Category: weather

A cold day – 6 November 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Not a day that enticed us out, but we did go out anyway.

Drove to the town centre to meet Isabel and heard about what was happening in her side of the family. She really is an interesting person. For someone who is 90, her recall is amazing. She can tell you the names of all her families members, past and present and can tell you who married whom and also the stories attached to them. She is an entertainment!

After a couple of hours she set off with her walker to go to Tesco, but refused a lift. We drove to the much smaller Tesco on the other side of town and Scamp came back with milk and tomatoes which we needed for lunch.

After lunch I dragged myself out for a walk in St Mo’s. By that time the light was disappearing. I spotted a couple of ducks that might have been Pochards, but they were too far out in the pond to get a positive ID.

I settled for a couple of reeds that created an interesting geometric pattern. It wasn’t until I looked closely at the reeds that I noticed a slender spider waiting for an unwary insect to provide its dinner. The reed became the PoD.

Dinner tonight was Saag Paneer Kedgeree. Another of Scamp’s specialities. Hot, but not too spicy.

Tomorrow we have been invited to a wedding.

Out in Glasgow with Alex – 5 November 2026

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I got the bus from Cumbersheugh to Glasgow.

The bus was fashionably late, but the driver made up for lost time by charging along the M80 at a fair pace that got me to the bus station on time. Alex was waiting for me and we walked down Buchanan Street to a Nero where we had a coffee and discussed what we were going to do today. The rain was drizzling when we left Nero and that made us think it might be better to restrict ourselves to Glasgow today, rather than somewhere exotic like Paisley.

We walked down Buchanan Street to St Enoch’s and got some photos of the Christmas Fairs being constructed. From there we continued over to the Clyde Walkway to see what new graffiti had been added to it. The answer, wasn’t much and that made us wonder where all the good artists had disappeared to. Quite a few ‘Jakies’ hanging about the walkway and some of them were getting a bit aggressive, so we crossed the road and went or lunch.

Paesano was really busy today, but we managed to get a table for two and while Alex had a mixed peppers pizza, I stuck to Italian Sausage on my pizza. We took our time to make sure we had covered Trump’s failure to hold on to the Senate and the House in America. I have no idea what that means, buy it sounds good.

Not surprisingly, Alex wanted to go down to Guitar Guitar to look at, you guessed it … guitars. Actually he was hoping to be able to swap what turned out to be a low quality Gretch ( I think that’s how you spell it) guitar, or better still, get his money back. After a very positive response from the bloke behind the counter, we left with him feeling a lot better.

We climbed up one of Glasgow’s steep hills to get some photos of the big “Nappy Pin” that stands where Rotten Row used to be. Part of a hospital many years ago.

From there we needed another coffee and then made our way home. Hopefully our next adventure will be in two weeks time, but maybe an hour earlier, because nights are fair drawing in these days!

PoD went to a snap of a bloke standing outside the GoMA. I liked the light in this one.

Scamp and I may go out for a run somewhere tomorrow.

A day in the sun – 4 November 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was going out with her witchy friends and I was staying home because although the sun was warm in the house, the same couldn’t be said for the outside. It was quite cool!

Before she went out, Scamp was determined to plant out the Cyclemen and Violas she’s brought from Torwood. I think that’s them all in the soil now. They don’t seem to mind the cold weather, coincidentally neither does Scamp. Given half a chance she will be out in the garden in all weathers.

After Scamp left for meeting up with her friends, I dug out my recent book and decided I had to either find out what was going on with the Jinni and the Golem or give up the story. After about an hour I was beginning to see parts of the story coming together. It still wasn’t entirely clear, but we are talking about mythical beings here and as such they are unwilling to make anything clear. In other words, the story continues.

Later in the day I went for a walk over to St Mo’s to see if there was anything I could do with the warm light and I did find a use for it in a fallen leaf with lovely orange markings backlit by the low sun. The PoD was in the bag!

Scamp arrived a little later and we drove over to Shona’s house for dinner. Today’s menu was a square slice of pizza, a round of garlic flavoured flat bread and finally a quiche which was a delight! Thank you Shona for collecting all those disparate flavours and making them work.

Shona had a load of stories to tell about Ben’s adventures and the possibility of him getting a house soon. Still not sure where, or any other details, but there seems to be a move on the way. I just hope he’s not being moved too far away from Shona.

We drove home a bit later than we’d intended, but managed to get a slot in the almost full parking place.

Tomorrow I’m intending to meet Alex for a photowalk, probably in Glasgow or Paisley. I’ve missed the banter for the last month or so.

Today was a dull day – 3 November 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Unlike the recent weather, today was cloudy and wet. More like what we’re used to at this time of year.

I drove Scamp over to Condorrat to get her six monthly dentist’s check up. She left me her phone because she was expecting a message from Dundee, and sure enough, the phone rang not long after she left. I spoke to the doctor and agreed a time that would suit both him and Scamp for the first checkup, next week.

We then drove home and had a coffee before we drove over to Torwood for lunch. Of course, after our lunch we had to have a walk around the plants and we came home with two trays of flowers, one of blue violas and one of a mixture of cyclamen. I took my camera with me and managed a few shots of some Hydrangeas with big flower heads. They easily made PoD.

On our way to Torwood I did a detour to see if I could spot an old plane that had been circling as we left the house. According to Flight Radar, it was a Max Holste MH151 Broussard. I’d never heard of one before and it turned out to be quite an old plane indeed, vintage 1952. Unfortunately we didn’t manage a glimpse although Flight Radar described it as ‘landed’ at Cumbersheugh. Maybe tomorrow, then!

The rain started just after we’d started heading home and the nearer we got to Cumbersheugh, the heavier it got. Driving home in the rain wasn’t the best end to the day, but Scamp had made Tattie Soup for dinner and that did a lot to cheer me up. A great filling on a dull day.

I had a dollop of dough left over from yesterday’s home-made pizza. It seemed a shame to waste it, so we had it tonight and it was one of the lightest pizzas I’ve ever made. I’ll never be able to beat that one!!

Scamp is intending to meet the ‘Witches’ for lunch tomorrow. I may attempt another bow tie. Hopefully this one will be easier to make than the last one.

I think we might be booked for lunch/dinner with Shona tomorrow. Pizza again. You can’t beat it.

Blue skies and sun – 31 October 2026

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Just for a change we had blue skies and sunshine today.

We were too lazy to get up and make the most of the day. Instead we stayed in bed and read for a while. No rush to get up today, we weren’t going to dance class today. In fact we’re not intending going to dance for four whole weeks. It’s mainly due to hospital commitments.

It was actually quite good to be able to set aside a Saturday morning for things we need to do. Scamp chose to start cleaning up the back garden which needs some attention after three storms in a row. That took up most of the early afternoon. She has now to decide where her new found space is going to go. I think she’ll settle for a new plastic greenhouse, but I could be wrong

While she was doing that, I was trying to place four pieces of fabric in the correct places for a bow tie, then add in two pieces of interfacing between those four pieces of fabric. It sounds very complicated, but it actually quite simple … until you realise you’re placing most of those pieces in the wrong places!! That’s when I had to resort to Hazy’s “Frogging” tactic, or Rippit as she calls it. Which means Ripping It Out. A restart, in other words. Second attempt was better, but when I thought I’d assembled the bow tie correctly I discovered I had to rip it out again and this time, finally it all went together.

Scamp was heading for a trip to the shops and I was so fed up with bow ties, I walked half way there with her and then walked round St Mo’s to get a photo, despite the failing light. My PoD was a the remains of a Yellow Flag Iris which was beginning to lose its seeds. I think I may collect some of those seeds and plant them for next year.

Dinner tonight was the remaining Mowgli curry with my take on Flat Breads. Both were delicious.

Tomorrow I may go looking for the Flag Iris seeds. Scamp is probably working in the garden.

Dull again – 29 October 2026

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Not a lot to say about the day. We just seemed to be running around in circles and not getting anything done. Some days are like that, I know and sometimes you just have to grin and bear it. Today was one of those days.

We should have been going to a Tea Dance, but never quite got round to it. Nobody’s fault, just a dull day.

Green theme today. Just green leaves.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Trapped – 27 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Went for a walk and came home sodden. Fantastic weather we’re having.

There wasn’t much to say about this morning and early afternoon. It was just constant rain with the addition of some wind to make it even less enticing. A watered down (no pun intended) version of the past two or three days. I think I must have been going a bit crazy feeling cooped up in the house, but for some reason I decided that as the sun was shining I’d go for a walk in St Mo’s.

It wasn’t the best idea I’d had this week, but I enjoyed the first half of the walk. I even took a few decent photos. It was when I was heading home that I noticed the heavy rain clouds. I’d worn my old Berghaus totally waterproof jacket and thought I would manage to get back home before I got soaked. I was only about a quarter of the way home when the rains cane. I pulled up my hood and stashed my camera away in my bag. The bag is supposed to pretty much waterproof, but just to be sure I fitted the waterproof cover over the camera bag and walked home.

By the time I got home the Berghaus jacket was doing the job it was bought for, but my corduroy trousers were soaked as were my boots. I removed the waterproof cover from the camera bag and took out my camera which was perfectly dry. The moral of the story is “Buy good quality kit and it will look after you”.

The PoD today was an Aspen leaf trapped in an old Cow Parsley stem.

I’m hoping to finish a bow tie tomorrow. That’s my target for the day.

A quieter day – 26 October 2026

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We took advantage of a much calmer day, and we took stock of the damage done to the garden.

There wasn’t much damage done, really. Our old battered and bruised plastic greenhouse had blown down and most of the contents were strewn across the garden. We took one look at the carnage and decided it wasn’t fit to be reused. Too much damage to the metal tubes that held it up and too much rust on them meant it was no longer worth repairing. It has lasted a long time, so it will be going in the Council Tip at the first opportunity.

Most, if not all of the plants survived the wind and rain from the last few days, although my potatoes in their plastic pots were ravaged by the wind and rain. I don’t know if they will be worth digging up. We’ll see once everything returns to normal

We watched the American F1 GP and weren’t surprised with the winner. He was always going to win, it was only a matter of time before it happened.

Later we wiped off the load of leaves and branches that the Blue car had collected over the last few days and drove to Tesco. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that shop as busy as it was today. People wheeling trolleys everywhere and long queues at all the checkouts. All because of two days of heavy rain and strong winds. We only had a few things in our trolley and we got through the smaller checkout quite quickly.

No wind today, but a continuous drizzle kept us in the house most of the dull day, although I did get a few photos in the back garden of Scamp’s Cosmos flowers. They looked great even when they were soaking wet. Such cheerful blooms. The Cosmos flowers got PoD.

The weather tonight is beginning to get noisy again. The weather fairies say it will be more rain than wind this time, but we’ll wait and see what happens. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the past few days. –

Reflections on a wet day – 25 October 2026

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Two days being terrorised by 70mph winds and torrential rain. Have they gone now or are they waiting to ambush us tomorrow?

Yesterday I was hardly past the door. Threatening messages from the Met Office every ten minutes on my phone with warnings of rain of biblical proportions. Yes, there was a lot of rain and there was a lot of noise from the wind too, but come on folks, get a grip!

Today, I thought I’d risk the waterlogged St Mo’s to get a couple of photos late in the afternoon, after a day of 70 mph gusts and torrential rain. Then, when I dug out my camera at an interesting subject, I discovered I didn’t have an SD card in the camera. I was considering heading home, then remembered I could get a decent image from my iPhone. That’s what I did. I took half a dozen photos in the park and then headed for home. From now on, I’m going to carry an SD card, even a small capacity one, in my pocket for an emergency like this from now on! When I got home I was quite pleasantly surprised by the quality my little iPhone produced and I didn’t even take my camera out of my pocket.

The greatest problem I had was the conversion of the photos from HEIC to JPG. After reading a few instructions online, I worked out how to do the conversion without too much trouble.

Although the main thrust of Storm Boelo is gone, that doesn’t mean we are in the clear. There will be more storms waiting in the wings, so we really DO need to heed the weather fairies, but whether the Met Office will be on my Christmas list, I’ll have to wait and see.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about him having to let some of the water from his water butts go, because he reckons he has enough for now. I can understand why!

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but will keep a weather eye on the clouds.

Dancin’ – 24 October 2026

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A wild day with a lot of enjoyable dancing for a change!

We were a bit late for dance class today, mainly because of the heavy rain, but thankfully we did just manage to get Brookfield just as the class was starting. Also, just by luck, I managed to avoid the ‘Rhumbumbumba’ a dance I hate!

The first ‘Real’ dance was the October Waltz that I’m getting used to. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to perfect it next week, all being well. As for today, well, it was a bit of a mixture. Most of it worked, but there are some awkward bits that need looking at. It’s a work in progress.

Next was the ‘X Line’ Tango. A dance we learned during Covid, watching it over Zoom. That was back in 2020 when the world was young and we were ready for anything to do with dance. In other words, what I’m saying is that I’d forgotten most of it, and it’s only recently I’ve gone back to it. It’s almost there in my memory, but not quite all in the right places. I’m assured that it will come back … soon.

The Feta Foxtrot was the next on the agenda. One of Scamp’s favourites and I must say one of mine too. A nice gentle foxtrot with nothing too difficult to remember, but a lot of clever tweaks that make it much more interesting.

We finished the class with the Midnight Jive. This one is definitely embedded in my little brain and I sometimes think I’ve danced it in autopilot. Whether that is the case or not I’m not willing to say, but it’s all to do with Muscle Memory, I’m sure of that.

We weren’t driving straight home. Instead we were booked for lunch at Coast, a restaurant that sits with wonderful views across the Clyde Estuary. Of course it was pelting rain today, sot those views were mere blurs on the horizon. Still we had a decent lunch there, even if the first piece of steak from my steak and sausage pie was all gristle and completely inedible. Scamp was much happier with her Sea Bream with Risotto. I think this is only the second I’ve had bad luck with meat from Coast. Next time I’ll remind myself to have something else instead, all being well.

Instead of driving home by the M8 as we would usually do, Scamp remembered there were long delays near Glasgow Airport, so we went via the Erskine Bridge instead. I don’t think we gained any time by going that way. It would probably be just as quick risking the M8. No matter, we arrived home safely and got parked.

Not long after we got home, we could feel the wind rising. Storm Austen was handing over to the much stronger Storm Boelo. It’s blowing a hoolie just now with gusts around 50mph. Hopefully tomorrow it should calm down.

Today’s PoD was the view from the front window with the rain sheeting down. Brrr!

No plans for tomorrow.