Category: Trees

Off the leash – 28 July 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to a Witches housewarming and I was off the leash for a couple of hours.

Did a bit of shopping while Scamp was getting ready. Just the usual essentials, bottle of Prosecco, box of chocolates and a box of fancy biscuits, oh yes, and a box of Wheetabix, that was for me. The rest, or at least part of it was to go to the Witches party. Lunch for me was one of yesterday’s rolls with some cooked ham. Ham was lovely, roll was dry and cheuch (that means tough). Scamp was off to afternoon tea and Champagne. How the other half live, eh?

When Scamp was safely driven off to the party I settled down to clear up the painting room again. Hoovered most of the scraps of cloth from the floor, picked up all the little bits of black thread that get everywhere. Read a painting book to give me some inspiration – that didn’t help. Put away the sewing machine, started filling a bag with rubbish. I just couldn’t settle down to do anything. Finally gave up and went downstairs to fight with Luminar 4, a piece of software that’s main claim to fame is that it can fake a sky into a picture to persuade all but the most ardent pixel peepers that it’s real. Well, that’s what it did up until the last update. Now it’s become an expert beachball spinner. In other words, as usually happens with clever apps and even clever app designers, it has become top heavy in bloat and can produce really good effects if you’ve got the time to sit and watch the pointer turn into a spinning beach ball for five minutes every time you move the mouse. I’d have thought it would be easy to uninstall it and just reinstall the previous version, but apparently you can’t do that losing all your previous work. Emailing Tech Support doesn’t help, perhaps because they’re inundated with emails from people like me disgruntled at this ill thought out upgrade.

Now there’s a thing. The word ‘disgruntled’. The ’dis’ part usually means ’the opposite of’ as in disassembled or disagree. If that’s the case, is ‘gruntled’ the opposite of ’disgruntled’? Answers on a postcard please to the usual address.

Eventually I had to drag myself away from the computer and go for tonight’s dinner requirements. Walked down to the shops after leaving Scamp a message. Hoping afterwards that here eyesight wouldn’t have been too seriously damaged by a surfeit of champagne and cocktails to be able to read it. It wasn’t, she was back when I returned. Back with stories of the beautiful house with carefully colour matched walls, carpets, curtains and dog. If she changes the colour scheme for the house will she need to change the dog too, I wondered. Dinner was Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya and it was good!

Actually did a fifteen minute sketch of a guy we used to meet at Salsa. Pencil sketch which was deemed pretty good by Scamp. PoD was a bunch of rowan berries on the back door tree.

Tomorrow looks like a reasonable day, so we may go somewhere interesting.

A walk in the park – 19 July 2020

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The park in question was Glasgow Green. Long time no see.

Today at Scamp’s suggestion, we went for a walk along Glasgow Green. Simply ages since we’ve been down there, but today we did. We walked along to the McLennan arch. I can never remember whether it’s McLellan or McLennan. It’s definitely McLennan because I’ve just checked on Google so you don’t have to. Anyway, before I lose the thread, we walked along to the McLennan arch and from there along beside the river to the suspension bridge where eager joggers were running along it making it bounce. Always a source of amusement as long as you weren’t trying to take a photo with a slow shutter speed. I wasn’t, so it was funny.

Back home it was lunch time, then Scamp was off into the garden, weeding and pruning and generally plant bothering. I was struggling with Friday’s Sudoku. Friday’s!? I must be slipping. Eventually I gave up and wandered down to the shops via the wildflower area behind St Mo’s. Not a lot of insect life there today. A few butterflies and a ladybird that was determined to avoid the big man with the glass tube on a box. Couldn’t blame the poor thing. Imagine if you were being pursued by a giant carrying a glass tube and constantly poking it near you. That’s the stuff of nightmares. Or is that just me?
Anyway, I got the stuff I needed for pasta with meatballs. I’d made the actual meatballs earlier, a mix of pork mince and bacon which actually worked well.

Back home it was time to start making the sauce which was a basic marinara sauce same as I’d made last week. After cooking away for 40 minutes or so it was reduced enough and the meatballs were cooked. It tasted ok, but really needed something more to make it sing. Maybe a few more herbs or some spice to brighten it up. Maybe next time. Scamp has salmon with potatoes and a spoonful of my sauce. She wasn’t impressed with her salmon either. Maybe it was just us. Maybe it was just a bad day.

Pudding was “a sort of Eton Mess”. It didn’t sound all that impressive, but it tasted brilliant. Scamp as usual talking down her culinary expertise. Simple and tasty too.

Big test next. Will Scamp like the Sunday Coffee? I needn’t have worried. It got a definite thumbs up. Especial mention for the creamy foamed milk. She even bragged about it when we talked to JIC later. Found out that he doesn’t have to cool the boiler in his upmarket coffee machine because it has two boilers. One for steam and one for coffee. That explains it. Mine does the job for me and produces great espressos and has the ability to make creamy foamed milk too. You just as Scamp and she’ll tell you.

Apart from the walk in The Green today there wasn’t a lot going on, although I got a PoD which was the second shot I took and achieved about 15,000 steps and eight active hours. Didn’t do a sketch, will cover that tomorrow, hopefully. We may go out.

Rained again last night – 21 May 2020

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Woke up this morning to wet pavements and just the hint of rain in the air. Scamp was delighted. The garden needs the rain.

By the time we were up, Scamp got a text to say her prescription was ready to pick up from the chemist, so off she went to collect it. I stayed home and flew a plane from Glasgow to Prestwick and tried to remember how to land it using ILS (Instrument Landing System). All the different planes I’ve got in my virtual hanger use different autopilots and trying to keep track of them all is difficult to say the least. Pilots may get exorbitant wages, but they certainly work for their money. It wasn’t the glorious success I hoped it would be. I also messed around with some oranges trying to get a suitable setup for Lockdown Library No 39 today, again with very little success.

Scamp arrived home with another clinking bag, but I forgave her, because there was beer in it this time as well as a bottle or two of wine. She asked me to bring down the last bag, and could I please see if the car, which was up the top of the road, would fit into a space she wasn’t confident in driving in to. It would, and I did and in the boot as a thank-you there were two new folding garden chairs. We’ve only had one chair for ages and have been talking about getting another. She had managed to get two new ones for a knock down price. Delighted!

After lunch I walked down to the shops and came home with a lavender plant for Scamp, a bee hotel for, well, for bees – obviously! Also an assortment of sweets because … well, do I need an excuse? If I do, then it was because it was a beautiful sunny day and tomorrow is looking like it will not be beautiful or sunny. Lashing rain and strong winds forecast. I got changed into a pair of shorts a tee shirt and a shirt and went off in search of photos. I got today’s PoD which was a little tree growing up through the leaf litter in the woods of St Mo’s. Caught a fleeting glimpse of a deer, but too fast and too far away for me to catch.

Came home and enjoyed a beer in the garden, then we had dinner in the garden too. Scamp had Cauliflower Cheese with Jersey Royal Potatoes. I added some grilled bacon to mine. Very nice sitting on our new chairs in the sun having dinner. Very civilised.

When it got too cool we went inside. While I was drawing and painting today’s topic which was Fruits, we watched ‘Glow Up’ on iPlayer. If you haven’t watched it, it’s a must see. It must be one of the most cringeworthy programs on TV. It’s a well tried format:

  1. Take a team of “I Want To Be On A Show” people
  2. Give them three tasks an episode
  3. Dump the weakest
  4. Repeat.

The ‘contestants’ are wannabe make-up artists and each one is more outrageous than the last. The “Judges” equally so. It’s a hoot! I recommend it to you.

That was about it. The “Fruit” turned out to be chopped up pieces of orange and I was fairly happy with the result. Viewable on Instagram or FB.

Title of today’s blog is the first line of the Tom Paxton song “The Things I Notice Now”. What do you mean “Who’s Tom Paxton?”

Tomorrow, as I mentioned, it looks like rain and gale force winds.

Two ponds in one day – 20 April 2020

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It was a fair bit colder today caused by a strong east wind.

East winds are usually cold. They blow in from the North Sea which has no North Atlantic Drift (Wrongly called the Gulf Stream) to warm it up. It felt raw today, but inside with the sun streaming on through the front windows it was lovely. So lovely I didn’t want to shift too far from the couch, which is a bad thing really. Eventually had to move to get lunch. After that I was encouraged to go for a walk to allow Scamp some ‘me time’.

I chose to walk round St Mo’s, but I’m becoming jaded with its greenery, its swans and geese and even its trees which are starting to look very tree-like all of a sudden. I didn’t even take any photos there today. Instead I walked down through the underpass and on to Broadwood Loch. Unfortunately it was the same story as yesterday. Too many people in too big a group with only one brain cell between them. The paths are very tight in places and while some people give you room to pass, some of the dunderheids don’t know enough about social distancing or don’t care and just bustle past. Really, they shouldn’t be allowed out without a carer, a polis escort or at the very least, a man in front of them with a red flag. Cumbernauld! Where it’s not just the dogs that piss on the trees.

On the way back up over the green hill between the ring road and the houses where they are considering (Councilspeak for going ahead with) building yet more houses on the greenbelt. That’s where I found another wild cherry tree and took its picture. That became PoD. Hardly needed any post processing.

Watched Christine & The Queens tonight on YouTube on Fire Stick because it’s about ten times faster than using the Sony TV to do it. It all started with trying to watch the Stones on BBC singing in harmony(!) with each other from their homes, over some supposed video link that was as dodgy as the singing. At least it was funny, but the presenters, oh dear, the presenters. The Wood family. Just not up to the job I’m afraid. That’s what sent us to YouTube to find C&TQ, which was what we were looking for. Amazing performance from Glastonbury last year.

That was about it. Short dancing practise today. Tomorrow, probably longer one.

Hard to believe this was a Saturday – 4 April 2020

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I think it’s the lack of a routine that’s the biggest problem, that and the lack of a purpose.

If you don’t have a pattern to your life, the days all blend together such that when you wake up, well, at least when I wake up, it takes a minute or two to work out what day it is. I found the same problem when I retired, but even then, there was an underlying rhythm to life. Mondays were Gems and Salsa days, Tuesdays were free days, Wednesdays were dancing days too, Thursdays were ‘prezzy’ days and Fridays the weekend was in sight. Saturday and Sunday were The Weekend, even after Scamp retired, the same rhythm was in place. Now, for both of us it’s look in the fridge, do we need milk? Do we need bread? That’s about all the structure there is. I imagine it’s somewhat the same for most folk, even those who are working from home. It’s a strange feeling having to build some purpose into life.

Today was no different, although I did manage to score two topics off my To Do list. Still another couple to do. Spent most of the morning looking for a tiny scrap of paper with my cousin’s email address on it. I clearly remember tearing a receipt in two and writing down the address on it. I actually found at other half of the receipt , the piece without the address. That was in my wallet. The location of the piece with the address remains a mystery. I found another email address for her on my phone and wrote to her on that. The email hasn’t been returned by the postmaster, so I suppose it’s possible it’s landed somewhere, with someone. Hopefully my cousin. Why I didn’t think to photograph it with my phone I’ll never know.

I got a text message from an old colleague and one time friend until The Scottish Referendum split us apart. He on the YES side and I on the NO side. All the message said was “How are you? Long time no see.” I replied “We’re fine, but who are you?” Once he explained, it all became clear. We had a fairly lengthy text conversation, as if we’d never fallen out which ended with “Stay Safe and Speak Soon.” I suppose that’s a positive that’s come out of this crisis. In both of these situations, people are trying to make contact with friends and relatives. Putting the past behind us and building bridges. That’s what folk do. We unite against a common enemy.

Watched a live video by science communicators for children. Our Salsa teacher, Jamie G was on it. His topic was Coca Cola and the history and science behind it. It was really entertaining and educational too. He does tell good stories though, that’s what he’s famed for in class and this was no different. He started by pouring milk into a bottle of coke and finished by drinking the disgusting almost clear yellow liquid and telling everyone that it still tasted and smelled like coke. The previous presentation by a girl from New Zealand was about how soap can destroy the Coronavirus on your hands. Very simply explained using Topsy and Tim language that even I could understand. You know how to do that too JIC.

It took a long while before I managed to drag myself out to take some photos today. The PoD is of a Horse Chestnut bud just beginning to burst. Allegedly the tree got its name from the shape of the scar last year’s leaf makes when it falls off. If you look you can clearly see the horse’s hoof shape and even the imaginary nail prints on the stem below the bud.

While I was out, Scamp was making Treacle Scones. I had one with my tea when I got back. It was cold and windy outside and the scone went down a treat with the tea. Maybe the tiniest bit undercooked in the middle, but still lovely. A blast from the past. Dinner tonight was yesterday’s curry sauce poured over two boiled eggs, served with rice. Another recipe from a previous time. The book it’s in is maybe about forty years old. I remember getting it in Woolworth’s in Motherwell!

A parcel appeared to arrive by post today, but it has now disappeared, I know not where. Strange things are afoot these days.

Tomorrow? Maybe a communal walk. Maybe round Broadwood Loch again taking in some of the new routes that have been cut into the forest. It’s supposed to be the warmest day of the year so far and we’ve all been warned not to rush out to the beach. No beaches at Broadwood, so we should be ok.

A little bit of sunshine – 28 March 2020

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Bright sunshine to wake up to, but it disappeared fairly quickly.

We didn’t have anywhere to go today. We had food for dinner and for lunch and anyway, there was nowhere that would welcome us. That’s one of the problems of this Coronavirus. Everywhere is closed. Heavens, even the children’s play parks are locked and bolted. Not that it makes any difference to the children, their mums and dads just lift them over the metre high fence and off they go to play on the swings and roundabouts. How they get them out and back home again is a different problem. We weren’t going to the play park today. The furthest Scamp went was into the front garden to repair the damage the cat had done to her planting box yesterday. It’s now covered with plant pots which should discourage the incontinent feline.

After lunch and after a consultation on what we’d have for dinner, I went out with the camera and the Benbo tripod slung over my shoulder on a strap that was originally for the Manfrotto tripod, but with a bit of adaptation suggested by Scamp worked well on the Benbo too. As has been the case these days, St Mo’s was buzzing, mainly with mums pushing prams. Social distancing is becoming more and more difficult with the number of folk wanting to use my park. I was heading into the woods where prams don’t go, so I would be safe from contamination. I was looking for the fungus with the oyster shell patterns I’d seen last week, but I didn’t find it. After searching through my images tonight I think I’ve worked out two places it could be, but that was no use to me in the trees. What I did find was today’s PoD which is three little sycamore seedlings growing in a cleft in a sycamore tree. I also found this strange black fungus which I think may be Black Tree Ear fungus so called because it is black, it grows on trees and it looks like an ear. I’m pretty sure it’s the fungus we bought and cooked from a Chinese supermarket last year. As I recall it looked dodgy and tasted just OK.

Came home to find that Scamp had been baking. Not one, but two cakes. We’ve sampled both and they passed inspection, especially the sultana cake with fruit soaked in Calvados. Dinner was fish ’n’ chips, home made because I didn’t fancy standing outside the chip shop waiting for my order to be called. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but there was a cold east wind today. Speaking of which, it was a lovely morning with bright sunshine. In the afternoon when I went out with the camera, it clouded over. When I came back, blue sky reappeared and the sun shone again. What am I doing wrong?

Splashed some oil paint on my painting board today and created another masterpiece. It’ll be tacky by tomorrow, so it should take another layer of paint. Quite like oil paint, much nicer to work with than acrylic. Seems to be easier to get bright colours with it.

No plans for tomorrow, but we may need some fresh veg, so a walk to the shops may be in order.

Sunny Coatbrig’ – 21 March 2020

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Any place as grimly industrial as Coatbridge, that has an area called Sunnyside, obviously has a sense of dark humour.

Today we went to the leafier part of Coatbridge (It will always be Coatbrig’ to me because that’s what my dad called it). We drove out to Drumpellier which has a small loch and an imaginatively designed play park based around a Crannog. There are buoys in the loch that mark out the original ‘real’ crannog that was home to Iron Age families. Some Iron Age families still live in Coatbrig’ I think.

Today we weren’t interested in the history and pre-history of Coatbrig’, we were more interested in a walk round the loch in the fresh air. Contrary to our usual route, we took the anti-clockwise path, walking against the usual flow of prams, bikes and weans on those strange three wheeled scooter things that the weans move with a skiing motion. They always looked awkward to me and the weans seemed to be having a hard time getting them to go where they wanted. It didn’t take us long to get round the loch and there wasn’t all that much to see I’m afraid. The camera stayed quite happily in its bag for the whole circuit. The visitor centre and tea shop was firmly locked and bolted shut as per Boris’s instructions, so there was nothing for it but to drive back home again. Of course we could have turned around and unwound ourselves by walking round again by the clockwise route, but there would still have been very little to tempt the photographer in me and we’d still have to find a way past the skiing tricycle owners. Nah, we just went home for lunch.

Before we’d gone out we were talking to the couple in the pensioner’s house next to us and again they were offering to bring us back any messages we needed. I think they’re both younger than us, but it is strange to be “the old people”. I haven’t seen myself as old until this year. Yes I refer to Colin, Fred, Val and me as The Auld Guys, but that’s tongue in cheek. To think of myself as ‘old’ is uncomfortable. However, it was kind of them to think of us.

After that, I went for a walk in St Mo’s and found my old adversary Mr Grey, or at least one of his family stalking frogs, I think, in St Mo’s pond. While he stalked, I stalked him and got a few shots before he took off on those enormous wings and flew off. I was ready for him though. I’d set the camera to motor drive (Slow) and managed to grab a few images as he glided past on the tree line. My favourite, and therefore PoD was what you see here and only shows his head after I made a hash of panning. It’s always been difficult to pan and take multiple shots on an SLR. With a DSLR it’s no different. The only camera to allow you to see what you’re taking without interruption is a rangefinder. There are very few digital rangefinder cameras and the ones there are, are above my budget. So for me it’s press the button and hope for the best. I may try to pan with the shutter set to electronic some time. I believe that works. Next time I’ve got decent light and a suitably slow flying heron I’ll test out the theory.

Dinner tonight was paella and Scamp suggested that we reduce the quantity to reduce the waste. It should have been easy, but I don’t think I got the amount of stock right. Needs more testing. Everything needs testing, it seems.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go out walking in the fresh air again, probably in the afternoon. Weather looks much like today, that is cold and a bit dull, but we’ll hope for better.

A lovely Spring day – 19 March 2020

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Sunshine from early and we both decided to make the best of it.

Scamp wanted to get some pansies to fill up her flower tubs and I volunteered to go look for some. Found some at B&Q. The place was quite busy considering the present circumstances. Took the long way home via Tesco to see what was for sale. Hoping for some pasta, but the only thing available on that aisle was Tagliatelle and I know that Scamp doesn’t like that. It wasn’t actually on the shelf, it was still in its box with the top ripped off, sitting in one of the rolling cages the shelf stackers push along (according to Scamp the cages are called “Yorkies”). So someone just tore of the top and helped themselves. The next step will be raiding the warehouse and if they can’t find what they want there, ambushing the artic wagons when they try to unload. I kid you not!

When I got back there was an email waiting for me to tell me that my coffee would be delivered around 3pm. That gave us the opportunity to go for a walk. We walked around St Mo’s pond and then went to Condorrat with the possibility of getting a cake in the Spar shop. However we went in vain because there were no cakes that interested Scamp. She did, however get some potatoes then announced she had no money! Luckily I had. While we were in St Mo’s I got PoD which I think is a flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum.

We walked home and had lunch, then Scamp thought she’d go out and edge the grass in the front garden and maybe tidy up the pots. I thought about helping out, but only thought about it. Postman brought a big box addressed to Scamp in Hazy’s writing style, then the DPD man brought my coffee and tea. With nothing else to do but play games on my phone I put on my big jacket because the sun was getting lower and the wind was cold now and went back to St Mo’s to do a solo circuit of the pond, but got no photos. Eventually I settled for some low shots of the crocuses in the front garden. Another of Scamp’s brilliant ideas a couple of years ago was to plant crocus bulbs in the grass of the front garden. They certainly do brighten up the grass, and after the flowers disappear, it will be time to cut the grass anyway and allow the plants to die back until next year, hopefully.

So, not only have they closed all the UK schools from Friday, but they have also cancelled all exams because of the virus. John Swinney the Scottish Education minister sought to explain how certification would work and managed to fit in his two buzz words “Robust” and “Rigorous” four or five times in his statement. He has yet to explain what they mean in this context. Pupils will be graded on coursework, teacher assessment and prior grades and of course it will be Robust and Rigorous. I feel sorry for those pupils who will not get the opportunity to sit their exams.  It is the first time the exams have been cancelled since the system was put in place in 1888.

Tomorrow it looks like a cold start but a bright day. We’ll take that. We may go for another walk, while we are still allowed out.

 

Not just one tin – 18 March 2020

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Scamp went foraging in Tesco today and came back with EIGHT tins of tomatoes! Success!!

Who would have thought six months ago that two cardboard containers of tomatoes could elicit such joy? It must be how the original hunter gatherers felt coming back to the cave with their arms full of food. It seemed that Tesco were being sensible for once and limiting shoppers to two boxes each of tinned tomatoes. Now they need to do the same with toilet rolls. That will come, I’m certain, but not without a lot of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

For the rest of the day, I went for a walk in the afternoon, just over to St Mo’s. Managed to grab a couple of photos of leaves in a bit of warm sun, then everything went a bit dark as a hail shower blew in. I sheltered in the trees until it passed and then came back out to grab another set of shots of the same leaf, but wet this time. Waited another few minutes and the sun came out again and took my final shots against the light, trying to get some detail in the veins and in the dried fleshy part of the leaf this time warmed up in the transmitted sunlight. Despite all my efforts and the great colour contrasts of the third lot of shots, it was the wet leaf shots that looked best and that’s what became PoD.

Scamp made some soup “Just Soup” as it’s come to be known and we had that for dinner. The tins of tomatoes have been squirrelled away upstairs out of temptation’s way. We may get some more, but we won’t be greedy. We did well today.

On the virus front, it was announced in the afternoon that Scottish and Welsh schools will close on Friday. What this means to exams is anybody’s guess. Some say the SQA may use prelim exams as a marker for grades, but not all subjects have prelims (“mocks” in England). Some say continuous assessment could be used and some say that the exams should be rescheduled until later in the year. None of these alternatives are really going to change the fact that the results this year will be unrepresentative of pupils’ work. Who would be the Education Secretary? To compound matters, it’s just been announced that English Schools will close on Friday too. Reminds me of the Alice Cooper / Michael Bruce song – “School’s out for Summer, School’s out forever”

Tomorrow I’m hoping to have some coffee delivered. Get the essentials sorted out, then we can think about the luxuries!

The new reality – 17 March 2020

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We’ve decided that we just have to get used to this new chapter in our lives. It’s not of our making, and there’s nothing we can do to fix it. We can, however make the most of it. As Scamp says, at least we’ve got a garden we can work in while we’re not allowed to travel or to go dancing. The occasional walk will also help keep us moving and motivated. Today, though, it was preparation for the gardening.

Went out in the morning to get some compost and some seeds, veg seeds. Just peas, kale and rocket and two bags of compost. I know that a lot of that compost will find its way into flower pots and flower beds, but some of it will also help bolster the worn out compost in the raised bed. I’m seriously thinking of lifting the remaining leeks and using them for soup. Both the black kale and the curly variety are just about finished now. I’ll maybe use them up in the soup too. If there’s any left, I’ll bag it and freeze it. That way nothing is wasted and I can work at replenishing the compost in the bed. That’s the plan. However, rain put paid to any sensible work today and the compost is stacked in the back garden covered with a tarpaulin to keep the rain off and also allow it to dry out a bit.

After lunch Scamp encouraged me to go out for a walk while she watched some of her pre-recorded programs. It was dry when she suggested it, but by the time I had my boots on, there were raindrops on the window again. It didn’t really matter, I wanted an hour to myself, just as she deserved an hour to her self. I walked to St Mo’s but there were no deer and no frogs to commune with. I found an interesting bud just bursting on a stubby tree. It reminded me of a lucky rabbit’s foot I used to have on a keyring when I was a teenager. Then someone told me it hadn’t been all that lucky for the rabbit and I decided it wasn’t a very sensible thing to have in my pocket and put it in the bin. The furry bud became PoD and the rain didn’t go off, in fact it became straight down soaking rain an my jacket was dripping wet by the time I got home

Dinner tonight was the Thai Chicken Stir-Fry I bought yesterday. I bought 500g of it and that was too much for the two of us, but when we halved it, that wasn’t quite enough. I realise now I should just have cooked the lot and then we could have eaten what we wanted and chucked out the rest, but in these straitened times it seems such so wasteful to throw stuff out. Maybe we’ll use it for lunch tomorrow instead. That might work. Anyway, I thought it tasted fine although Scamp said she felt it was too spicy. I got the idea from a meal at JIC’s where he had bought and cooked a similar stir-fry with beef as the protein. I’m guessing you have to trust your butcher when you’re buying pre-assembled food like stir-fry and we both trust our individual butchers.

Nowhere to go tomorrow, but the weather looks kinder than today, so we may go for a walk. Ordered coffee from Perth and was told it should be delivered tomorrow, so may need to work around that.