Category: St Mo’s

Johnny Frosty – 4 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Some folk have Jack Frost, but my mum always called him Johnny Frosty, pronounced “Joanny Froasty”

Joanny Froasty definitely was about this morning. He’d been up early to cover the cars with a crisp white coating. The temperature was still sub-zero when Scamp went to make breakfast. It was her turn. We chose not to rush to get up because it was warm in bed and we both had good books to read. Let those who wanted to go to work, go. We’d stay and mind the house.

We did eventually get up and since it was such a lovely crisp morning, I suggested a walk. Maybe just a short one around St Mo’s pond. Scamp wasn’t sure. She’s not too keen on walking when it’s icy and we were pretty sure it was going to be icy. It was. We had to walk on the grass most of the way over to the park and then again on the grass until we were up the hill and under the cover of the trees where there isn’t ever much standing water to turn into ice. The rest of the fairly recently laid tarmac was an ice rink. A sloping ice rink that threatened to slide you down into the pond itself. Luckily the grass was still boggy and gave a better grip. Next time, if it’s still icy, we’ll dig out the Yak Trax. I was just reading last years blog yesterday about how we could crunch across the icy paths with these steel shod feet. What clever folk Mr Yak and Mrs Trax were.

I took some photos as we walked round the pond and they looked good on the camera screen, so I was content to limit our walk to just the one circuit. Scamp agreed and we walked back, sticking to the grass where we could.

After lunch it was time to take down the decorations, the cards and the tree. Now they are all bagged and boxed and waiting for me to put them in the loft until next year. The place did look a bit bare, but not for long.

I wasn’t impressed with the photos taken in St Mo’s once I’d downloaded them from the camera and decided there was just enough time to grab some more before the sun set. It was much colder than when we had our walk this morning. The sun was low now and not nearly as warming as it had been, however I did get some shots I liked and was heading home when I saw three different skeins of geese all travelling west. Probably heading for a grassy field not far away which seems to support many groups of geese on their journey south. It’s great to watch these flights of birds and even better to listen to them calling to each other. I often wonder what they are saying. But the cold was beginning to bite now and I headed home.

These photos were much better and I actually got three good enough to go on Flickr. My favourite, and PoD was the one you see here of the weed with the ice melt forming balls of water, with setting sun behind them.

My next task was to find out how much MPB would give me for my hardly used Oly E-M1 Mk2. The good thing about selling through them is that you get an instant quote, based on your estimated condition for the camera. I was happy with the quoted price and downloaded the form which never prints properly the first time. I finally got it printed, filled in and signed. Then I had to find all the bits and pieces that had to go in the box along with the camera. With it all boxed up it was time for dinner. Scamp was making a J&S speciality, Bacon and Borlotti Beans. Great recipe, beautifully cooked.

Last thing to do was to wrap up the parcel to be uplifted by DPD tomorrow. I was a wee bit sad to be sending that lovely camera away, but I hadn’t used it for months and it seemed a shame to just have it sitting there when I could get some money from it. Of course I have a way for that money to go!

Tomorrow I’d like to get some photo paper and we need a wall calendar too. Scamp has volunteered to wait in for the parcel.

A Visitor – 2 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Rather late breaking the surface this morning, but the morning was good.

We’d both quite a lot to do today. Shona was coming to dinner. To that end, dinner would need to be made. I was doing the bread and the soup. Scamp was making the main and the pudding. I had the easier job of the two.

Firstly, the weather was fine, dry and bright, so we went for a walk round the pond at St Mo’s. As is becoming traditional, Scamp went for one circuit and I stayed for two. On the second circuit I got a fairly decent shot of a couple of swans looking a bit more animated than is usual for swans. I also spooked a couple of mallards that flew off behind the swans. That picture made PoD and you can just see the two ducks above the swan on the left. Flickr gives a better view.

I got back home before Scamp and started on the bread dough. I was using a flour new to me called Half and Half. Half wholemeal and half whiter flours. It was a bit heavier to knead than plain flour, but was single source, both grains being ground at the same mill. I’m not sure that makes a difference, but provenance seems to be the fashionable thing to have these days.

With the dough in a bowl for its first proving, it was time for lunch. Next for me was to get the soup ready. It was ‘Just Soup’. In other words, anything you can find in the fridge or the veg basket is fair game. Once I had it simmering away, I handed over to Scamp who was making the pastry for an apple pie, again using our apples. I’d hardly started getting the photos into Lightroom when I heard a wail of woe from the kitchen. It seemed the lid for the food processor had cracked almost completely round the rim, with just about 20mm worth holding together. I had a look at it and thought there was just enough strength in the clip to do the job today and after that we’d need to have a go at fixing it or buy a new one. The clip slides into a slot in the body which actuates the safety lock, allowing the motor to start. Indeed there was just enough strength in the clip to complete today’s pastry mixing. Amazon, of course, has the replacement part. Until then, I think some carefully placed Araldite will keep it going.

So bread dough risen and in the ‘beehive’ prover, pastry chilling in the fridge and photos posted on Flickr, a message told us that our guest was on her way. Dinner was a bit later than we’d anticipated, but we did have time to blether away to Shona. We heard how Ben is away at his dad’s this weekend and how things are progressing in the new house. Lots of things seem to need some snagging and some have already been done. All in all she’s glad to be in a house of her own and not on the top floor of a block of flats. Dinner seemed to go well, despite being late and Scamp’s chicken wrapped in pancetta was lovely. My bread was really too warm to cut and suffered for that. The soup needed salt according to Scamp, but neither Shona nor I were bothered. Pudding was beautiful. I hope there’s some left for tomorrow.

Shona seemed to relax after dinner and we sat talking for quite a while. I’d imagined it would be difficult to get a taxi for her with it being just the day after New Year’s Day, but she got one right away when she phoned.

After she left we watched another episode of Around the World in 80 Days. It’s an old story, but well told. I think we both enjoyed it and relaxed for a while.

Just after dinner, Canute phoned to see how we were faring against Omicron. We already knew that their family had come down with it and I could hear the croak in his voice. It seems that Delia is feeling a bit better today as is he. They are still isolating though for their 7 days.

Before lunch today we had both taken a Lateral Flow test just to be sure that Shona would be safe from us, and she said tonight that she had done the same last night. It’s amazing that we bandy the words ‘Lateral Flow’ about, but I have no idea what is flowing and what special significance ‘lateral’ has.

So a good day and a busy one, but we did manage a walk in the morning before the rain came late in the afternoon, and we were entertained by Shona’s tales.

Tomorrow the weather is going to get colder with sub-zero temperatures predicted in the evening. Hopefully that will mean clear skies, but no guarantee. If it’s dry we’ll be walking.

The last one this year – 31 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Sometimes you just have to drag yourself out to take the last photo of the year.

This was the last day of 2021. A day for thinking back to those warm sunny summer days, both of them. When the rain didn’t fall incessantly and you could ignore the weatherproofing of the camera and lens combination. When the wind doesn’t blow the flowers around just as you’re about to press the shutter button. Alas, the reality was another dull, dreary grey day. However I did go out dressed for the weather and took some photos, just like most of the other 364.

That was later in the day. Earlier a parcel had arrived that was bound for my old pal Fred who turned 70 on Christmas Day. I parcelled up the tee shirt and drove up to his house which, luckily, is only about ten minutes by car. It’s nearer an hour if you’re walking, but today wasn’t a day for walking. It was tipping it down. Torrential rain in the early morning had given way to just rain by midday. I caught Fred just as he was coming out of his car and handed over the parcel. I was going to head back via Tesco, but Fred told me there was a queue to get in to the carpark that started at the roundabout about 100m away from the actual carpark. I decided to drive home instead. There wasn’t anything on my list that was essential.

Even earlier, just as we were getting up and admiring the beautiful rain, we got a message from Jamie and then from DHL to say that a parcel would be delivered in about half an hour. We quickly dressed and unlocked the front door luckily just in time to collect the big box the man had left on the step. He looked soaked as he waved and got back in his van. The box contained a lovely hamper hand-made from willow and inside was a great selection of chocolates, biscuits jams and wine. Thank you both. That was a lovely surprise on the last day of the year.

I suggested pizza for dinner. Home made pizza. Scamp seemed happy with that. It used to be a tradition, pizza for dinner on Friday. I made the dough with plenty of time to spare for it to rise then cleaned the downstairs toilet, hoovered the downstairs rooms and then went to look at today’s photos. They were a mixed bunch. Some good, some not so good, but one stood out for me. A little dried out weed whose flowers and seeds had gone but the skeleton of the plant remained. It looked just like a Japanese pagoda to me, and that’s what I called it. The Pagoda Plant. It was PoD. The last PoD of 2021.

The pizza was exceptional. By far the best I’ve made for a long, long time. Scamp had Tuna and Sweetcorn I had Anchovies and Tuna. Both were finished with only crumbs left behind.

It’s been another strange year. Lockdowns, vaccinations, boosters and the constant threat of Covid, but it’s the holidays that will stick in my memory for a long time. Especially the first one in July when all three families came together in Cumbria. I’ll also remember climbing the Nine Standards with Jamie, Simonne, Sheila and Vixen. That was a tough one, but I did make it to the top and it was worth it. You were right, Jamie, it was a lot easier going down.

Tomorrow we have no plans. The weather looks like it might be better than today, so maybe a traditional New Year’s Day walk.

Tonight at 4pm Scamp noticed that it wasn’t quite dark outside. There was a little bit of light in the sky. The days ARE getting longer, we’re coming out of the dark.

Another dull day – 27 December 2021

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Not a lot to say about today, but I’ll give you the highlights.

A late rise, which is becoming the norm these days.  I must get myself off to bed earlier, but after watching a long Christmas special Death In Paradise which just finished ten minutes ago at around 11:15pm, it doesn’t look as if I’ll manage to get to bed very early!

Problems with the iMac in what was left of the morning trailed me all day and are still not properly resolved.  I may need to move all the year’s photos on to an SSD to free up some space on the hard drive.  That may be what’s wrong.  I’m storing too much rubbish.  That could be the story of my life as I’m sure Scamp would agree.

After lunch Scamp went to the shops and I went to St Mo’s because the sky was looking brighter, although the sun was setting.  Scamp returned with a bargain pack of veg and I returned with a PoD that after some work looked good enough to earn the title.  The actual winner was a low down shot of a tree silhouetted against the sky.  That’s how it started, but I got a bit carried away with tweaking this and that and eventually it looked a bit more colourful. I like it and it got Scamp’s seal of approval too.

Dinner tonight was Tuna Pasta with a mixture of pasta shapes to use them up, Green Farfalle, Plain Fusilli and Penne coated in my speciality sugo. We topped it with grated Parmesan which isn’t really legal, because parmesan shouldn’t be added to fish dishes according to my Italian expert. It tasted fine, so it’s sometimes good to bend the rules.  Pudding was Christmas Pudding with Custard.

Struggled a bit more with the iMac later in the evening, then gave up and watched TV.

Don’t know what the weather is going to be tomorrow, so it will be a surprise!

 

A walk in Glasgow and a short day, the shortest – 21 December 2021

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We decided we’d go into Glasgow for a walk to see the lights.

There weren’t nearly as many folk wandering the streets of Glasgow as there were a couple of weeks ago when Alex and I were there. We walked down Bucky Street and thought the crowds were sparse. Only half the stalls were in St Enoch’s Christmas market and Argyle street just had normal weekday shoppers. When we walked up Queen Street the streets were almost deserted. I think we were both shocked by the lack of footfall at what should have been the busiest week of the year. Only Covid seems to be doing good business!

Back home, another parcel was ready to be posted and although I had taken a few shots in Glasgow, I wasn’t sure I had a worthwhile PoD, so I took a camera when I went out to post it. For some reason, and for the second time I’d been at Condorrat post office recently, it was surprisingly empty. Maybe everybody is ahead of the game this year and already have all their cards and parcels posted. It’s either that or, as the lack of crowds in Glasgow would seem to indicate, nobody’s buying presents or spending cards. Anyway, parcel posted and cards too, I went for a walk in St Mo’s woods. Couldn’t find much sign of life animal or vegetable, but I did see the wee pond reflecting a leafless tree and took some shots of that. It was one of them that made PoD. A photo of Bucky Street from the Concert Hall joined it on Flickr.

That was about the end of the excitement and the exercise for today, but I did achieve my 10,000 steps which I haven’t done for a long time.

Today was the shortest day and it felt like it too. From now on the days will get longer, the sun will shine bright and longer and that will cause the temperature to increase. Oh look! Another flying pig!!

Tomorrow I’m out for coffee with Val. A chance for some ‘tech talk’. Then in the afternoon we are hoping to visit Margie. Getting out and about for a change.

A dull day with a walk through – 19 December 2021

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It didn’t really rain today. It felt like it couldn’t be bothered, so it just smirred all day.

We were having lunch when Scamp realised that we hadn’t recorded The Andrew Marr Show. We watch it religiously every week, hardly ever missing an episode of his highly entertaining current affairs program. It’s not really meant to be entertainment, but watching him baiting politicians of all parties is simply excellent viewing. We missed it today because we’d forgotten to add it to the recording schedule. Worst of all, it was his last show because he leaves to host a new politics show on another channel. We needn’t have worried because with the miracles of a new set top box and iPlayer, it was already there for our edutainment.

So, we did get to watch him achieve the impossible by getting Sadiq Khan to answer ‘Yes’ to a question. Brave man Mr Khan having the courage to answer a question so clearly. Sajid Javid was a much slippier customer and manage to complete the ‘Yes – No interlude’ easily (too long ago for most of you to remember. Google Take Your Pick.) I’ll miss watching Andrew Marr on a Sunday morning.

After that I fitted the fully charged battery to the wee Red car. It now starts, or at least it did this afternoon without a problem but the radio still has the Wait 1 Hour message that its had since we tried the wrong pin months ago. How many hours do we have to wait?

Finally I went for a walk and got today’s PoD. A spider web with some water droplets hanging from it. Not startling, but at least it’s a photo and it’s in. It was just miserable out and that constant smirr was in the air all the time.

Talked to Jamie and he gave us a virtual conducted tour of the inside of THEIR new house. Quite a difference from the last time we saw it. It just looks like a home now with their own furniture in it. I know that Scamp is desperate to see it properly, but with the best will in the world, it won’t be until about next March, all being well. That’s a long time to wait, but better to be safe than sorry.

Scamp is booked for coffee tomorrow morning and I’m waiting for the DPD driver to come and collect a parcel. After that, the lady with the swabs and the questions is coming to see us. Busy day.

Back at the Fort – 16 December 2021

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Feeling a bit flat today.

No, it wasn’t the tyres. We were going in Scamp’s car today except I was driving, but when I turned the key, nothing! The battery was flat. Possibly there is an earth leak somewhere or perhaps that cold snap dragged the battery down because it had only been run once in the last month and that was a fairly short run. Whatever, it was my car that I drove to the Fort.

Scamp was going to Next, M&S and Boots. But she had to score Boots off the list because they were counting them in and counting them out today. That’s not supposed to happen until Saturday, so maybe the staff were getting some practise in before the big day, or maybe they were just doing it to screw up the punters day. It didn’t seem to bother the folk who were queueing all the way along the frontage of Boots shop and that’s a really long front.

I was lucky, I was going for two sheets of thin neoprene and a roll of sticky backed velcro. Found both and waited about five minutes to pay. Heaven knows how long the punters outside Boots would have waited for their goods.

Drove home and after peering at the sky, decided I’d go for a walk first to grab some of the available light before it all disappeared. A walk in the woods at St Mo’s got me the PoD. It was an oak leaf with raindrops on it. The detail in the leaf really impressed me as did the colours that were there. No fancy filters or presets were used in it, just an adjustment to the levels (tones) and a bit of judicious cropping. Otherwise it was SOOC or Straight Out Of Camera. Walked down to the shops and felt a bit nervous about being in a crowd of people. I’d felt the same in Glasgow earlier and I did the same thing again, I put my mask on, at least until I was out of the crowds. How the media hype things up makes you think and act defensively at times.

Back home we hadn’t long to wait for the man from Virgin. This one was on the ball. No delving into the innards of the modem, he just tried twice then deemed that the modem was at fault. He put a new one in and it worked right away. All the websites we couldn’t reach without a VPN were now right there. Poor bloke had been working from 7am and didn’t finish today until 8pm. That’s a long shift. He gets 10/10 for everything in the evaluation email that’s coming soon.

Scamp’s been labouring all evening trying to fit a quart into a pint pot. I swear when one of the recipients of a Christmas parcel cuts the tape the contents will expand to fill the room. You have been warned!!

I think that’s the day covered. Scamp has a booking with the Witches for a Christmas lunch tomorrow. I have things to do and a Tesco delivery to find places for until someone tells me where they should all go.

Encouraged – 6 December 2021

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Woke to rain, heavy rain, thumping down.

This wasn’t going to be a good photographing day by the looks of things. Sat down and got started on yesterday’s unfinished sudoku. There are six sudoku puzzles a week in the Times daily block. Five weekday puzzles were Monday is the easiest and Friday is really hard. You get two days to solve one weekend puzzle which is at times diabolical. On Saturday I started what looked like a remarkably easy one, but I wasn’t fooled. Last night I was still struggling with it. As sometimes happens, when I look at it afresh, like today, it just falls into place. Easy! With that done and after a false start, I got today’s done. That took me to coffee time. By the time I’d finished my coffee the sun had come out properly and the rain had stopped. That’s when I was ’encouraged’ by Scamp to go for a walk while the sun was out.

This was a two camera day. I thought I might get some decent light and with the kit lens on the big camera and the macro on the other one, I was ready for most things. I saw my first opportunity when I was walking up the path to the ’venchie. That was the abbreviated version of Adventure Playground. It’s a bit more upmarket than the one that two of my readers would remember, but is just as well used. By kids in the daylight hours and neds in the evenings. You don’t want to know what goes on in there after dark. You might think you know, but it will always be worse. Anyway, it was just a photo of a leaf and it was just to get the ball rolling so to speak. Next I found an old scarf tied to a tree branch. It has been there for years and is now growing all sorts of fungi and a nicely sprouting hummock of moss on top. Quite photogenic to a photog.

Walked over to St Mo’s where everyone but me had a dog. Dog walkers look at you kind of strange if you’re walking alone and without a dog on a string. Why? Dog-walkers, on the end of that bit of string is a creature that is one stage away from a carnivorous wild animal. And you think I’m strange? Some of them even have two or three of the things. Each of them capable of communicating with each other and planning your demise in a language no translator will be able to understand. I walked on.

I took photos of Cladonia lichen which I love and besides it looks as if I’m photographing a rock. Sometime I talk to myself while I’m doing it. That really spooks the dog-walkers. You can see them pulling their pooches away from the obviously deranged man in the old dirty jacket. You see how photogs get a bad name now? PoD ended up being a monochrome shot of a park bench in St Mo’s. The scarf came a close second and in third place was a rather limp nettle. All can be seen on Flickr.

After lunch I spent the rest of the afternoon trying and failing to avoid writing Christmas cards until dinner time. Spaghetti Carbonara followed by panna cotta.

A strange thing happend last night, just as I was locking up before going to bed.  There was what looked like an envelope lying in the garden.  I went out to have a look and it was indeed an envelope.  No address on the front, just a message Merry Christmas.  Inside was a Christmas card with a message “To you Stranger.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.  A random act of kindness perhaps?  Scamp suggested we put it in the window in the kitchen.  Hopefully someone will see that it was delivered and read.  There are good people out there.

Tomorrow Scamp has an appointment with the dentist and I’m taxi driver.

 

 

Feeding the Jucks – 3 December 2021

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Feeding the jucks with the wrong food, apparently.

It was a lazy start to the day. Not really cold, dull and cloudy with the occasional burst of sunshine. Not enough sunshine and not really warm enough to encourage me to leave the comfort of the house though. It wasn’t until after lunch that I took that step. Scamp wasn’t really interested in going for a walk, and I didn’t blame her.

The temperature was cooling down when I finally took the steps that led me outside. Toting both cameras again. A6000 with the macro lens and A7m2 with the standard lens for a change. I also had a loaf of green speckled bread under my arm to feed the ever hungry ducks and swans. That was my first task, to feed those hungry beaks.

A great way to start a food fight is to chuck a slice of bread into St Mo’s pond. Gulls, ducks, swans, coots and geese all diving in as if they’d never been fed for weeks. More like minutes, actually. With all the bread gone and the big daddy swan hissing his discontent at me, I emptied all the crumbs from the paper and went on my way.

I met a bloke who told me I shouldn’t really be feeding the birds with bread, because it’s not good for them. He wasn’t quite as confrontational as that, nor was he as blunt, but I got his message. I asked him what I should be giving them and he replied, sweetcorn. Apparently the enjoy sweetcorn and it’s good for them. Easily digested, he said. Then we discussed the age of the swans and how they live in different ponds, the same way we go visiting relatives and friends in other parts of the country. He did seem to know a fair bit about them and was happy to share his knowledge without making a nuisance of himself.

While I was walking round the pond thinking about what he’d said, I spotted some Canada geese in one of the quieter and deeper parts of the pond. Canada geese sometimes overwinter at the pond, but get a hard time from the resident two swans who are forever hustling them about. I took a few photos with the 6000 and the birds didn’t immediately fly away. In fact they swam a bit closer. I took some more shots with the A7 and the sun came out, lighting the trees on the far side of the pond. Potential PoD in the bag.

I was heading for the rough ground behind the pond hoping for a similar shot to yesterday’s with the low sun giving some warm light. I was much too early, probably an hour too early. I did get an interesting shot with decent light of a single cow parsley stem holding water drops in its claw-like seed heads. Another possible PoD.

After processing at home it was the geese that won the day, but the cow parsley shot is in Flickr for your perusal. Not a bad day’s photography, and a bit of information on feeding the swans stored away.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Biriyani. Spicy hot and not really a great taste. Apparently it can do some damage to your liver too. Don’t think we’ll be eating enough of it to do that much damage.

Tomorrow we may be going to dance class. To that end, Scamp and I had a quick practise of the Christmas Pudding Rock. Just a made up Christmas sequence dance. A bit of fun. Other than that, not much planned.

 

A birthday and going for the messages – 2 December 2021

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Just a normal shopping day at Tesco, after the singing.

The singing was done in text format over WhatsApp to Hazy and went along the lines of:
“Happy Birthday to you”

I drove us to Tesco and Scamp consulted her Little List as the basis of the shopping. While we were wandering around the aisles I bumped into Fred and found out that things are looking up now at home. Glad to hear that. We’ve agreed to have a coffee sometime soon. The list had about ten items on it and we left an hour or so later with four big bags full of groceries. Drove home in time for a cup of coffee before lunch.

After lunch Hazy sent a message to ask if we wanted to do a Zoom call. Of course we did. Scamp sang “Happy Birthday” to Hazy. I was out of the room at the time, but that was probably for the best. Singing is not my forté I’m afraid. We sat and talked for a quite a while. It was good to speak face to face, even a virtual face to face after such a long time. So much has happened since our family holiday in Cumbria back in July.

After we said our goodbyes and closed down the computer the light had almost disappeared, then the sun broke out through the clouds and all was well again. I grabbed both cameras and headed out looking for deer. I didn’t find any deer. I did find an interesting sky that might make it to Flickr once I get it looking at its best. PoD, however, went to a spear of whin with a strip of sunset orange below it. I liked the picture when I saw it through the viewfinder, but even better for me, was the format. The long narrow strip fitted the subject perfectly in my eyes.

Smoked haddock and cabbage risotto for dinner cooked in the oven. It doesn’t sound very appetising, but you’d be wrong for rejecting it just because of its ingredients. It was lovely, and best of all, no standing stirring the rice for twenty minutes. Just let the oven do the hard work.

I hope you had a lovely day Hazy.

I don’t really know what we’re doing tomorrow. Nothing planned yet.