Category: St Mo’s

A sunshiny day – 5 March 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Went to bed too late last night, hence had a later than normal surfacing today.

Woke late. Almost afternoon, Scamp said. That’s the price you pay for a getting to bed too late, or too early in the morning as it was yesterday.

After a coffee and a struggle to get Wordle, the world looked a bit better. Lunch was beckoning and in the style of Neil, my breakfast was half of Scamp’s Prawn Bhuna from last night, quickly reheated in the microwave. Unhealthy? Probably. Delicious? Definitely! That completed the rebooting of my system.

We got a WhatsApp message from Jamie from Port of Spain in Trinidad with a photo of Jaime, Simonne and Scamp’s favourite dog Ori. Scamp was delighted.

Scamp had decided to sacrifice the rest of today on the altar of ‘Ironing’. Her argument was that it needed to be done and once it was done, then the rest of the week was her own. My case was similar, but not so well presented. I needed a walk to clear my head and also to get a PoD if any presented themselves.

As it happened, it was the 35mm LensBaby that produced today’s PoD. There was a lot of lovely sunshine creating nice sparkles on the Whin bushes and that in turn created some lovely bokeh (hate that word) in the out-of-focus areas. It also gave a good contrast with the sharply focused subject which was the bright yellow flowers.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Milanese, or chicken that’s been bashed with a rolling pin, dunked in eggy mix and finally dredged in bread crumbs before being pan fried. Scamp made it and served it with ‘rats’ (AKA ratatouille) and potatoes.

We watched an interesting F1 GP from Bahrain with all the usual ducking and diving from the hopeful beginners and the slightly more sensible driving from the old hands. As usual, Scamp predicted the winner.

That was about it for the day and I’m off to my bed now, hopefully before midnight.

Dancin’ – 4 March 2023

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Today we were going dancing, but not until the evening.

That meant we needed to find something to fill up the hours before the dance.

After lunch we went for a walk to the shops to find something quick and easy to make for dinner. That turned out to be an M&S curry each. On the way back I was told to go and have a walk round St Mo’s. I eventually agreed, but as Scamp took the road back to the house, I noticed a couple walking along the path through the trees and thought that make a good photo. Three or four frames later I reckoned I had a PoD. Then I want for that walk around St Mo’s hoping it would help to lessen the headaches I have had for weeks now. Thankfully it did, but I didn’t get any more competition for PoD.

After dinner we got better dressed and drove out to Brookfield, almost driving in the wheel tracks of our taxi driving neighbour who was leaving just before us. He seemed surprised that we were off to a dance on a Saturday night. . He left the M8 at the airport and we carried on to the Irvine turn off and from there to the hall at Brookfield.

When we got there, the hall was better than half full and we managed to grab a couple of seats at David and Carol’s table (another tea dance couple). The first dance as always was a waltz. We’ve been trying hard to master the Foxtrot and the Quickstep, but have disregarded the Waltz recently. It should have been easy to just join together the two routines we knew, but it was made difficult by the fact that there were other people on the dance floor and they kept getting in our way. We did a partial foxtrot and succeeded in completing the quickstep a couple of times. A tentative Rhumba after a couple of tries began to look like it should do too. Lots of folk up for Salsa and I surprised Scamp by introducing a decent Tornado which neither of us could really remember, but ‘muscle memory’ came to our aid after I got us into the starting position and it just worked after that.

Closing time was 10.30pm and it was almost a pleasant drive through a Glasgow devoid of the traffic jam we usually have to face in the afternoons. Back home we watched the qualifying of the first F1 GP of 2023 from Bahrain. It looks like this year won’t be the walkover for Red Bull that last year was.

Far too late we went to bed, that’s why this is a catch-up. No plans for tomorrow, yet.

Ducks and Crocuses – 3 March 2023

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Apparently Crocuses, Crocus and Croci are all acceptable plurals for more than one crocus. Just thought you might like to know that.

I had a lazy morning today, to balance out the day because Scamp was off FitStepping. I sat and read for a while and then checked in with Flickr. I might even have snoozed for a while, and by that time Scamp had returned from her exercise class.

Lunch was soup, that last of it – three day soup is pretty good. After that, Scamp was off to chop more of the plants in the front garden. I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s. Found and photographed a bunch of crocuses in St Mo’s. Now crocuses are not wild flowers, so these ones must have been planted in the grass park and were just growing in the wild. They made PoD. I also did a check on the ladybirds which are still nestled in their various trees. Final photos were of a couple of Mallards which usually take off as soon as they see me. I was careful today and got fairly close while I changed the camera setting to Continuous Shooting which means the camera will take a rapid set of shots until I release the shutter button. As soon as the birds took off, I pressed the shutter and followed them as the climbed into the air. I got one clear shot from the seven I took, which I ‘fiddled’ by enlarging it in ON1. It’s a bit rougher than the original, but it does a good job of enlarging the photos without losing too much detail. It still didn’t beat the crocuses.

Read a bit more of my book when I got back and almost fell asleep on the couch.

According to the weather fairies we may be getting some snow next week. Not sure about the detail yet, and we may miss it, but best to be prepared. I’ll put the snow shove in the car again.

Hoping for a long lie in tomorrow with the prospect of dancing later.

Officially Spring – 1 March 2023

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We drove up to Costa at the town centre this morning for coffee with Isobel on the first day of metrological spring.

Unfortunately, half the weans in the town were also there roaring and shouting, crying and screaming and generally being obnoxious. For the second day this week, all the schools in Scotland were closed while their teachers were out protesting. The noise made this the most uncomfortable couple of hours I’ve had although the coffee was good for a change. I just feel sorry for the folk who have to work in that place with that noise all day.

Isobel gave Scamp a bunch of roses, and gave me a bottle of wine as anniversary presents. Then she explained the tortuous details of her side of the family tree while Scamp made notes to send to her cousin in Australia. I’ve never really been interested in genealogy, and seeing the complexity of this family’s family tree ensured that I won’t be delving into ours any time soon. We dropped Isobel off at her house afterwards and did some shopping in Tesco on our way home.

My daily walk in St Mo’s brought a hibernating or perhaps a just hatched sixteen spot orange ladybird as PoD. I now know where at least around ten of these insects can be found. All orange and all with sixteen spots. I did take a couple of photos of some clumps of Cladonia lichen too, but the ladybird was the winner.

Scamp made leek & potato soup for a starter and she had cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes for her main course. I had soup and then steak and kidney stew with potatoes and the left over cauliflower and broccoli. The Instant Pot heated the stew using the slow cooker function. Useful tool.

Watched Landscape Artist of the Year and we both disagreed with the judges decision. Of the three finalists, the winner would have been in last place if they’d asked me to judge.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to go out somewhere different. I’ll sleep with my thinking cap on tonight.

The last day of winter – 28 February 2023

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That’s metrological winter, not real winter. We’re not going to be suddenly wearing shorts and tee shirts.

For a couple of weeks I’ve been having a nagging headache and a pain in my neck. Yes, I know I am a pain in the neck, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I blamed it on the stress of going on holiday, but knew it wasn’t that. Just after 9am I phoned the surgery and got to speak to the nurse at the second attempt. She asked me some questions and gave me an appointment for 10.35. Just about 10.15 Hazy phoned and I managed a “Hello. How are you?” Before I had to drive up to the doc’s.

The doctor gave me a few prods on the back of my neck and down towards my shoulders and said she was of the opinion that it was arthritic in nature and has given me a month’s course of pills. More Pills! I managed a quick conversation with Hazy when I got back before I settled down with a cup of coffee to solve the Spelling Bee, I’d already scored 4 on Wordle.

After lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got PoD which is a clump of Cladonia tangled up in spider webs. Not exactly earth shattering, but interesting little lichens.

The only other thing vaguely interesting was a deer which saw me before I saw it. It ran away until it was sure I was a safe distance away, then kept watching me while it fed on some coarse grass. I tried a couple of shots but it was far too far away.

Back home I made stew with the Instant Pot. Twenty minutes to cook 500g of diced beef, two kidneys, three carrots and a chopped onion. That’s not bad going. I reckon that twenty minutes could have been cut down to fifteen without causing much of a problem. Scamp had potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.

We’re working through our backlog of tv shows. Tonight it was The Apprentice. Can these people really be as stupid as they are portrayed? I’m beginning to think that most of them are out of work actors making a dishonest bob. None of them would survive in a real job. So says a man who hasn’t worked in a ‘real job’ for about forty years!

Tomorrow we’re booked for coffee with Isobel.

Photos – 27 February 2023

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Photos old and new

Actually I hadn’t taken any of the photos I’m talking about.

The first photos are ones that date back to around 1980, we think, and are of Jamie and Hazy, probably in school. The original has sat on the top of the bookcase in the living room for as long as there has been a bookcase there. Unfortunately it faces the front window and gets the full force of the sun in summer. That’s what has faded it over the years. I’ve scanned it and tried a few times to bring back the colour, but without success. When we came back from holiday I remembered that Photoshop now has a beta version of software that they claim can use AI to restore the colour and repair the scratches on old photos. I tried it on a fresh scan of the old photo and it did quite a good job. After that I dunked it in Lightroom, back into Photoshop, into ON1 and finally back into Lightroom until Scamp and I were satisfied with the result. I’ve now printed it and cropped it to fit the frame. Scamp has cleaned the glass and the frame and the photo is now back on display again. The photo restoration took about four hours, but it was worth it.

I thought I deserved a walk in St Mo’s after that, intending to capture another shot of the ladybirds. Instead it was a photo of a tiny little snail, about 4mm diameter clinging to a tree trunk that made PoD. I have no idea why they climb trees, maybe it’s because they are there!

The second set of photos you’ve already seen Hazy. They were taken by the photographer in the hotel. Good photos too. Separated by about 43 years and light years of technology!

That was about it for Monday. Watched another confusing Death In Paradise and envied you and Sim, Jamie!

Tomorrow I’m going to try to get an appointment with the doc.

Sunday is Washing Day – 26 February 2023

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There were two full cases of washing to be done, so we got on with it.

I say ‘We’, but Scamp was the organised one and she got things sorted into stuff to deal with right away and stuff that could wait for a few days.

With that done we settled down to a normal Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg tearing into politicians of all parties while we had lunch.

Scamp decided to do some ironing and I decided to take the macro lens over to St Mo’s to see what it’s one eye would see. It saw a few Cladonia lichen, but they seemed to be a bit dried up. Probably needed a shower to brighten them up. It saw some ‘Green Blobs’ or more correctly the fruiting bodies of moss. It was the Green Blobs that got PoD after a bit of jiggery pokery in Lightroom and Photoshop. I liked it anyway. It was good to get some direct light to brighten things up.

Back home we re-heated yesterday’s curries and had them for dinner. As a starter we had a glass of champagne in new glasses. The bubbles were from Jackie, Murdo and Mairi. The glasses were a present from Annette. Pudding was Sticky Toffee Pudding with ice cream.

Watched a couple of silly programs on the tv tonight and went to bed before midnight – just before midnight for me!

Green Shoots and Quickstep – 25 February 2023

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Drove to Brookfield in the morning through a lot more traffic than normal.

I don’t know what all the rush was for, but lots of folk were going west today. Not only that, lots of folk had already been there, didn’t like it and were going back east again, judging by the biz on the other carriageway.

We started with a silly wee sequence dance and then we were into the Quickstep. We (I) struggled to start with, but eventually things began to come together and we actually danced for almost a full track without a stop. My, but quickstep is exhausting. Next was a sequence dance to allow us to get our breath back before we entered the slightly easier Foxtrot. Easier, maybe, but not Easy. I was still making mistakes and Scamp was doing her best to correct them. Tango was next and we even managed to incorporate the new turn that Jane had put in. One more sequence and we were done for the day. This is the first dance class for ages that I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed.

Back home I went for a walk in the woods at St Mo’s and got my first ‘Green Shoots’ shot this year. Just a sycamore seedling popping out of the leaf litter, but it’s a sign of things to come. That became PoD.

Dinner was courtesy of Bombay Dreams. Scamp had her usual Mushroom Paneer and I, for a change had Chicken Tikka Bhunna. Both tasted as good as you’d expect from this restaurant/take away.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to relax a bit.

Bobby Flavell – 24 February 2023

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We found out today that Bobby Flavell, one of our long term neighbours had died suddenly on Tuesday. Such a sad thing to happen to a true gentleman.

It was a dull day. Like Tenerife, but without the heat. I walked over to St Mo’s and got one dull shot that became PoD.

The day after you return from holiday is always dull, but losing an old friend makes it feel worse.

We did have one bright spot in the day that lifted our spirits. That was the delivery of a tall, square parcel. Inside was a wooden crate made from thin laths of wood. Inside that was a bundle of wood shavings that protected a rose plant. A Golden Wedding rose. Of course it had come from Hazel, Jamie, Neil and Simonne. A lovely present to get on a dull day. Thank you all.

Tomorrow we’re going dancing.

Busy, busy, busy – 15 February 2023

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Today was just BUSY. It wasn’t the brightest day we’ve had, but there was a lot to do in the house.

Scamp was out in the morning to get her meds and I was busy putting the list of clothes into the big bag and the list of tech in the slightly smaller bag. By lunchtime it was almost done and we settled down to hear what Nick the Chick had to say about SNP and Resignation.

I truly wasn’t expecting that. Neither was Fred, I think. Not one WhatsApp message, photo or dodgy video making fun of her. Nothing. It was that kind of shock. Probably months down the line there will come a revelation that will partly explain the machinations behind her decision to step down as First Minister. For all her faults, she saw the country through two years of Covid and I have to commend her for that. At times we thought she was being too cautious, but better safe than sorry. So, who’s going to take her place? There doesn’t seem to be a rush to pick up that poisoned chalice!

In the afternoon I took a walk in St Mo’s, partly to clear my head and partly to see if the big digger that had been parked there (not in my head) had done anything useful. Well, it had … sort of. Two ponds that act as overspill areas for the main pond had been partly cleared of weed and some of the verges of the main pond had been cleared. Other than that, not a lot. Was that it, or was that just the groundwork for something more major coming soon? Who knows with NLC.

I took a few photos, but nothing interesting, however, on the way home I got today’s PoD which is a trio of swings in the playpark. I think it was one of the photos Alex took at Culross that sparked my imagination. My shot wasn’t quite as good as his, but it was a reasonable PoD.

Finished this morning’s good work and I think everything is where it should be now. No time for a sketch today, but I’ll try to catch up in the coming week.

Early rise tomorrow.