Category: Sketching

Cold but clear sky – 10 October 2024

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A clear, cold day 3.1ºc in the morning. Not a cloud in the sky when we woke. That was the incentive to get up and go!

Scamp filled the flask with boiling water and then filled a bag with some biscuits and crisps so we’d have something to eat when we arrived at Cramond. It’s a village in the north west of Edinburgh and sits on the River Almond where it meets the Firth of Forth. There’s very little to do there, except go for a walk. We chose not to walk out to Cramond Island, which is only an island when the tide is out. When the tide comes in, it returns to its island status. There’s even less to see on the island, but there are the remains of some WW2 gun emplacements and, of course, the submarine blocking concrete structures we always called the “Toblerone’s” because they looked just like those chocolate triangles.

We walked up the hill and went through the grounds of Cramond Kirk, a place I never knew existed. I didn’t take any photos. I’ve got this thing about cemeteries and churchyards. Instead we walked through the churchyard and out the other side to a big park with the ruins of a Roman fort laid out in the grass. We didn’t know then, but we do now that a building which looked like an office was actually a cafe and we could have had something to eat in it. Maybe next time. Instead we walked through some woods, down to the promenade.

We walked east along the promenade for a mile or two and then decided we should turn back. So far the breeze had been on our backs and I just knew it was going to feel colder when we were walking into it. Even with my gloves on, my pinkie fingers were freezing in the wind and I was glad to get back to the car for coffee, biscuits and a heat! I was also glad I’d decided to wear my big lined Berghaus jacket today.

Drove home and did some shopping on the way. The weather was still bright and cold. Scamp had bought some fancy timed lights that come on for six hours, then go off for eighteen. Battery operated, so not so delicate as solar powered lights. We put them up on the Rowan tree in the back garden and lit them about 6pm. I’m not sure I’m going to wait up until midnight to find out if they are working like they should!

I got a cryptic message from Alex tonight about 10pm. It just said “Look up in the East”. I did and once my eyes became accustomed to the light, there it was, a pink light in the sky, then it became two lights, side by side. The Aurora Borealis. I remember Fred saying that the best thing to do is photograph it with your phone camera because it’s more sensitive than the human eye. That’s what I did and this is what appeared.

PoD was a group of trees that I really like on the Cramond Promenade. I’d have liked the people to be nearer, but took what I got and we walked on. It was too cold to linger

The prompt today was “Nomadic” and I drew the sketch you see here of my idea of a nomad with his camel. I think the camel looks better than the nomad, even if it doesn’t seem to have any legs. It was probably on the Buckfast last night and that’s why it’s ‘legless’.

With that bad joke, I’ll leave you to go and look for your own aurora. Scamp’s intending to go to FitSteps tomorrow. I may do some more sketches.

 

Welcome Grian Murdo Macdonald – 9 October 2024

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Allan & Jaki’s wee boy was born last night, 8-10-2024 at 11.21pm, weighing in at 8lb 9oz. Those of a non-imperial persuasion can do their own calculations.

I was meeting Alex for another day in town. Weather could have been kinder to us, but it was dry for most of the day, but it was cold.Scamp kindly gave me a run to the station and I just missed the train! Not to worry, I was early and so was he for once. After coffee in Nero we went for a walk down Buchanan Street and took in this week’s artworks on the Clyde Walkway. From there we walked downstream and continued taking photos on the walkway and The Squiggly Bridge. Official name ‘The Tradeston Bridge’ but real name The Squiggly Bridge.

From there we crossed the river and walked through the mountainous office buildings on the ‘South Side’ before recrossing the Clyde by the King George V bridge. From there we made a series of zig zags until we followed our noses to Paesano for lunch. One Number 5 for Alex with less cheese and one Number 3 as it comes for me. Only non alcoholic drinks for both of us because Alex doesn’t drink and I was driving tonight.

The cold was starting to bite when we came out of Paesano and crossed the road to George Square looking for subjects, but there were very few. Eventually we gave up and went to Costa for a coffee and a heat. Cost I hear you say? Surely Nero? No, it was Alex who was buying and he wanted to go to Costa. Actually the flat white was just like real coffee. I was impressed.

After a heat, we headed back to the bus station, agreed to meet again in two weeks, then went to our respective sides of the bus station where, for the second time today I was just in time to see the X3 disappear round the corner.

Got back home to a plate of ‘Just Soup’ which went down nicely. Then it was time to get ready for tonight’s dance class. This Foxtrot we’re learning is quite tedious. It’s got that ‘manufactured’ feel to it, as if they are trying to cram in a load of different figures into a dance that wasn’t made for them. I can’t really explain it any better, other than to say that when Kirsty is demonstrating each of the two halves that make up the full dance, she demonstrates on the diagonal of the square dance floor. However when we’re dancing it, it’s on the shorter orthogonal, so it’s a bit of a cheat. Also, when we dance round the edge of the floor, everyone can follow the leader, but if we tried to use the diagonal, we’d crash into each other. A bit of mathematical spacial awareness, there. Just believe me, she’s cheating!
Anyway, we did get to do the individual sections and occasionally managed to join them together into a complete dance. Who said dancing is easy?

PoD today was a couple sitting at the ‘Graffiti Gallery’ on the Clyde Walkway with the ‘Blue Man’ keeping his eye on them!

Today’s prompt was ‘Sun’. The old,ancient Derwent Linemaker 0.5 pen came good again and produced the ink linework for this sketch of a man walking into the sunset. It was later augmented with some watercolour, but I think I might have been better leaving it as pure ink. Too late now.

Tomorrow, for once this week, we have no plans!

Another day, another appointment – 8 October 2024

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This time it was an appointment at Monklands hospital, but don’t panic, it was just for a checkup. Scamp came with me to keep me company.

The sister at the health centre had been a bit concerned by my low BP a month or two ago and when I said I’d had a couple of dizzy spells, I think she decided to get it looked at. So she sent me for an ‘echo’. I’ve had one before a long, long time ago and the result was that everything was ok. Thankfully after I’d been rolled on to my side today and had an ultra-sound taken of my heart, the technician said she had “no concerns”. She also said that “everything was pumping well”. That was a relief. All we needed to do now was to find the car and also find a way out of the housing estate I’d parked in.

Back home I could enjoy my lunch, a roll ’n’ cold meat. Scamp had a roll ’n’ scrambled egg which she managed to keep on the roll. Yesterday she managed to drop her fried egg on the kitchen carpet! Don’t tell her I told you.

Yesterday I washed and polished the bathroom. Today I was hanging up a new hook for her body polisher. We bought the hook at the weekend and it’s exactly the same as the one I got when we got the new bathroom, ten years ago, and it’s still stuck to the wall. Very clever wee thing.

Today’s prompt was “Hike”. It was drawn a week or so ago when I was getting organised for Inktober. It’s always good to have some of these drawings done early so they only need to be posted in Flickr as needed. I quite liked this sketch, it was so much more lively than yesterday’s.

I’d gone over to St Mo’s in the late afternoon to find a PoD. It’s getting harder and harder to find something interesting to post every day, but thanks to Scamp I had one already done. It’s a trio of roses that she cut in the garden and brought in. Beautiful blooms. Really deserved PoD.

We had Salmon Balls for dinner. I do believe you were sniggering about them when we were discussing them on Sunday, Jamie, but they were actually very good. We had them with potatoes and tender stem broccoli. So much better than yesterday’s disaster.

Tomorrow I’m expecting to meet Alex in Glasgow to go for a walk, take some photos, exchange news and have a pizza.

 

 

Broadwood – 7 October 2024

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Out to the docs to get my BP checked.

Just the last of the checks to confirm that my BP had stabilised. Not just one nurse, but two. The sister and a student nurse checked my BP an gave me the all clear. All done in a 15 minute visit and I don’t have to come back until my annual review.

On the way home, I drove up to Tesco and got milk and rolls, just the real essentials today, then back home for lunch and a debrief with Scamp before we booted up and went for a walk around Broadwood Loch.

The weather wasn’t warm, but neither was it cold. Just a hoodie today for both of us, no need for a raincoat. As usual and against the flow of walkers, but with the flow of joggers, we walked round the loch clockwise. Because it had rained during the night, we didn’t risk the forest section. I know it’s been been cleared and drained, but I didn’t fancy going all the way round it only to find out there was a great long section that would be up over our boots in mucky water. Safer to stick to the path. I got some long lens shots of a cormorant stretching its wings out to dry and thought that would make PoD, but it was the first shot I took today looking along the loch to Blackwood and then The Campsies in the far distance that got the accolade of PoD.

I attempted a recipe for Linguine with Smoked Salmon and Spinach, except we didn’t have any Linguine because Scamp doesn’t like it and we didn’t have any Spinach either. There was a requirement for double cream and we had none of that or a hundred other things, but we did have the smoked salmon. The inevitable result was that it tasted awful and went in the bin.
Note to self: Before you start, read the recipe and check the ingredients!

We had pizza for dinner and it was lovely.

Today’s prompt asked for a Passport. I’ve now seen a few variations on Pass the Port with a glass of wine being passed from hand to hand. I tried a version of the British passport, and now that I look at it, it isn’t all that bad. But what I settled on was a pastiche of a passport. A Scottish passport with a bottle of Buckfast, two crossed thistles and an advert for Greggs. I’m sure Alex would approve.

I’m off to the docs again tomorrow. Just getting my money’s worth from the NHS before all their money disappears.

 

What a grey day – 6 October 2024

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One of those days that just never get properly started.

The only thing we did today that’s worth mention is to go looking for new lights for the rowan tree. So let’s start there.

We drove to Calder’s Garden Centre first, but after struggling through the congested aisles of the main shop the area where the lighting is displayed was now home to a half full size family of polar bears and other assorted Xmas junk and there was a cloying scent of cinnamon, the Christmas scent. Still on display among the menagerie were a few boxes of lights, but not the kind that Scamp was looking for. So we drove further onward.

Next stop was Torwood, another of Scamp’s favourite garden centres. They had a larger array of lights and thankfully no polar bears or cinnamon. However, although there were many boxes of the lights and they were the ones we were looking for, most of the boxes had previously been opened and rejected. We rejected them too. We drove home empty handed.

It fell to Mr Bezos to fulfil our need for lights. Ordered in the late afternoon and they will be delivered tomorrow or the next day. What would we do without Amazon.

Spoke to Jamie later and were glad that he had had a fairly relaxed day. I must admit I’m intrigued by the wild boar meat he bought and would like a report on it once it’s been cooked and consumed!

I struggled with a sketch for today’s prompt, “Trek”. In fact, most of the prompts this year highlight to the author’s interest in walking and climbing. Ten of the thirty prompts have that theme. I changed it a bit and it became Star Trek and from that I drew today’s iconic badge.

I also had a hard time getting a photo. The day was so dull and wet, I thought I was going to miss out on a photo, but a walk around the garden in the late afternoon brought today’s PoD which is the Rozanne geranium.

I’m hoping to speak to the man in the garage tomorrow about some work needing done to the blue car.

 

 

 

Off to Spain – 5 October 2024

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Now don’t get excited, we were just outside Paisley, but we were dancing Paso La Paz like Spaniards!

Well, Scamp was dancing it like a Spaniard, I was plodding along in her wake, more like a Spaniel than a Spaniard. It’s the fast and furious Spanish bullfighter’s dance that we started last week. It’s really too fast for me and my old dance shoes. They are struggling to keep up with Rumba One (in joke), far less do the heel stomps and the toe taps and the arm across the chest. I struggled with this last week and this week I think I was worse. Heaven knows how I’ll get on with the full strength Paso Doble the teachers are talking about!

The Paso La Paz was actually the last routine we did. The first one was the Queen of Hearts rumba which was our warm up. It too was a mystery until the second track when muscle memory took over and pushed me in the right direction. It’s been years since we originally learned this sequence dance and that’s my excuse for getting it wrong through most of the first track.

The second dance was the Viennese Waltz. It looks fairly easy when you’re watching it on Strictly, but don’t be fooled there are fast passages in this too. Natural Turns (clockwise) and Reverse Turns (anti-clockwise) plus Half Natural and Half Reverse. By the time we got to the end of the second track I couldn’t remember if I was coming or going.

Next was the Paso La Paz, but you’ve heard all about that already, so I won’t go into it again. We finished off with two tracks of a Midnight Jive which is a simple sequence dance that is extremely exhausting. I think Stewart just chose it out of badness!

We drove home and had a restful afternoon lunch. Couldn’t decide what we were going to have for dinner and eventually settled on a microwaveable curry from M&S washed down with half a bottle of Barossa Ink.

Later we watched tonight’s Strictly and wondered what Toyah Willcox was doing on this show, apart from a bit of self promotion. I don’t know how much she paid to be on the show, but it’s definitely not enough.

Today’s PoD was a branch of Berberis we passed on the way to the shops. Beautiful bright red and orange leaves.

Today’s prompt was Binoculars which is what I drew. These are a pair of Nikon binoculars I got for a song in John Lewis a couple of years ago. Light, bright and with a good magnification they are almost always in my case when we go on holiday.

Tomorrow we may go looking for tree lights to brighten up the Rowan tree in the back garden.

Service Charge – 4 October 2024

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We were both out early this morning.

Scamp had to catch the bus to get to FitSteps and I was driving to Glasgow at the same time to drop the blue car off for its annual service.

I left the car at the garage almost exactly at 10am and was told that it would be ready by 5pm. That’s seven hours for a three hour service! This appears to be normal practise for Macklin Motors, but not anywhere else I’ve ever used. When I asked the service technician why it would take that long, he said I should have been told that it was an “Open Booking” and would be worked on as soon as was possible, but there were two people off ill today. That sounded a bit familiar, because when I booked the same car in at the same garage a month ago for its MOT it did in fact take seven hours before I got to take it home and the reason was … there was only one MOT tester available that day. Sounds suspicious! I agreed and signed away my afternoon then went for a walk round the city. First port of call was Nero for a coffee and a chance to plan the rest of the day. Foolishly I took the option of their new blend Honduras and it was pretty awful. So a bad start to the day.

When I texted Scamp to tell her the news, she asked if I wanted her to come in to town, but I told her not to bother and that I’d phone the garage about two to see what progress had been made.

I walked down to St Enoch Square and got a couple of photos there, one of which became the PoD, but there was very little directional light and the milky white sky didn’t help. I know he looks as if he’s talking to his hand, but he’s posing with his new phone, I think. I took some more photos of new graffiti being sprayed on the wall of the Clyde Walkway and admired the vision of these guys being able to visualise their finished artwork. Haven’t seen any girl graffiti artists, but I’m sure there are some.

I got another message from Scamp saying she was now free to come in to Glasgow for lunch. That sounded a good idea. I met her in the bus station about an hour later and we went to an Italian place we’d looked at last Friday. Just as we were heading there I got the call from the garage to say the car was ready. The time was almost exactly 2pm. For once they were right on time. I said I’d be along to pick up the car as soon as possible.

The food in the restaurant was good, but my Spaghetti a la Polpette wasn’t very hot and the meatballs had the feel of ‘Ping’ (microwaved) about them. Scamp said her Risotto was fine. So we decided to give them another chance. A bit like Macklin Motors!

On the way back to the garage I got a new book by Chris Brookmyre. I’d heard about it in the Great Scottish Book Club and it sounded interesting. The book is The Cracked Mirror. It should have been £18, but I had a tenner in my Waterstones card, so I got it for £8! I’m almost finished a Peter May book Lockdown which started so well, but has descended into farce in the final 150 pages.

I got another surprise when I went to pick up the car. There were two advisories. Thankfully nothing needing done immediately, but just another expense that will need to be looked at early in the new year. I’m talking about New Year already and it’s not even Halloween yet!


Prompt for today was Exotic and my sketch was of a Bird of Paradise flower which fitted the bill perfectly.

Tomorrow we are expecting to be dancing Paso la Paz, It’s all about stamping our little feet and wiping the blood from our shoes. If you don’t understand, re-read the blog from 28th September.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2024

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Good to see you took the sensible approach and worked from home today, Jamie.

We’d talked about going to Edinburgh, but I wasn’t in a rush, so told Scamp she should go to her FitSteps class first. While she was there I messed around the house and had a long hot shower to ease my back which is still giving me grief some days. Scamp returned early from the class, and she didn’t look well. She knew herself that she had a little infection and phoned the surgery. After the usual questions they said the nurse would give her a call later in the morning. Good as her word, the nurse called back and asked a few more questions and said she’d leave a prescription at the desk in the health centre. About half an hour later I drove to the health centre, picked up the prescription and had it filled at the chemist next door.

That was us home for the day. No big deal, because we can go to Edinburgh next week some time, all being well. We may even have to forego tomorrow’s dance class too. You have to be sensible about these things.

Lunch for both of us was tea and toast. Neither of us was all that hungry. The afternoon dragged a bit, mainly due to the weather which was looking rainy without actually raining. Plus there was a cold wind blowing. Scamp was looking better and more relaxed too, so I took myself upstairs to do a bit of painting with some watercolour markers Fred had recommended. I wasn’t really impressed with the quality. The markers themselves had very coarse brushes and the ‘pencil’ end of the double ended markers was a bit soft. Just cheap markers, pretending to be something better. However that made me set up an easel and start painting with real watercolour. Just a wee landscape that will probably never see the light of day, but it kept me amused and out of Scamp’s hair for an hour or so.

I also got the PoD. Two roses in the garden had had their petals blown away in last week’s gales, leaving their stamens and pistils exposed, but in bright colours. The title of the PoD is Naked Roses! That should generate a few views!!

Alex sent me a message late in the afternoon to say that the Environmental Health people had visited and sprayed some white powder over the wasp nest and sealed off the room they are in. They were told not to open that room until the experts in their “Ghostbusters Uniforms” returned in a week’s time. I’m sure he will obey those instructions. I told him that I think the white powder the bloke was spraying might have been ‘Oofle Dust’. It always seemed to make things disappear for Sooty!

That rain never came today, but the wind was strong and the temperature was dropping away rapidly. Almost, as the weather forecast man said, as if it’s already autumn. Do you think there’s a way to get our money back for the summer we never had? Answers on a post card, please.

Tomorrow we will wait to see how the invalid is before making any judgement on what to do with the day.

 

The end of May – 31 May 2024

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Also the end of Spring and the end of EDiM (Every Day in May).

Was it a good month? No, not particularly good. We got a week and a bit of sunshine, warm sunshine, but also a bit of thunder and torrential rain. Damselflies appeared fairly early and a couple of hardy dragonflies arrived very early. Scamp got a new computer after a dodgy one and I got Excel and OneDrive. Lots of flower photos, and a fair selection of architecture photos, but not a lot of landscapes.

This morning Scamp was off to FitSteps and then she went for coffee with Isobel. By the time she came home I’d finished my sketch of a Portuguese Man of War jellyfish to cover today’s prompt of a Jellyfish or an Octopus. Her response to the picture was an indifferent “Meh”. I had to agree and we had lunch.

After lunch I did a rethink and found a photo of an octopus to sketch and paint. Although it was far more complicated to draw than the PMoW, it had enough room in it to add shadows that would create the 3D effect the jellyfish lacked. That got a better response from Scamp.

Leaving it to dry, I went for a walk in St Mo’s and found today’s PoD almost right away. I saw the man sitting on his chair throwing balls for his dogs and I liked the contrast between his jacket and the trees in the background. He did spot me photographing him, but I just held out until he looked down at the dogs and took the ‘keeper’.
If this was you, I apologise!

While I was out I phoned Scamp to ask if I should bring home a Special Fish Supper for dinner. A Special, in case you don’t know is two slices of breaded haddock. Much lighter and with better flavour than an ordinary battered fish. She agreed and I dropped in at the chip shop on the way home. The chips were a bit cool, but the fish was excellent.

The sun had passed the house and was shining in the garden, so we sat and read for a while. Next door were having a family gathering, so after a while I retired to the quiet of the house and posted today’s PoD, the Octopus and a wee extra shot of my relatively tidy painting desk. Relatively tidy FOR ME, that is.

Some folk have commented on my list of ‘Tools’, so I thought that, as this is the last one in EDiM 2024, I should give the Tools a spot in the limelight to take a bow. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to produce the 31 sketches.

We watched Rebus, a new BBC series. I recommend it to all the Scottish contingent if you are wearying for home after talk of Special Fish Suppers. WARNING It does contain lots of sweary words and a fair bit of violence.

We’re intending to go to dance class tomorrow, but no more plans.

 

Dancin’ – 30 May 2024

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Dancing and really enjoying it for once!

Drove through the busy M8 to Glenburn community centre for today’s tea dance. I don’t know what was going on, but the traffic both ways was much busier than usual and that led to us being just a wee bit late

We started off with a waltz, as always. Just to get us into the swing of things, we danced the first part of Kirsty’s Waltz on repeat. Next was a sequence dance then there was a Foxtrot and a Tango, two tracks of each interspersed with two tracks of sequence dances. The line dance today was the Waltz Across Texas, one of the most dire and depressing line dances. The one where nobody smiles. We didn’t dance it. That took us up to the tea.

After the tea break, Stewart started with Scamp’s favourite, the Tina Tango, inevitably danced to ’Shivers’ by Ed Sheehan, then we were back on the script with another waltz. And this time we danced what is now being called the Four Seasons Waltz. It was the Christmas Waltz, the Winter Waltz and then the Spring Waltz. Now it seems to have found a home as the Four Seasons Waltz. Whatever it is called, we danced it, the moves constantly improving as we went, and by the time we had danced both tracks we were getting it right most of the time.

Time was slipping away and soon it was our turn to slip out the back door, waving “cheerio” to those who didn’t have to drive through the hoards of school children. We made not bad time getting home by the longer, but quicker M74/M73 route that avoids the bottleneck at the Kingston Bridge.

It was Thursday, so Scamp asked for and got a bunch of flowers. She was quite exacting in her description of a bunch of flowers. In other words, she didn’t want plants. Much as she’d have liked them, we just don’t have anywhere to put them.

Tonight’s dinner was yesterday’s veg chilli bolstered with some passata and spiced up with some cumin and coriander. It tasted fine, but it the extra liquid makes it look like the pot is as full as it was yesterday. The magic porridge pot becomes the magic chilli pot!

After we’d eaten, Scamp started a purge on the spices cupboard. Anything older than 2024 was emptied into the bin and the jars are ready to go into the recycling bin. All 28 of them!

PoD was an easy one. The second Schoolgirl flower to bloom this year on the rose bush at the front door. The first bloom was about 3m above ground, so it would have been difficult to photograph!

Henry Hippo, the catwalk icon from the 9th of May, returned to model today’s prompt, Pyjamas.
Although hippos live in mainly warm countries, the night time temperatures are often very low. That is why Henry and other right thinking hippos often wear comfy pyjamas after the sun goes down.

No plans for tomorrow. Scamp is intending to meet Isobel after her (Scamp’s) FitSteps class. I may go for a walk.