Category: Shopping

Plant hunting – 27 October 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp wanted pansies and snowdrops today.

Pansies to replant the trough that hangs on the fence and snowdrops to plant around the garden. So it would be a drive to a garden centre. We chose Calders. It was the nearest one and would probably have what she wanted. Aha, but before that there was coffee to make for both of us and both Wordle and Spelling Bee to solve for both of us.

After lunch we drove to Calders. Pansies were no problem, loads of them. Scamp found a tray full that seemed to suit her, but no snowdrops were to be found. However, there were lots of snowmen, elves, reindeer (both illuminated and not), snow dogs and even Frank Sinatra singing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and other jolly songs. I hate Xmas. Not Christmas, that’s alright, but Xmas is just tinsel and fairy lights and spend, spend, spend. Bah Humbug!

We came home via Tesco and there Scamp found the snowdrops. She got two boxes. She also found the Good Food Christmas (see what I mean) magazine with the free calendar we couldn’t find anywhere last year. This year we’re ahead of the game. When we were driving in to the car park Scamp noticed the old fashioned Tunnock’s delivery van and that made PoD. I had my camera in the car, but my phone in my pocket. The best phone in the world is the one you have in your pocket. It’s a true saying.

Of course the phone couldn’t take a picture like the PoD. That took Lightroom and Photoshop to do that. Lightroom and Photoshop and a couple of hours poring over a computer screen. I was quite happy with the result, although if I’d thought about it a bit more and planned it better I might have been happier with the result, but I didn’t and it wasn’t. It’s still PoD.

The prompt today was ‘Snack’. I drew a Piece.
A sandwich in Scotland is a ‘piece’. This one consists of a layer of buttered bread. A layer of fried pork sausages slathered in tomato sauce. A layer of bread buttered on both sides. A layer of lettuce (one of your ‘five a day’). A layer of buttered bread. Squash down and slice with a sharp knife. Please note:

  1. The bread must be from a Scottish plain loaf
  2. The jury is still out on whether tomato sauce constitutes one of your ‘five a day’.

Tomorrow Scamp is out for lunch with The Witches. I might go in to Glasgow for a wander.

Going for the messages – 12 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Just the run of the mill shopping run.

Scamp accepts that Tesco deliveries are a lifesaver at times, but prefers to see what she’s buying, and I have to agree with her. We did a fairly big shop and while we were going round I bumped into Fred and had a wee blether with him. He gave his apologies for not being able to get to the “Beer in the Toon” tomorrow and I understand the pressures he’s facing with his and his wife’s health. Hopefully some day soon we’ll be able to have that beer.

After we’d got through the tills and paid for the messages we trundled them to the car and found that there was nowhere to put them in the back seat because the bag of bottles we took for a trip to Tesco last week were still there taking up space. After a few grumps from me followed by an icy silence, Scamp drove straight to the council skips and we dumped the bottles into the overflowing plastic skips. One job done.

Back home lunch was a roll filled with cheese for me and one filled with Dairylea for Scamp. Honestly I didn’t think they made those Dairylea triangles any more, but it looks like they do. A second roll filled with jam became the lunchtime dessert.

After that we just lounged about for a while doing nothing in particular. Then I took the camera out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was a little furry hoverfly sitting on a Scabious flower. Nice bit of sunshine on the background created some lovely patterns from the leaves of the bushes. While I was out, Scamp was picking the remainder of the James Grieve apples and beginning to prune the tree into a better shape. I had one of those home grown apples after dinner and it was a bit sharp, but perfectly edible.

Dinner tonight was Carbonara made the proper Italian way without cream, but with an extra egg yolk instead. It worked well.

That was about it for a cool day that was beginning to look like autumn was just around the corner.

Tomorrow I’m intending to head in to Glasgow and Samp is out to lunch with Mags.

Out in the wide world – 24 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Both of us … together!

Back on the cruise, in what seems like a different world now, I felt a clicking form my dance shoes. I thought it would go away, but it didn’t. Today I was going to look for a new pair. If time allowed after that, we would go for a walk in one of the parks on the south side.

The weather didn’t look that clever in the morning, but the weather app maintained that all would be well in the afternoon, and gradually the sky lightened, the rain stopped and we went out.

We drove to the shoe shop in Rutherglen, hoping to get parked outside like we did last time, but today luck wasn’t with us, so we drove on to Tesco and parked there. Long story short, I got a pair of plain black dance shoes that seem to fit perfectly. Job done. Of course Scamp also saw a new pair of dance shoes and just had to have them!

After a couple of wrong turnings, ok, three wrong turnings, we found our way to Bellahouston Park. We had a wander through the park and found an elephant, a rusty, steel, life size elephant.  Cast from melted down scrap locomotives from India and South Africa. Locomotives that had originally been made in Glasgow. A photo of that “Nellyfunk’s Bum” became PoD, but it was close run thing between that and a couple of other images that may make their way into Flickr.

Lunch was in the Art Lovers’ Café in the House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston.  Peppermint tea for Scamp and a decent cup of coffee for me with two massive scones to keep the hunger pangs at bay, although I did fancy the Pork Belly with Potato Cake, chargrilled spring onions, Spinach and Mustard Cream sauce.  Maybe next time!

We drove home by the M8 and over a Kingston Bridge that was beginning to clog up to its usual afternoon traffic jam. Then Scamp noticed warnings that more roadworks were about to start in a couple of weeks and would last until January 2023! We’ve had months of roadworks earlier in the year, they finished in June before another set began in July. It seems that every month there has been roadworks in this stretch of motorway. I doubt if this latest set will be the last. Unfortunately for us, this is the route we take to dance class every week.

Just as we were driving in to the estate, and home, another electronic sensor in the car reported a failure. This time it’s the tyre pressure sensor which reported an error. The car goes in to the garage for service next month. I doubt if anyone will be able to diagnose the fault, but they will reset the failure log and tell me it’s fixed. Then they will want me to come in and choose my next new car. It might be a Nissan, but I doubt it. It most certainly won’t be coming from a dealer who can’t fix the problems with my current car.

I had a bit of sad news today. Jack Doyle, who I worked with for many years at school, passed away a few weeks ago. I’ll always remember Jack’s sense of humour. He was a great guy who drank beer, but never lager and told great stories, so he did!

Tomorrow I’m hopefully breaking in a new pair of dance shoes.

Baking – 21 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

A loaf was requested by Scamp. Also, the topic for this week in Flickr Friday was Daily Bread. I imagine bread would fit both bills.

With the foregoing in mind, and after a nudge from Scamp, I got started on some bread themed work this morning. I used my ready reckoner to determine the amount of water, yeast, butter and salt I’d need for the 312g of bread flour I’d measured out. It’s always good to go with the old fashioned photogs “Time and Temperature” method. Of course we are allowed to adjust as we go adding more water or flour as determined by the ‘feel’ of the dough. With the dough feeling suitably smooth after roughly 10 minutes of manual manipulation, I set it to rest and double in size while I had my morning coffee.

Next on Scamp’s list was ‘shopping’ or to be more Scottish, ‘messages’. We drove up to Tesco in her wee red car and made a fair fist of trying to buy the shop. Unfortunately some articles were not available, so a complete buy-out wasn’t possible in the time available, but we did try. We even forgot to get rolls, but I bravely volunteered to go back and buy some while Scamp took the rest of the purchases to the car. We’re used to watching the ‘Penchies’ (pensioners) groping the plain sliced loaves to find the freshest feeling ones, but today I met a twenty-something doing the same thing with the rolls. The first one he tried was obviously well fired, but too crispy. The second one, medium fired was better and he nearly accepted it, but put it back in favour of a ‘not so well fired’ batch. The Goldilocks Rolls. Not too hard, not too soft, just right! Once he was finished with his inspection I finally got a change to grab a lightly fired bag of six that would suit my two butterflied sausages. It’s a challenge buying the perfectly baked morning rolls.

By the time I’d chosen and paid for my rolls, Scamp had unloaded her trolley and was waiting in the car. We drove home and unloaded the back seat, because I’ve not fixed the boot lock yet. Then we could start on lunch which was Black Pudding and Egg on a roll for Scamp and two butterflied sausages on two rolls for me.

Scamp spoke to June and found out that yesterday at Hamilton Racecourse had been a brilliant night. Pity we didn’t make it, but as we found out later, we did make the right decision, based on the information we had. Glad everyone, especially June and Ian had a great time. Glad the birthday surprise was indeed a SURPRISE for Crawford and Nancy.

In the afternoon I sorted the dough and on a whim I poked a two holes for eyes, one for the nose and a curve of more holes for a smile and left the dough to do its second prove.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s with a camera that never came out of the bag. I sat for a while on a seat in the park watching the world go by and then came home, empty handed. Not one photo. I photographed the rising dough and turned the oven on. After the mandatory fifteen minutes warming up time I pushed the bread into the oven and set the timer for 20mins. That gave me time to go and photograph Scamp’s miniature tomatoes in the garden. When the timer pinged I turned the bread over and baked the bottom for another 5mins. When it came out, I photographed the bread, the Happy Bread!

Time to start the Pea and Prawn Risotto. Hand made, like the bread. Peas from the garden with the pods chopped up and boiled to make the stock. The whole risotto turned by hand using the custom made risotto paddle. It tasted almost perfect although Scamp thought it lacked salt. She always says that. The bread was lovely, with no sign of a soggy bottom! PoD was a picture of the sliced up bread, with the smiling face just visible.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard all about his new job in a new company with new people. Good to hear that there’s at least another Scotsman in the management team!

Tomorrow we have no plans, because it looks like it might be wet.

 

Struggling with Wordle© – 2 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

I suppose that’s what Jamie would call a ‘Middle Class Problem’.

Before we started the day proper, we both did a Lateral Flow test and photographed the result ( Negative ). It must be one of the few times when a ‘negative’ is positive result! We didn’t need to do it, but we’d both agreed we’d do one within the two day time frame. Now it’s done and recorded, we feel better. When that was done the rest of the day could begin.

Hazy phoned and we discussed holidays and meds and the latest Becky Chambers book I’d just finished this morning. I even encouraged Scamp to read the last four pages of the book where the author was discussing gardening in an arid planet under transparent domes. The concept may have been alien, but the process was very familiar to Scamp. Like us, Hazy and Neil had watched the first part of The Control Centre and decided it wasn’t for them. What she did next was interesting. She didn’t want to watch any more of this drama set in Glasgow, but she wanted to find out how it ended, and she did. But then, that’s what Hazy is good at, researching! We heard about how the rest of the family is getting on and how Canute and Delia are being forced to close up their clothing shop as are the rest of the tenants are on that street because the landlord had plans for the area. It’s a shame, but also it will take a lot of pressure of them both. Generally this morning was a really good catch-up.

I wanted to go in to Glasgow for some photo stuff today and Scamp came for the walk. Not anything essential, just like Sunday, a reason to get out of the house. Just like Sunday too, we drove in to Cowcaddens, parked there and walked up Sausage Roll Street which really is a shadow of its former self. All the weird traffic lanes and boarded up shop windows drag this once vibrant shopping street literally into the gutter. Crossed the road and found that WEX was indeed open today. I’d checked after we did the Covid test and it was as we’d suspected a lack of staff to open the shop on Sunday. Got what I was looking for and we walked back down the virtually dead Sauchiehall Street and had lunch in a Nero. Then it was back in the car and home via Tiso for some Smidge.

It had turned out to be a lovely warm day with blue skies and just the slightest threat of rain. The rain had been heavy all night last night as was testified to by the amount of water in the buckets in the garden. I took a camera for a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon, mainly to find a subject for the Flickr Friday competition ‘Fire’. My fire was a burned out bonfire some of the local idiots had made in the woods. Scary to think that folk would do that just for somewhere to sit and have a clandestine drink on a Friday night. Have a bonfire in a wood! That’s sensible, isn’t it?

We had a dance practise tonight. Nothing fancy, just two waltz routines. The ‘Baby Waltz’ sounds easy, and it is for Scamp, but for me it’s a bit of a minefield, especially trying to remember what an ‘outside change’ is!

I’m off now to write the second part of an epistle to Alex with photos.

Tomorrow I think I need to do some rearranging of my storage options, and get an early night.

An afternoon with the beasties – 1 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

The beasties in question were dragonflies and damselflies.

It was a lovely morning and we’d nowhere in particular to go. Scamp went off to get some messages at Tesco and to see what mess the roadworks at the roundabout were creating. Apparently it was a bit of a mess, but that’s not a surprise. I imagine it was even worse by 5pm when the factory traffic heads that way. There has been warning notices out for a week or so and we’d worked out alternative routes to take the avoid the congestion. Scamp had taken one of them and bypassed most of the stramash.

After lunch I had a look round my indoor garden of basil plants and chilli plants. The basil was drying out and took a fair amount of water to pump up its leaves again. One of the good surprises of the day was the old chilli plant from last year had made the effort and produced a fruit. I wasn’t sure the seed had set properly, but there it was a little 25mm fruit. The new chilli plant I got in Skye, of all places, is just covered in flowers and is fruiting away quite happily. I tried one of the branches of basil and the taste was really delightful. It had that spicy basil taste, but with a bit of aniseed to it too. Must be a different strain from the one downstairs. Scamp’s tomato plant is covered with fruit too. We had the first tomato yesterday and there are more ripening in the sunshine.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and captured my first dragonfly of the year. It seemed quite content sitting on the boardwalk sunning itself. Not very skittish, either, sitting perfectly still for a few photos. A couple of blue damselflies crowded in to get their photos taken too. Then I found a big fly clinging to the shadow area of the upstand at the side of the boardwalk. It was a really big monster of a thing, about 30mm long head to tail. It too allowed me to take quite a few shots before I got fed up. Lastly there was a grasshopper, but I couldn’t quite get into a position to capture it. Pity, because they look almost alien. The dragonfly got PoD.

We had an hour in the garden when I got back. Just sitting listening to music on our headphones. It was a relaxing end to the afternoon.

Just before dinner, Scamp decided she’d better take the washing in as the clouds were gathering. I brought in the chairs too. Ten minutes later it was raining and it continued for a couple of hours. Not teeming rain, just gentle soaking rain. The best kind for the garden.

I had meant to go in to Glasgow today, but the notion left me. We may go tomorrow.

 

 

Messages – 23 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today was one of those dull days where the sun can’t be bothered getting up, so it doesn’t.

In an attempt at finding something to get us out of the house today, we discussed what we’d have for lunch, but that discussion didn’t get us far. More constructive was the next discussion about what we’d have for dinner. Scamp said we needed a few messages and the answer to today’s dinner would be found in what messages we bought. Fine, we were on a roll. Where to go for the messages? I suggested two birds with one stone. We go to Morrisons and get the messages then have lunch in their cafe. That was the plan there and then. We’d drive to Falkirk to Morrisons for messages and lunch.

Drove to the shop, got the messages and put them in the car. Then things started to a bit awry. The cafe at Morrisons is now staffed by a large computer screen where you select and pay for your food. I don’t know how this works if it’s busy, as they can only afford one screen. No humans were to be seen. There was a till, but nobody in charge of it. Ok, I could do this. One scrambled eggs on toast. One filled roll with sausage. One peppermint tea. One Americano coffee. It’s a pain in the backside because you have to confirm everything after you’ve selected it. Paid it and got my receipt. When I turned to go away, the screen flashed up a message “Cafe Closed”. The time was 2.10pm. According to the website the cafe is open until 6pm, and it advertises an “All Day Breakfast”. All day seems to end just after 2pm.

Went for the coffee and the tea. Coffee was easy. Press the button and the coffee is brewed into the cup. Tea is a bigger problem. Hot water is dispensed, but where’s the peppermint tea bags? Eventually found someone at a till and asked where the tea was. The answer was a backhanded “It’s in the pots.” Where’s the Specialist Tea then? After a bit of huffing and puffing she brought out a small wicker basket and pushed it towards me. I think she’d used up her vocabulary on our previous conversation. I picked one and thanked her. A grunt and the basket was gone as was its guardian.

Then we waited. And waited. And further waited. Not just us, either. Half of the cafe seemed to be waiting. Eventually, 40 minutes later a roll with two barely warm sliced sausages along with the toast and scrambled eggs arrived. No apology. No sorry for your wait. We were the lucky ones. The others started forming a queue for their money back. I know Morrisons is in trouble. Now I know why. The most disorganised, unsupervised and plainly rude staff I’ve ever met. They deserve to go down with the sinking ship.

We drove home and it rained. Not a lot, and not for long but it did rain. We’d decided to buy in a curry for dinner.

Scamp phoned Jackie who claimed she was just about to phone her. Everyone always says that, don’t they? I know I do it all the time. While they were on the phone, I went out to St Mo’s for some photos. Decided to take a waterproof from the car and was glad I’d taken it because the rain came tipping down. Walked twice round the pond and got some photos of black currant bushes that would put ours to shame, growing without any care or weeding, planted by volunteers years ago. I nearly pinched some, but didn’t. On the way home I found my PoD. The light was just right for a view down the path through the trees, then this bloke appeared and the shutter clicked!

I eventually ordered a curry for both of us after a disgruntled half hour or so. Something was annoying me and I couldn’t decide what it was, so I went in the huff. So childish, I know. So me. Curry only took just over 45 minutes to arrive and it was really, really nice. Best one I’ve had from Bombay Dreams in a long while.

We watched an old episode of Death in Paradise while we ate. Neither of us could remember seeing it before. Strange, as I thought we’d seen them all.

It’s raining tonight, just as it was forecast to. It will do the garden good to get fresh rain water into the plants roots.

Tomorrow we have no plans.

A day window shopping in Glasgow – 12 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Well, I was window shopping, but I didn’t buy anything. Scamp was shopping for ‘things’.

After some discussion today, I drove in to Glasgow. Scamp offered to drive, but I knew she doesn’t like driving in to Glasgow, so I said I’d drive. It was fairly easy to get parked in Buchanan Galleries, probably because it’s holiday time, but Glasgow was busy, probably because it was holiday time! Lots of people coming out of Queen Street station and just standing there with their phones or a map in their hands. I always feel sorry for them. There really should be a kiosk near the exit to help visitors, even those from Embra!

We walked down Buchanan Street (note, I’m giving it its ‘proper’ name today). I was looking for a pair of trainers. I’ve been looking for a pair for a while now and I now know that the problem is, I just don’t know what I want. We went in to Tiso and I tried on a couple of pairs that looked like what I thought I wanted, but I didn’t like them, or they weren’t comfortable. The bloke who was serving me couldn’t have been more helpful. He didn’t push me in any way or for any make. He just explained the benefits of the different shoes they had and left me to make up my mind. I may go back before the weekend and seek his advice again.

Scamp in the meantime had visited the first shop on her list and had secured the purchases she wanted. She was now complaining that a second shower gel she really likes is being discontinued. Why do people do this? The same happened to me with Grass shower gel in Lush. They discontinued it, even after saying it was one of the most popular sellers. Hazy found the same with Lush a few years ago. I understand that there is a constant need to push new products, but think about the consumers please!

We walked along Argyle Street to have a bite to eat and a coffee in Nero. Scamp chose a window seat that gave us a panoramic view along this busy street. That allowed me to grab a photo or two of folk just walking. Nothing fancy, no ND filters, just ordinary folk going about their business. Something I’ve not considered before, but it was interesting, just people-watching.

When we left there, fed and watered, Scamp wanted to go to M&S and I didn’t, so while she walked round the store, I took more photos: Pigeons on the disgustingly dirty glass roof over the entrance to Argyle Street station, A bloke sitting reading a paper which became PoD. I’d have taken more, but Scamp reappeared and we walked back and I got quite a decent one looking along an alley off Buchanan Street.

Driving back home, Scamp noticed that the heavy clouds, that had been blocking the sun in the morning and most of the afternoon had broken and blue sky was appearing. Were we going to have a decent evening? I hoped so. And so it was. I transplanted my teasel seedlings into individual pots and also potted up the last few kale plants. Scamp did some potting on too, giving two cuttings she’d taken at Jamie and Sim’s garden a new pot and fresh compost because they were building strong roots. After dinner we sat in the garden and read. I finished my latest book and now I need to start on one that Fred gave me.  FInally we had to go in because the temperature was dropping.  It had been a good day.

We have no plans for tomorrow yet.

Painting – 9 July 2022

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No artistry involved, just a tin of paint a brush and disposable gloves. That kind of painting!

After sitting around doing nothing this beautiful morning, waiting to see if Scamp wanted to go anywhere in particular, but knowing in my heart of hearts that she didn’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam, going to and/or coming back from the seaside, I doubted it. I was right. She decided this was the day to cut the grass in the back garden. Really sensible decision because it had been dry for a few days and therefore the grass would be easier (not easy, easier the difference is important) to cut.

I felt bad that she was doing work in the garden while I was playing Angry Birds on my phone. I’d already sanded down the door to the bin shed, so today I sanded off the remainder of the scabby paint and changed my long trousers for a pair of shorts. Then took my tin of exterior gloss, a brush and a pair of disposable gloves and went out to paint the door, or at least to give it its first coat. As it happened, with a Florence and the Machine in my headphones, I quite enjoyed the morning slapping paint onto the door. It’s the same colour of paint that was on before. It’s good stuff, but the sun had crazed the old paint and the rain was getting in to the wood. It really needed don and it really needed two coats. The first coat took half a double album and I was thinking as I was cleaning up, what a boon disposable gloves are! The few spots of paint I had on my hands were easily removed with Swarfega.

By the time I was finished, Scamp was finished too and it was lunch time. After that and after some discussion about dinner tonight, we settled on a quiche. We’d some smoked salmon that needed using up. A broccoli and smoked salmon quiche sounded good. That meant we needed some broccoli, cream and probably some frozen shortcrust pastry. That meant a walk to the shops, which suited us both. It really was a beautiful day with just enough breeze to cool us down without blowing us away as it almost did earlier in the week. As it happened, we had to go to three different shops to get all the ingredients (and some beer). On the way back a cheery wee man offered us ice lollies out of the box he’d just bought. Scamp eventually gave in to his offers and took an ice cream ice lolly we used to call a “Mivvi”. I felt it was unfair for us to take the poor bloke’s lollies and thanked him, but said no thanks. Just a nice wee man. Afterwards as Scamp was eating her lolly I wished I HAD taken him up on his offer!

With our work done and the frozen shortcrust pastry defrosting in the kitchen, we sat in the garden and enjoyed the sun. I got tired of reading after a while and went for a walk around the garden taking photos. I’d got one or two of a ladybird this morning before I started the painting, but I wanted more. Then I remembered I’d wanted to take some photos with an old Zenit 58mm lens which apparently gave excellent ‘Bokeh’ (out of focus blobs which delight photogs.). I soon had the lens cleaned and working and sure enough, it did create some strange effects. A photo of a little lupin flower with a strong bokeh background got PoD.

It didn’t look as if the shortcrust pastry was going to be ready today, or even this century at the rate it was defrosting, so we revised our plans and instead we had Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti with some fried Potatoes. It’s a store cupboard stand by when nobody can think of anything else to have. A family staple. It was perfect for today. Maybe quiche tomorrow. More reading and sunbathing later, but eventually it got a bit cool and we had go adjourn to the house.

Tomorrow looks much like today according to the weather fairies, so I may give the door a quick sand down and then put on another coat of that paint, or we may go for a walk somewhere. We’ll see how we feel in the morning.

Crowned – 7 July 2022

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Queen for a day perhaps.

Scamp was out to the dentist today, not in the morning as I’d mistakenly reported yesterday, but in the afternoon. That left the morning free to speak to Hazy for half an hour or so. Things seem to be plodding along down south, but slower than they’d like. Dozy deacons were part of the problem and over lengthy exam answers were another. But one of the was the diet that Tilly (one cats) was on seems to be a success and she has reached her target weight. It was when we were talking to Hazy that I realised Scamp’s dentist appointment wasn’t for another four hours! Oops.

After we said our goodbyes, Scamp and I walked down to the shops to get some messages. Just something for lunch and a loaf to put it on because there was no bread in the house, at least, no bread that was eatable. On the way back we got some solar lights for the back garden. They don’t provide much useable light, but they do look pretty at night.

After lunch, Scamp steeled herself and walked over to the dentist to get her new crown fitted. It’s been a protracted issue this tooth. It all started back in December when she needed a filling, but because of Covid it wasn’t done then the dentist retired and she had to wait until another one was appointed. Oh, I could go on and on, but so did the wait and the bill got bigger and bigger, as did the cavity, until the new dentist said the only way to fix it was with a crown and that was the crown that was fitted today. Thankfully it worked and to look at it you’d never guess it wasn’t a real one.

While she was being crowned, I was out walking in St Mo’s better armed today to capture some insect photos. It was a lovely warm summer’s day.  Not at all like yesterday with its gale force winds. I took the big heavy macro lens and got a few ‘keepers’, but a lot more ‘chuckers’. My favourite was a little fly feeding on some pink blossom. It was the contrast between the dark flower and the pale pink of the flowers that swung it for me. That was PoD.

Back home it was warm enough to sit in the garden and make plans for alterations to the planting that might go ahead next year, all being well. Sitting making plans with a bottle Birra Moretti for me and a glass of Yellow Tail Merlot for Scamp is as good a way as any to spend an afternoon. Dinner was a very nice Prawn and Pea Risotto.

We watered the garden after dinner. It really needed it and I think the plants will look a lot better tomorrow.

The Boris Saga continues. Today he resigned as leader of the Tory party, but intends to stay on as a caretaker PM. Why doesn’t he just go? Nobody wants or trusts him anymore. It’s quite sad really.

We might go out for lunch tomorrow, but that’s as far as plans go.