Category: St Mo’s

No excuses – 14 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today we didn’t do very much. I’ve no excuses for this, it was just the way the day turned out.

It was a normal Sunday. Watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing strips of poor undefended MPs and other politicians. It was fun for a while watching them squirm, but you knew they were lying because their lips were moving. That took all the fun out of it.

After lunch I went for a walk over to St Mo’s. There wasn’t very much over there to photograph, but I did get out for a walk which was good … until the rain came on. As usual, the rain waited until I was at the furthest point from home, then it started. I didn’t mind, because I had my big orange Rab jacket on and it’s fairly waterproof and the rain was fairly light for most of the walk home.

PoD was an old favourite of mine, the view down the avenue of trees that takes you down past St Mo’s school. A bloke with an umbrella was kind enough to walk into view just as I was crossing his past. I waited a few minutes and got my Photo of the Day and he never felt a thing.

Dinner was a rump steak for me and potatoes with ratatouille for Scamp. Rice and prunes was the dessert.

Spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard that he and Simonne are considering going away for a week some time soon, not sure when yet. This time Vixen gets to go with them which should please her.

Thanks for the hint Hazy. I’ll tell you how I got on with it once I work my way through it.

Dentist tomorrow to get a broken cap on one of my teeth fixed. Oh what fun!

More shopping – 11 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday was window shopping and a touch of ‘real’ shopping.

Today was back to reality shopping in Tesco. Scamp had made a fairly large shopping list and we just worked through it, managing to find most things, but with the usual few missing items.

We’d intended to have lunch, but I’d a bit of stomach cramp so we postponed it. Then Scamp’s pal, Annette, arrived. Now I’m not being sexist here, but two women discussing things can lead to “Three’s a crowd” so I took my stomach cramp upstairs and read for a while. After Annette went home I did trust my stomach with a couple of slices of toast and a cup of tea. That seemed to settle things down. I’m blaming a pot of Kefir yogurt for the problem. The last time I had some, it had exactly the same effect. I’ll be more circumspect in future.

The weather today has been hit and miss. Sometimes the sun shines for an hour or more and sometimes it only lasts for a short while before the driving wind sprays everyone with showers. I caught a couple of those showers today. I also missed one by sheltering under the trees when I was out for my constitutional over St Mo’s then on across the football park and back home. Sometimes I extend the walk to include the path to the shops, but I was keeping a weather eye (literally) on those big black clouds that were rolling in from the north-west.

I went out with a different camera/lens combination today. A Lensbaby Sweet 35 lens for closeups and a Tamron 70-180mm zoom. Both on the A7iii. The Lensbaby gives dreamlike effects and the Tamron is an almost ideal short telephoto. Both worked very well, but the Tamron won the day with another shot of a Bird’s-foot Trefoil behind a chain link fence. This one has a much better background than the original. PoD sorted!

We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner, but in the end Scamp had an omelette and I had a fry-up. For me it was a bit of a test to see if my stomach was back to normal and it seems as if it is … touch wood.

We watched another boring episode of Masterchef. Thankfully it’s coming to an end soon. Good riddance I say!

Tomorrow is a cooking and maybe a baking day. Crawford & Nancy are coming to dinner. Whoever is free will probably be making the starter (possibly soup), Scamp is intending doing the main course and I’m booked for the dessert. We’ll see how it goes.

Shopping – 10 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Not Tesco shopping, but looking for books, trainers and prezzies!

We drove to The Fort in the outskirts of Glasgow. A vast array of shops selling almost everything imaginable, but mainly clothes, shoes and jewellery. I was looking for a specific book, ‘Wild Houses’, but didn’t end up buying it. I applied three rules I got from the English teacher I had at college more than forty years ago. She told us to:

  • Read the entire first page, because it provides the ‘Hook’ that keeps you wanting to read more. If the book fails that test, reject it.
  • If it passes the first test, select a page from around the middle of the book and read about half of that page. If you’re still interested, the book is worth buying.
  • If it fails the second test, don’t reject it out of hand. Take a note of the title and author and test it again in six months or so.

My book fell at the first fence. It just wasn’t for me.

Scamp and I were both looking for a comfortable pair of trainers. My old ones are worn right down and no longer waterproof. I tried in three different shops and didn’t find anything I was willing to pay good money for. Scamp had the same problem.

That meant Books and Trainers were a waste of time and money. Thankfully she did find the prezzies she was looking for, so we didn’t go home empty handed. When we arrived at The Fort around 11am, there were spaces on every row in the carpark. When we left, just after midday, there seemed to be none. People were prowling around actively searching for parking spaces. This was on a Wednesday, usually a quiet shopping day. I dread to think what it’s like on a Saturday afternoon!

We drove home and I admit I was being a grump. Maybe because I’d a near miss with a less than interesting book or a pair of too expensive trainers, or maybe it was just the mood I was in, but the drive home was in silence.

I went for a walk in the afternoon. I got halfway round one of my usual walks when the rain started. I didn’t mind, really. I had my Famous Blue Raincoat on and despite its tears and patches, it kept me dry. Dry enough to get a few shots of a little wee hoverfly that sat patiently for me. That became the PoD.

Dinner tonight was the best fish ’n’ chips I’ve had for ages. Scamp made it and it was way better than any food from a chip shop. Thanks, Scamp.

We’ve no plans yet for tomorrow, but it looks like it will be wet.

 

 

A dull day – 9 September 2025

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A day that threatened rain that never quite arrived.

The highlight of Scamp’s day was ironing. It’s not something I’m likely to turn my had to doing. I know a lot of folk who like ironing. I’m pretty sure Jamie does it. I jokingly say that I make sure I burn the first item of clothes and never get asked to do it again. There’s no truth to that story, well, not a lot of truth, anyway.

My contribution to work in the house today was driving over to Tesco for ‘The Messages’. Even then, it was just enough to fit in a ‘Bag for Life’ and no more. Just the essentials today, no alcohol on a ‘School Day’.

When Scamp started the ironing, I laced up my boots and went for a walk over St Mo’s and back through the woods. This is the first day I’ve been for a walk through the woods since the big storm, months ago. I don’t think anyone walks through the woods now. Too many fallen trees blocking the paths that used to lead to the ponds and the great Horse Chestnut trees that are still standing. I need to find some other paths to follow.

I did get a few shots in the afternoon, but it wasn’t until I came home that I found my PoD sitting in our garden. It’s a Berberis bush carrying its bright red berries. They look very inviting, but according to Wikipedia some of them are poisonous.

That was about it for the day. I emailed a couple of photos from the wedding to Simonne because the originals had disappeared en route. It’s this thing about Apple vs Microsoft again. Microsoft won’t allow Apple images to be read on their system, and vice versa for Apple. Why can’t they just agree to work with each other. As my mum used to say, “That’s how wars start.”

We may be going over to The Fort tomorrow looking for birthday prezzies, I believe.

We went shopping – 7 September 2025

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You know it’s been a dull day when the highlight is “We went shopping”.

Some days are like that. You can have days when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you manage to capture fifty photos, each one better than the last. Then there are days where you manage to grab half a dozen shots of butterflies and are satisfied with that. Today fell into the ‘satisfied’ category.

We went shopping, as I mentioned and that got us out of the house for half an hour or so. Just the usual shopping for lunch and dinner. Mainly essentials.

Jamie and Simonne were on their way back from yesterday’s wedding but were stopping off in Glasgow to meet up with a couple of their old friends. They arrived back at the house around 5pm. By then I’d been out for a walk across the football park behind St Mo’s and had hardly taken the camera out of the bag. I did get just over 100g of brambles on the way back.

I made a hash of getting Simonne’s SD card to work in the new computer. Why do the different companies insist on sticking to their own formats. It would be so much easier for everyone if they just took the sensible approach of one size and one format fits all. Anyway, in the end we got the photos she wanted, although I’ll have to work out how we make a heart shaped background for one of them.

For dinner, Scamp and I had Chicken Milanese with our own potatoes and Scamp’s speciality, Rats, which of course is short for Ratatouille. Jamie & Simonne shared a pizza. We all had Passionfruit & Raspberry Cheesecake for dessert while we watched Lando Norris being humiliated by being given a derisory second place as compensation for having had a slow pitstop. Poor guy was very noncommittal in the interview.

We’re expecting the young ones to be leaving early tomorrow to take the road south. Hope they have a problem-free journey and arrive home safely.

Us? I think we might be going looking for the elusive bread bin again, with maybe the chance of dancing Cha-Cha in Kirsty’s class later.

The Constant Gardener – 31 August 2025

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That’s not me, it’s Scamp!

I’m the one who mixes up the compost and sometimes gets the proportions wrong. I’m the one who makes a mess all over the clean, freshly cut grass. I’m the one who forgets where he put the trowel, spade, fork etc. Mainly, I’m the labourer. I carry the pots from the front garden to the back and sometimes from the back to the front. I don’t mind. Scamp’s the clever one. She remembers the names of all the flowers, but I know which of the beasties will nip you and which won’t! Between us we get the garden growing.

Today we were splitting up the Primula Candelabra into two separate plants, repotting the colour changing ’Switch Ophelia’ we also repotted a few of the newly purchased plants from last week. We dug up the potatoes from the first of the big ‘tattie bags’ and were disappointed by the size and quantity of the potatoes themselves. We’d hoped they would be bigger, but the soil they were growing in was a bit dry and dusty because of the lack of decent rain during July and August. Hopefully now that we’ve had almost a week’s worth of rain, the next crop will be better, providing they haven’t become sodden and rotted.

I went out for a walk in the afternoon over to St Mo’s and across the football pitches, hoping for some decent shots of butterflies, but there were very few on the wing today. There were some Peacocks, but none of the more exotic butterflies I’d seen a few days ago. A little drone fly on a Scabious flower got PoD. On the way back I managed to find a couple of grams of brambles that may go into a dessert some day.

Dinner was Chicken Milanese with potatoes and Scamp’s special veg mixture. Very nice it was too. Pudding was Rhubarb Crumble made with a mix of Jamie’s rhubarb and some of our own.

We spoke to Jamie later and heard about final preparations for their visit north to go to a wedding next week. Sounds like an awfully long way to go for a couple of nights. However, they are intending to meet Andrew. Oh to be a fly on that wall!

Tomorrow Scamp and I may go looking for a bread bin that will fit into a corner of our kitchen.

Recovery – 22 August 2025

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Scamp went to FitSteps in the morning and I just messed around with the computer.

When she returned we walked to Condorrat to post a birthday card, then we headed back towards the shops, but she coaxed me in to going for a walk in St Mo’s while she did the shopping. PoD turned out to be a Common Darter dragonfly. The dragonflies have been few and far between recently, but there were quite a few buzzing round the ponds this afternoon. Hopefully that’s them back until mid-autumn

Dinner tonight was Fish and Leek Risotto. My job. I thought it was fine, but Scamp thought it was a bit dry. Maybe too little Cremé Fraîche? I’ll bear it in mind for next time, all being well.

That was about it for today apart from watching an episode of Masterchef that wasn’t really riveting.

We got a message from Canute & Delia last night to say that they had arrived home safely and had had a great time in Scotland.

Today was a recovery day after driving back from Queensferry in rush hour. I don’t know how folk can drive through that congestion every day.

We’re maybe going out for lunch tomorrow if the weather plays nice.

A change in the weather – 19 August 2025

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A distinct change in the weather this morning. Much cooler than recently. Is this the gentle slide into Autumn I asked myself? Or is it just a cool day and the sun will return tomorrow?

It was dull and cloudy when I eventually got up and dressed and there didn’t look as if that was going to change very soon. Maybe it was just a rest day for the sun. It had been working very hard for most of the summer and it deserved a rest. As long as it didn’t forget to come back.

Lots of wee birds fluttering around the Rowan tree, presumably hoping the bird feeder would magically refill itself. Well, it did manage to refill itself, but it was me who filled it, not magic. To encourage the big fat pigeons to stay away from the bird feeder, I left a handful of seeds on the lid of the compost bin and that seemed to do the trick. The wee birds got some food and so did the big one. There’s probably a moral in that story, but I’m not sure I’m the best person to untangle it from my usual stories.

In the afternoon I managed to fix another email address which leaves only one on the old computer and possibly three still to fix on the new one. We’re working away at it making small changes and hoping they will stick. Scamp finds the most devious ways to work between computer and iPhone and get things to turn out the way we want them to. Thanks again Scamp.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s just before dinner and although there wasn’t much to look at, I did find a little thin green spider just finishing wrapping its dinner up on it’s web. I really needed a longer lens to capture it properly, but thankfully Lightroom came to the rescue and enlarged the photo so the details were visible. The spider got PoD.

The fruits and berries are ripening well ahead of schedule now after all that heat and sunshine. Today it was a bunch of Rose Hips that drew my attention. I think this must be the best year ever for fruits on the trees and in the garden. Yesterday we pulled four or five little red strawberries in what was meant to be the raised bed. I’m afraid that after about twelve years of wet and dry, it’s becoming rotten and will need to be replaced soon. Almost all the kale I planted has now shot (or Bolted to give it the proper name) and will soon be chopped up for the compost bin.

Mince and Tatties for dinner with a few slices of pickled beetroot, just because it was sitting there. Absolutely delicious!

I’m hoping to go for a walk with Alex tomorrow. Nowhere grand, probably just a walk round Glasgow. Scamp is hoping to entertain Annette while I’m out.

 

Yet another hot day – 18 August 2025

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Out to the dentist in the morning.

I was lucky to get an appointment at the dentist. I had my six monthly check last week and today, a week later, I had one of my teeth filled. Not for the first time either, it’s the second or maybe the third filling I’ve had for the same tooth and it’s all my fault. I just keep probing the repaired tooth and occasionally I’ve bitten down on a hard sweet and cracked the tooth. I’ve now had a “good talking to” and for the next week I’m banned from chewing anything tougher than an apple. I’ll do my best to comply.

So it was that lunch was half a nice soft Ginsters pasty. Scamp had gone shopping after I returned from the dentist. I was attempting to solve a couple of problems that were still lingering with the new iMac. It’s beginning to look more like a usable machine now, not just a bag of disconnected parts.

After lunch Scamp started to clear out some of the clutter we’d built up over the years. Many sheets of ancient documents and invoices went into the shredder and then into the compost bin. Chopped up paper apparently makes great compost when mixed with vegetable and fruit in the big black box at the back of the garden.

While she was doing that, I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a photo of a Painted Lady butterfly that became PoD. They are occasional visitors to Scotland, but are less rare now than they were.

Scientists have discovered that the Painted Lady butterflies do indeed migrate south each autumn but make this return journey at high altitude out of view of butterfly observers on the ground. Radar records reveal that Painted Ladies fly at an average altitude of over 500 metres on their southbound trip and can clock up speeds of 30 mph by selecting favourable conditions.

We were dancing Rumba at Kirsty’s class. Very slow and precise and quite enjoyable in this hot weather. Kirsty taught three separate parts of the routine and then encouraged us not to dance them in order, but to take them in any order the leaders chose. No directions, but the leaders had to guide the followers by hand pressure alone. I found it difficult and demanding, but worth practising at home. Our one hour slot just disappeared!

Tomorrow I believe we may be taking some stuff to the Council tip. Especially if Scamp has her way!

 

 

Just a normal day – 13 August 2025

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But a normal day, with extra heat. Hottest temp recorded on Scamp’s phone was 30ºc.

We went shopping at Tesco and then started filling up the new fridge. Once that part was looking more like we’d expected, Scamp started on the old freezer. We managed to get most of the food transferred and the freezer too looks better.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon looking for some photos. What I found was hundreds of butterflies. Mostly Peacocks, but also a few Red Admirals. I don’t think I’ve seen so many butterflies in my life before. I know I’ve said that before, but it really is a remarkable sight. I made sure I was well protected with Smidge, from the clouds of biting insects that I was sure were waiting in the wings.

Despite being surrounded by butterflies this afternoon, they didn’t feature on PoD. That honour went to an Emerald Damselfly that I saw clinging to a grass stem.

When I got home, Scamp and I had a seat in the garden for a while with a Soda & Lime each. Then from nowhere came a little sprinkle of rain. We took the seats in and the rain stopped. So my chair went back out while Scamp stayed in the house to take a call from Annette. Again those sprinkles started. They never got really serious. Just drips from the clouds but maybe a sign of things to come.

Thunder showers are predicted from tonight until midnight tomorrow. Maybe they will cool the weather down and we’ll get some comfortable sleep.

I’m not saying we’re looking forward to tomorrow, but we are looking forward to hearing the result.