Category: St Mo’s

Walking on new paths – 19 April 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Up and out early to go for a walk in the new paths of Broadwood.

Actually, although we were up and out fairly early, the paths were already being well used by others. Cyclists and joggers were out in force and so too were those, like us, who were out for their daily exercise. On our way out we met a few fellow walkers and in the woods we met hardly any. In fact the paths were so quiet we spotted a deer feeding near the little lochan not far from the famous Irn Bru factory. Fear not, dear readers it was drinking from the lochan, not from a can of Irn Bru.

The walk back was the usual boring walk beside the least interesting piece of manmade loch in the Western Hemisphere. Broadwood Loch is not my favourite place, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. It was made even more tedious by having to avoid the great unwashed walking in the opposite direction or attempting to cycle in that direction via the steep banking on the opposite side of the path from the loch. The punter in question just managed to stay vertical, more from good luck than from skill. Forget the story that “It’s just like riding a bike. You never forget.” Possibly you do never forget, but only if you knew how to do it in the first place. Pity, because it was a waste of a new bike!

Back home and after lunch I started again at the painting of the four slices of orange. I’d given up yesterday and slapped a coat of white on top. Today I redrew the painting with new orange slices. It was a bit better, but still not right. Eventually I gave up and started a third time on a new sheet of paper. This time I used a viewfinder, something I’ve never used before, but with its help I managed a reasonable copy of the scene in front of me. Slapped some thin acrylic washes on the sketch and left it to dry while I took the camera for a walk in St Mo’s.

Not much happening there, but at least I was out of the house again and doing something. The something I did was complete my 10,000 steps for the day and then a little late the 8 active hours. Result (of a sort)! Today’s PoD was of catkins sitting on the surface of the pond, like little yellow ducklings. Back home I finished the painting and it started to look much better. Sometimes it’s the simple things, like the shadows that bring a picture together.

Mojitos tonight. Not the best mojitos I’ve made, but reasonable. Scamp later told me I was using the wrong sugar and I suggested that soda water might have been better than sparkling water. Just excuses really. The best way to enjoy a mojito is to get someone to make it for you and then try to walk back to your hotel. That’s not going to happen any time soon.

Spoke to JIC tonight and found out that our nice warm day with a cold wind was a non-starter, compared to their 20+ºc. We probably managed 14º at best, and that was without windchill.

Tomorrow, as usual in Lockdown, we have no plans. Well, maybe some dancing practise again.

East wind, Cold wind – 17 April 2020

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It was a bit dull dreich looking out at it today. Outside it was quite cold too.

It didn’t feel like a day for venturing far. In the afternoon the sun did try to get through, but without much success. I finished off the trees painting and it’s hanging in Instagram as I write. It’s number five in an as yet undisclosed number of sketches loosely linked by the title Lockdown Library. I’ve now decided that they will all be square format to fit in with the original Instagram ideal. How long it lasts and what the medium is each day is, shall we say, loose at present.

I did encourage myself to go out to St Mo’s in the afternoon to get some photos and some exercise. It’s so easy on these dull days to just sit there on the sofa while the day drifts by. The prospect of getting some photos to brighten up the blog and to add to the 366 encourages me to go out. All you youngsters who are now furloughed (if that is even a word), and all of you who are working from home, use these home-days as a taste of how life might be when you’re retired (if that is even a word when you reach 65, 70, 75 …).

There wasn’t much to photograph today. I did see a deer, but it saw and heard me too and was off. He/she needn’t have bothered. I was only armed with the E-M1 and a 30mm lens. The deer would have had to have been inside the social distancing limit for me to get a photo. What I did get was the cheery couple of Wood Anemones you see here. I also took inspiration from Ruth Spigelman on Flickr and attempted a ‘Fly Day Friday’. There were some flies around and the one I chose was black and looked a bit like a flying ant. I expect that come next Friday I’ll have forgotten all about Fly Day Friday. Not many people walking round St Mo’s today, but a constant stream combining their exercise walk with a shopping for essentials down at the new shops. We may go there tomorrow after our delivery from Tesco which is scheduled for between 12noon and 1pm.

Watched the second episode of Quiz. Yes, Hazy we can see how this is quite intriguing. Earlier we went through the four ballroom dances we (kind of) know, this time dancing them to music.

Possibly shopping tomorrow and finding places for all the groceries from Tesco.

Out walking – 16 April 2020

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Firstly for food and later for exercise. Are you allowed to say “for enjoyment’? Or is that forbidden in this strange new world?

Went out this morning to go to the butcher’s and passed a line of Wild Cherry trees, Gean, we call them. Thin, almost bare branched with a bunch of fluffy white flowers on the end. They never cease to cheer me up, even on a dull day. Today was a dull day and with a cold wind too! Walking back I decided I had to have a photo of them and this was the best one. I’ve been photographing these trees for years now. Not every year, but almost. The first camera I remember using to photograph them was an Olympus C2000z back around the year 2000. Twenty years ago! I must dig out those photos if they’re still around. Anyway, that first walk was for essential provisions, which is perfectly legal.

The second walk was in the afternoon. Twice round St Mo’s pond and a chance for more photography. If asked why we were walking round a pond twice I’d have to say that it was for exercise. No officer we did not gain any enjoyment out of the walk at all it was a route march over hills and through woods, purely to breath fresh air into our lungs. There is a theory that walking in pine woods is good for the respiratory system. I read that once officer. Luckily no officers were there to interrogate us on the reasons we were out of our house. It seems that some of our constabulary are taking the new powers a bit seriously and laying down the letter of the law, rather than its spirit.  We’ve not been bothered, but some people have.

Dinner tonight was an attempt at a chicken stir fry and although neither of us was one hundred percent happy with the result, it was worth trying again and another recipe that needs just a bit of gentle tweaking.

Spoke to Hazy tonight and she pointed us in the direction of Quiz which is a dramatised version of the attempt to cheat at Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Watched episode 1 on the Amazon Fire Stick. Much quicker than trying to get the TV/Tivo combination to connect to it. Quite enjoyed it.

The other thing I watched was another instalment of Watercolour Artist on Sky Arts. I’d watched one episode before and it was fairly staid and “British”. That’s not a compliment. The second one was set near Edinburgh and involved three artists painting the Forth Bridges … two of them. Where was the other one, the Queensferry Crossing, the newest one? It wasn’t on any of the camera shots. Only at the end did it become clear. The film was made in 1999!! That’s even before my Oly C2000z! I believe “Scraping the bottom of the barrel” is the expression I’m looking for. That’s another thing about the Lockdown. There is a dearth of new drama, documentary (except Covid-19 related) and soaps. Once we return to ‘normal’ whatever normal will be then, there will probably be a hiatus while the filming backlog is filled in. And then there will be Brexit …

Tomorrow we have no plans. Maybe more walks and maybe some dance practise.

Just another glorious day – 15 April 2020

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Long may they last.

More sunshine and more warmth. Gentle breeze that didn’t really cool things down dramatically.

I walked down to the shops to get some basil for dinner and a couple of limes to make Mojitos. As it happened, the basil was used for dinner, but we both agreed the Macaroni with Bacon, Peas and Basil was promising a bit more flavour than it was producing. More, or stronger, cheese and a bit more of the creamy sauce was both our suggestions. The limes weren’t used, however. Maybe at the weekend we’ll have a couple of Mojitos to let us pretend we’re in sunny climes. I went for limes and basil, but returned with wine (never a bad thing) pizzas (they were cheap) and chicken goujon things which went into the freezer to be discovered some day when we’ve nothing in our mind for dinner. Sat in the garden and soaked up some rays when I came back from the shops. The shops were fairly quiet for a change. No need to queue at M&S!

Earlier in the day we were working in the garden. Scamp got the front grass cut and I’m sure she’ll feel better for that. She managed to do the whole grass, yet still avoid the delicate looking little Stock flower that was growing through the grass. Now that’s skill. I planted some more peas (Ambassador) in little planters this time. I also planted some teasel seeds in a tray. We brought the seeds up from our visit to Hazy in January, when N-D was off in Goa. Not sure they’ll thrive here, but I’ll try.

While I was on my way to the shops, I took a detour through St Mo’s and got today’s PoD of a ladybird taking the high road over the edge of a leaf. First ladybird I’ve seen this year, a Seven Spot.

Had a short dance practise tonight.  Jive was the subject, but we couldn’t remember how to do one of the moves, the Whip Throwaway.  It was never a favourite, but now it seems to be lost in both our heads.  Maybe a night’s sleep will bring it back.

Weather looks dull for tomorrow, but we can’t complain because the past few days have been glorious. No real plans for tomorrow. Today’s sketch was a poor rendition of an apple. I must do better tomorrow.

A cold start – 13 April 2020

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It had been cold during the night, but once the sun broke through, it soon warmed up and turned into another beautiful day.. Nothing much to do today and no need to go anywhere.

In the afternoon I went for a walk with the Nikon, a long tele lens and a macro lens. Carried the Oly 5 with Samyang 7.5mm lens in my pocket, just in case anything worked for it.

<Technospeak>
I’d had a problem yesterday with the Nikon. Some of the pics were blurry. Couldn’t explain it because they were all shot at 1/800th sec shutter which should have dealt adequately with camera shake. After some research, I began to suspect mirror slap which means that the mirror flipping up causes internal vibrations in the camera. Fancy modern cameras have a setting that reduces it, but the D7000 is the oldest of the 7000 series and doesn’t have that facility. What it does have is ‘Quiet Mode’ which I think may be the predecessor to the damping of the mirror. I switched it on today and it seemed to work. No visible, or should I say less visibly blurred shots. I’ll keep a watching brief.
</Technospeak>

I wanted to get some Hover Fly photos, but the hover flies, though hovering happily wouldn’t stay still once they’d landed which led to some interesting shots of empty grass stems. Also, they were easily spooked and so I couldn’t get close enough to use the macro lens and was trying my best with the long lens. It’s not nearly as good at fine detail as the macro. However, I did get some decent shots after a while.

Walking back home I noticed the light shining through the larch tree pine needles and they weren’t bothered by me getting close with the macro lens. One of the shots of them made PoD.  Polis car drove round St Mo’s car park when I was walking home, then positioned itself at the entrance.  Not so much looking for ‘baddies’ as much as acting as a deterrent for anyone foolish enough to think they can drive to the park to go for a walk.  Warning, police state approaching!

Back home, we sat in the garden for a while and enjoyed the late afternoon sun before it began to cool and I went in to make the dinner. Unusually for a Monday, it wasn’t pasta, but risotto. Chicken and Mushroom risotto. Worked out fine, and the next bit is just a reminder for me if I have to make it again.
Pan fried the chicken pieces in oil, then made the stock for the risotto. Once it was hot I transferred the chicken pieces from the pan to the stock pot. That way the flavour of the chicken juices was added to the stock. Seemed to work.

Put a sketch on Instagram today. Just a pencil sketch of a wee bowl that sits beside the TV. It looked lovely in the sunlight this morning. It’s the first of my Lockdown Library. Don’t know how long the series will continue. We’ll have to wait and see.

Up early tomorrow to get our Iceland delivery, all the way from Reykjavík I believe.

Better than we expected – 12 April 2020

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We had expected a cold, cloudy day, but we got quite a lot of sunshine.

Scamp managed to grab a delivery slot for Saturday 18th from Tesco. Isn’t it strange that something so mundane as ordering a grocery delivery can bring a smile to our faces? It’s a measure of how our lives have changed. Anyway, while she set up the Saturday delivery, I amended our Tuesday delivery, adding a few things. Mainly because I’d never done that before. It’s also strange that something that’s being done by all the supermarkets is slightly different in all of them.

Both tasks completed, we went for a walk in St Mo’s. I took the Nikon and the little Oly 5 which doesn’t get out much now. I know how it feels. The Nikon produced some brilliant macro shots of furry looking ferns, a bright green blob (also known as a moss fruiting body) an a nesting coot. The Oly 5 with the fish-eye lens attached captured a wide angle view of St Mo’s. The PoD went to the furry fern crozier. The remainder can be seen on Flickr. The park wasn’t too busy today, just a few weans on bikes and a couple of adults taking their daily exercise. Scamp took my photo on the bench I’d earmarked for last Wednesday’s shot, but I’ll keep it on my phone for now, because I look guttered. It was meant to show off the tee shirt I got from Canute, but you can hardly see it. Pity, because I quite like it.

Scamp spent a half hour or so talking to Shona on the phone. I can’t imagine how that girl copes with Ben in a flat on lockdown. Anyone who has kids at this time must be absolutely round the twist trying to find something, anything, for them to do while they’re not at school.

We both spent half an hour speaking to JIC later and marvelled at the amount of gardening they’re getting done in the warm weather they get.  Got a fair bit of slagging from him for not being able to get a delivery from Ocado.  OK JIC, I walked into that one!

One idea I’ve had started from a picture I saw on Flickr. It’s an Instagram challenge to complete a drawing a day for the lockdown period. I’m a bit late coming to it, but it sound feasible. Starting it tomorrow. Small sketch posted from my phone.

That’s it for today. A bright, sunny, spring day in lockdown. Tomorrow will probably feel more like winter if the weather fairies are to be believed.

Another beautiful day in the sun – 11 April 2020

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Woke to grey skies and the threat of rain, but then the sun came out.

Lunch today was a reheat of yesterday’s Saag Aloo toned down a bit with some extra cream and a little water to reduce the effect of the salt and also to cool the chilli! Like most curries, it improved with age.

We needed milk today and it was my turn to go for the messages. I thought I could link it in with a walk in the park, but then decided it would be better for my step count if I did two separate walks. First one was to M&S for the essentials: Milk, cheese and tomatoes. Dumped the messages in the kitchen and took my camera for a walk in St Mo’s.

Beautiful day, bright sunshine and warm if you were out of the wind, which I made sure I was for most of the walk. Definitely saw few hoverflies and another couple of peacock butterflies. Didn’t get many photos, the spotted a couple walking along the boardwalk and grabbed the shot. I liked the way it was framed. Back home, Scamp was going out to sit in the back garden, so I joined her with a glass each of red wine. It was comfortably warm with just a little cooling breeze blowing in from the west, but the temperature was certainly high teens. It’s going to be much cooler (colder!) tomorrow with the wind swinging to the north. We stayed in the garden discussing possible rearrangements of plants and planting. Took a few shots of one of Scamp’s Christmas Rose plants. I used the Nikon with the 105mm macro lens and it did a really good job of the close up. That became PoD. Did a bit of gentle pruning and retired to the house when the sun went down. Take the chance of a seat in the sun while you can.

Scamp had found a YouTube channel with a full length stage version of JC Superstar filmed in Manchester arena. That was tonight’s entertainment. Very good interpretation of one of our favourite films. We’d actually intended watching the DVD of the film tomorrow night. Maybe we still will, or we may leave it until Monday.

It looks like the weather’s changing overnight, so we may not be sunning ourselves tomorrow!

Daddy’s gone to Iceland – 10 April 2020

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Yes, I know we’re supposed to stay home and keep safe this Easter Weekend, but this was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

The offer was a delivery slot from Iceland for Tuesday, almost brilliant. “Almost”, because it’s for a time slot between 8am and 10am and with my luck it will be at the ‘8’ end of that time period, so I need to be up early for it. That said, it’s a slot and there aren’t many of them around. Coincidentally, it was last Friday Scamp managed to snag a slot on Tesco. Perhaps Friday’s are the key to nabbing a slot.

Scamp volunteered to go shopping to the local shops and brought back a fair amount of goodies. It was a dull start to the day, but by the time she was going out (solo) it had warmed up and the sun was shining. So much so that she came back I took the Nikon out for a walk in St Mo’s. At first I couldn’t see anything worthwhile to photograph, but then I spotted a hoverfly, first one this year and was sure I’d seen a butterfly too. It wasn’t until a bit later in a different part of the park I got a good clear shot of it. Not the best photo in the world, but my first butterfly this year. It’s a Peacock and fairly common, but it’s another sign that spring is here.

PoD was a long lens shot of a crow sitting on a branch. I liked the graphical feel of the shot. It almost looked black and white on the computer and when I changed it into true B&W I hardly noticed the difference. Second time around the pond I found the carcass of a swan. Don’t know what killed it. It could be a loose dog or a fox or daft kids throwing bricks, but there wasn’t much left of today. Then I heard a couple of swans flying overhead. They swung round the park and then landed on the pond. That sent the two resident swans into frenzy. They started puffing up their wings and heading in to separate the newcomers. It seemed like battle royal for a while, then everything calmed down. It looked like the residents won and the two visitors were being carefully monitored. Peace had broken out when I left. Didn’t get any decent shots of the action because my Tamron was in stupid mode and wouldn’t focus properly. It’s an odd beast. Sometimes it produces pin-sharp shots, others it’s a pain in the arse.

Aloo Saag for dinner. It too is a pain in the arse to make, but it usually tastes brilliant. Didn’t quite hit the mark tonight. Too much salt or too little spinach, I’m not sure which, but the result was the same – too salty, the customer said.

We did a bit of dancing practise tonight. Waltz No 1 and Waltz No2, then Foxtrot and finally Quickstep. All done to music too. These practise sessions work for me. They just get the muscle memory working.

As usual no plans for tomorrow. We’ll take the day as it comes.

Short and sweet – 9 April 2020

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Not a lot to say about today, so this will be short and sweet.

After the excitement of yesterday, today was a bit of a let down as far as the weather was concerned. I presume a lot of work went in to getting the weather just right for my birthday, so today was recompense for that. It started off dull and grey and eventually deteriorated into drizzly rain tonight.

In the afternoon I did manage to drag myself out to St Mo’s to get a few photos, but the PoD was taken earlier in the garden with a little bit of light, not actually very bright light, but light none the less and I’ll take that. The subject is Scamp’s Pieris, variety Forest Flame. It really lives up to its name with bright red leaves in the spring and the promise of its tiny little white bell flowers to come in late April and early May. It’s a real uplifting bush, especially on a dull day.

Yesterday both the usual park benches were in use and today nobody wanted to sit in the damp and decidedly cold east wind. I can’t blame them really. Lots of geese seem to have taken up squatter’s rights in the pond and the two swans are making a show of telling them who’s pond it is. Like two big white polis, they patrol the perimeter of the pond shouting “Move along there. Nothing to see.” In swan-speak, of course.

So that was it for today. Another two prezzies today, one from Neil-D’s mum and dad and another from Gems, well probably Margie really! Lovely lady.

Tomorrow we must a-foraging for milk, bread and possibly eggs. Just down to the local shops, because it’s unlikely there will be any slots for Tesco and we can’t understand the workings of the ASDA Click ’n’ Collect layout.

There you are. I told you it would be short and sweet, and it was.

How terribly strange – 8 April 2020

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To be seventy.

After breakfast this morning I opened the parcels. These weren’t prezzies, they were gifts from my family. From my son and daughter, from my son-in-law and daughter-in-law. I really cannot put on paper just how humble I felt. You are all wonderful. I know this wasn’t the birthday celebration you’d planned, but your generosity, especially at this time is beyond words. I love you all.

I wanted to have a photograph to remember today. It was along the lines of a Paul Simon song “Old Friends”:

“Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be seventy.”

Around midday, Scamp and I took a walk over to St Mo’s. I knew of two park benches there. Both of them were in use. One with a mum phoning everyone in the western world, sequentially, one after the other and keeping the seat occupied. The other was home to at least two families of mums and weans who didn’t look as if they were going to move anywhere fast. We walked on and that was when Scamp noticed the “Bee Seat”. It’s a wooden bench seat in the grassy area of the park, away from the path, so I suppose it was an actual ‘Park Bench’ and it was quiet. I set up the tripod and took a few shots. I just knew one of them would have me moving. One would have either Scamp or me with our eyes closed and one or two would be fine. I was right. I picked the best one and it became PoD.

Back home and after a quick lunch, Scamp went out to wash her car. I thought it was a good idea, so once she was finished, I washed mine too, just to get the seagull crap off it. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and chatting to the next door neighbours at well over the recommended 2m distance. Me with a glass of beer and Scamp with a G&T. The neighbours were having a wee glass of something too. A very civilised way to spend a birthday afternoon.

I’d requested a mince pie for dinner, not to be confused with a mincemeat pie. This is a half a pound of mince seasoned with salt and Bisto and wrapped in flaky pastry. Baked in the oven for about 25 mins, or until cooked. Hot or cold it’s delicious. I had half tonight and will hopefully deal with the other half tomorrow. My cake was a Scamp speciality, a coffee cake, with just the one candle. Seventy would probably have set off the smoke alarm and been an absolute nightmare to blow out. We held off the lighting of the candle until we were on Zoom and all three parts of the family were together. It was good to see everyone together again, only two weeks since our last hook up.

Scamp, as well as providing the cake and the dinner had made me up a ‘Lucky Box’ with an assortment of goodies with the inevitable Toblerone. All the separate items wrapped up in tissue paper to make it even more festive. She also managed to make me a birthday card, a birthday banner and also posters. Such a clever girl.  Thank you, all of you who sent messages, e-cards and analog cards.  Thank you all.

All in all I had a wonderful ’Special Birthday’. One I really enjoyed.

Tomorrow we may go shopping for milk and bread. Just the basic staples.