Category: St Mo’s

A dull day – 9 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

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.

The last day of July – 31 July 2025

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And what a whirlwind month it’s been. There have been a lot of flowers, some insects, the occasional dummy and spiders. There have been a few hoverflies and one or two damselflies but no dragonflies. Not really any landscapes, but a few still lifes or should that be Lives?

Clothes pegs! There was one instance of clothes pegs in the rain. One PoD got Explore. I liked the texture in that one. Then the obscure ones, like the painter on the Cherrypicker, the entrance to a church and the ladies blethering! And bees lots of different bees and a barrel load of butterflies of all shapes, colours and sizes. Quite a collection!

Today has been a bit of a struggle, but I’ve learned a few tricks and need to learn a few more with the super fast, but clumsy new iMac. I think I need to consult one of the experts again to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

If all else fails, I’ll start again with another month of Five Stars.

PoD was a wild geranium surrounded by Cranesbills.

No real plans for tomorrow.

Just a little rain – 27 July 2025

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Not torrents of rain, but just enough to keep the plants watered. That’s all we want.

Not a busy day by any means. A fairly easy Sunday. The most work I did was to sew a button on my walking trousers. I can never work out how to direct the needle into the correct buttonhole. It’s such a simple thing, but it evades me every time. I finally got it done and it’s in the washing bag now ready for a shower.

Scrambled egg for Scamp’s lunch. I also had a scrambled egg, but that was unintentional. It was meant to be a fried egg, but the egg had other ideas and eventually I gave in and let it have its way. I added a couple of rashers of bacon to keep it company. The bacon wasn’t scrambled.

In the afternoon Scamp an I went for a walk to the shops and on the way back, I took a walk through St Mo’s while Scamp carried the messages the remainder of the way home. She had some cleaning to do in the house and I was looking for inspiration. I ended up with just a couple of reasonable shots of what might be sycamore keys hanging from a branch. That became PoD on a dull day.

Dinner was Chicken and Pea Traybake which Scamp made for a change. It tasted better than mine, I think. Possibly it was because she used bigger chunks of leek and probably she’s just a better cook than me.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening halfway through a boring F1 GP from Spa. I managed to pick his brains about his coffee maker which I might splash some cash on some day in the future. I also explained my reason for getting a new computer. The old one I’m writing this on is really going downhill fast and it can’t be upgraded. Apple can be such a pain in the backside sometimes.

Hoping for a little bit more rain tomorrow and maybe another shopping expedition to Tesco. What fun!

Walking with the bees – 25 July 2025

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Other insects were also there. Some stingers, some biters and some that just buzzed round my head and deserved a good slap for annoying me.

Before that, Scamp was out early as usual on a Friday, to go to FitSteps. I decided to stay home and do some work for a change, mainly because it had started raining. Before she left for her class, Scamp gave me instructions for using the new liquid for the washing machine and when she left I emptied all the dirty washing into the washing machine and set it chugging through the load.

Next I’d some clearing out to do on the iMac. Just some old files that I no longer needed. The oldest were no longer suitable for the eight year old iMac, so must have come from its predecessor, the Mac Book Pro, running Snow Leopard! I think they must belong to the clockwork version. I also managed to check the security files, passwords and such. Before I knew where I was, the washing machine beeped to tell me its work was done for the morning. That meant I had to hang up the washing inside as it was still raining.

Lunch was a ‘Piece in Corned Beef’. I’d forgotten I had some in the fridge and didn’t want it going to waste. By then Scamp had returned hot and bothered after a heavy exercise session with Kirsty and the rest of the girls. She made some corrections to my handling of the damp clothes. I will write it up some time soon to ensure I don’t make the same mistake another time.

I went for a walk down to the shops by the convoluted paths round the back of St Mo’s school since the pupils are still on summer holidays. However it was the bees that grabbed my attention. I’d doused myself well with Smidge insect repellant first and walked down the narrow path with shoulder high wild flowers on both sides and it seemed that every plant was covered with bees searching for nectar and being covered with pollen as a result. I made the mistake of setting the camera to Continuous Shooting which means that if you hold the shutter button down, it will just keep taking photos until it has filled its buffer or you remove your finger. Even on ‘slow’ mode I still managed to capture 70 photos in a short time, most of which ended up in the bin. Today’s PoD was a White Tailed Bee feasting on a Creeping Thistle flower.

Dinner was beans, and chips with an egg for Scamp and a couple burgers with chips and jalapeños for me. A fairly decent dinner.

The rain had drifted by the time I was walking down the path behind St Mo’s and the sun shone for a while in the early evening. Not a bad day.

Nice to see where you are staying Hazy and Neil. Pity about the birds messing on the seats. Be more strict with them and tell them to clean up their act!

Possibly going to Dunfermline tomorrow.