computer and when I changed it into true B&W I hardly noticed the difference. Second time around the pond I found the carcass of a swan. Don’t know what killed it. It could be a loose dog or a fox or daft kids throwing bricks, but there wasn’t much left of today. Then I heard a couple of swans flying overhead. They swung round the park and then landed on the pond. That sent the two resident swans into frenzy. They started puffing up their wings and heading in to separate the newcomers. It seemed like battle royal for a while, then everything calmed down. It looked like the residents won and the two visitors were being carefully monitored. Peace had broken out when I left. Didn’t get any decent shots of the action because my Tamron was in stupid mode and wouldn’t focus properly. It’s an odd beast. Sometimes it produces pin-sharp shots, others it’s a pain in the arse.

Aloo Saag for dinner. It too is a pain in the arse to make, but it usually tastes brilliant. Didn’t quite hit the mark tonight. Too much salt or too little spinach, I’m not sure which, but the result was the same – too salty, the customer said.

We did a bit of dancing practise tonight. Waltz No 1 and Waltz No2, then Foxtrot and finally Quickstep. All done to music too. These practise sessions work for me. They just get the muscle memory working.

As usual no plans for tomorrow. We’ll take the day as it comes.