Category: weather

Rain! – 6 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we drove to Stirling for lunch.

A week or so ago we went to Coast, a restaurant on the banks of the Clyde. Today we went to its sister restaurant, River House in Stirling. We’d been there many times in its previous incarnation and the food was always exceptional. Today we weren’t disappointed. Steak and Sausage pie for me. Fish ’n’ Skinny Chips for Scamp. We both agreed the owners may be different, but the food had remained the same.

We couldn’t decide whether to go shopping or head home. Eventually we decided to just go home and I changed the route, to take us over the wild switchback that is the Tak Ma Doon road. I wanted some photos form my favourite place near Loch Coulter and it didn’t disappoint today, although I must admit the sky was a lot greyer than the one you see in the PoD. Just one of the tweaks that’s possible with new software.

We had just left the parking place when the first raindrops hit the windscreen. After that, the rain just got heavier and heavier. It wasn’t the easiest drive home, but the wee blue car dealt with it well. However, we got soaked just running in to the house from the car!

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon researching new mobile phones. I’m not exactly settled yet, but I think it’s going to be another Android phone. So may different prices with confusing ‘deals’ from different providers. After spreadsheeting the results, I think things are becoming clearer and the ‘obvious’ deals are maybe not so good as they seem. It’s a changing picture.

Strangely, both Scamp and I had an upset stomach tonight. Maybe that great restaurant in Stirling wasn’t as good as we though it was, because it’s unusual for both of us to be affected.

No big plans for tomorrow. It really depends on the weather, as usual.

Getting lost in Glasgow – 5 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It’s easier than you think, especially if you follow the signs!

We were heading back to the House for an Art Lover today, but we were parking in town and taking the subway over to the South Side, then walking the rest of the way. What could go wrong? All we needed to do was follow the Glasgow Council signs from Ibrox subway. That would be the signs that pointed one way, then by a circuitous route, took us back to almost where we’d started. Eventually I gave up with the signs and with a little help from Google maps we found our way to the House.

Last night there had been some torrential rain and we’d decided we’d better come prepared and wear our raincoats. By the time we got to Bellahouston we were beginning to think the raincoats were a bad idea. The sky had been blue and the sun had been shining for our hour long walk, but when we got to the house and decided to have tea outside, the first raindrops fell. We did have shelter under a patio umbrella, but it wasn’t needed because the clouds rolled away, taking the threat of rain with them.

The visit was a success, though. A birthday present was bought and it was almost exactly what Scamp had been looking for. I’m glad our walk through the hinterland of Glasgow wasn’t in vain!

Rather than try to walk back the way we’d come, Scamp suggested we get the bus. According to my phone, the No 9 or the No 10 would take us in to town. The woman at the House told Scamp we needed to walk down to Paisley Road West to get the bus and that’s what we did. The bus took us on a mystery tour through Govan, eventually crossing the Clyde and dropping us on West Nile Street. Ten minutes later we were in the car and heading home. I don’t think we’ll risk using the detailed Glasgow Council signs again. In fact, I don’t think we’ll bother with the subway either. If we go back, we’ll get the bus. It’s so much easier.

Back home and after a light lunch, Scamp got ready to go to the dentist. This was to be the last visit in a treatment that started in December 2021. Covid rules, retirements and finding a new dentist had made a drama out of what wasn’t even a crisis. She returned with the usual slurring of speech that comes from a visit to the dentist. She’s not due to return until March 2023, but I might be the next to try out the new dentist.

I’d taken a couple of shots from the JL bridge in Glasgow, but they were nothing special, so I took my camera out with me for a walk in St Mo’s. Saw a couple of large dragonflies circling the pond, but they were busy egg laying and weren’t stopping to talk. Couldn’t quite catch them, so PoD went, instead, to what looked like a wee posy of wild flowers. Taken with the LensBaby which I haven’t used for ages. I still like the effect it produces.

No real plans for tomorrow, but Scamp thinks we might go out for lunch.

 

More rain – 4 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We’re never happy. Either there isn’t enough rain or there’s too much. Today the moans were about too much.

Not real moans, but it would be good if it would rain all night and leave the days for us going for walks.

After lunch we did go for a walk. Down to Broadwood Loch, over the dam and round the exercise machines, which are gradually being swallowed up by the grass that surrounds them. On the walk we found some pretty purple and yellow flowers that looked a bit like potato flowers, but they seemed to produce bright red berries that the birds didn’t eat. That usually means they are poisonous and after a bit of research online it turned out that they were Woody Nightshade, also known as Bittersweet and were indeed poisonous. The flowers looked so good, they became PoD.

On the way back past Broadwood Stadium we chanced upon a different kind of berries. Lots of lovely fat, juicy brambles in easily accessed clumps beside the car park. We managed to pick just over 700g of berries which, added to my 550g from Friday gave us over a kilo of the black fruit which is now chilling in the freezer, ready for Scamp to boil it down with some apples to make juice that will in turn produce bramble jelly.

Speaking of apples, we had our first apple from our tree today. It was a bit tart, but perfectly edible and without any wasp bites of flaws. Lots more to come, but we were discussing today how best to support the poor tree, because it’s leaning over, pulled down by the weight of the apples. Perhaps Scamp’s right when she says we should reduce the amount of fruit we produce on it. It seems such a shame to remove fruit, but I suppose we have to consider the health of the tree too.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Escalopes.  Chicken breasts bashed flat with a rolling pin before being dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs and fried in the frying pan.  Really, really good.  Of course, Scamp made them.

Spoke to Jamie and thanked him for my fancy tea. He had been buying it online but it seems that there are shops, mainly in the south of England, but there is also one in Scotland. Good to hear from him that he’s beginning to settle into his new job.

We’re hoping to continue our search for a suitable birthday present tomorrow. Somewhere in Glasgow I’m led to believe.

A late rise – 3 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We must both have had a hard day yesterday. My excuse was that I’d been out cycling and Scamp’s was that she and the witches had been talking almost constantly for all of yesterday afternoon.

Once we’d dragged ourselves out of bed, dressed and completed today’s Wordle successfully, we discussed where to go and what to do with a very dull day. We settled on a run to Torwood, looking for something to buy for someone who has a birthday coming up soon. Unfortunately Torwood Garden Centre was having a bit of an Autumn Clean, which is really just a Spring Clean six months later. Lots of the garden furniture that usually lives outside was now inside and none of the usual stuff that Scamp expected to see had been put into storage, it seemed. For what must be the first time in our Torwood history, we left empty handed.

I suggested we try Calder’s in Cumbersheugh as an alternative, but although they had lots of things that “might do”, they didn’t have the exact article she was looking for. We were just about to leave when the heavens opened and the threatened heavy rain made us think again about walking out just then. Once the rain had eased, we ran to the car and drove home.

Later in the afternoon the sky cleared and although the sun didn’t shine, it was bright enough to take a camera for a walk in St Mo’s. The PoD went to a photo of a hoverfly on a Scabious flower, a wild scabious. While I was out, Scamp was talking to Jackie in Skye. She and Murdo are just recovering from the dreaded Covid and they both seemed to have it bad, but feeling better now.

On our walk earlier in the week, Alex and I had been discussing processing old photos taken years ago and tonight I worked on a photo of Castle Stalker in Appin from 2005. Taken with my old D70 it scrubbed up well as you can see here.

Tomorrow we may go looking for that birthday present again or we may leave that for a weekday when there will hopefully be fewer crowds

A day at the horses – 31 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Aha, but not just any horses. These ones are only half buried. That leaves it up to the imagination to see their hidden bodies!

In the morning after a cup of strong coffee, I drove over to Motherwell to pick up my brother and then we drove east to Helix Park in Falkirk. Alex was going to be introduced to the magic of the Kelpies and they didn’t disappoint. From the motorway you don’t get the full effect of these sculptures, but up close and with the feeling that, like dragonflies, you are being observed just as carefully as you are observing them. I lost count of the number of times we walked round them, looking at them from all angles and taking photos of them with a variety of cameras and lenses. I wondered how many hundreds of folk took selfies with them today. I wondered how many thousands of folk had their photo taken today, holding out their hand as if they were feeding these giant beasts. They are simply amazing.

After a while we paused for lunch and disappointingly, the sun went behind the clouds for a while and it looked like the best light of the day was gone, so we went for a walk over the canal and along the towpath on the far side, then back over another bridge further on. As we were taking some longer views of the beasts, we realised that the sun had just been having its lunch too and was now back to full strength again having pushed its way through the clouds. We went back for another shoot. This time from a different angle. We tried reflections in the water and reflections in the panoramic windows of the visitors centre. I walked back to the car to dump my raincoat which I wasn’t going to need now and found yet another viewpoint I’d not seen before.

Another coffee and it was time for the last of the photos and then it really was time to say goodbye to the Kelpies, but we did say too, that we’d be back. For now, though it was back to rush hour and the inevitable queues on the motorway. I drove Alex back to Motherwell and then came home, exhausted. I hadn’t quite realised how hot it was today. It was a long day and a lot of driving, but I really enjoyed it and I’m sure Alex did too. A monochrome ultra-wide shot of the Kelpies got PoD.

Tomorrow I may go out to lunch with Scamp and Shona or more likely I’ll just relax and read. I’ll maybe do some reorganising of August’s photos.

Old Friends – 29 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We didn’t do much in the morning, but the afternoon was full.

In the morning I saw the “Washing machine is ready to go” message when I went down to make the breakfast, so I switched it on. After breakfast Scamp wanted to go out for messages and I wanted to give my bike the once over, because I’m intending taking it out on Friday with a little bit of luck. The tyres are flat, but what state the inner tubes will be in, I don’t know. I might get round to that tomorrow, but today Scamp returned and saved me from getting my hands dirty.

After lunch I suggested we go for a walk. My offerings were Drumpellier, Auchinstarry for the Forth and Clyde canal or a more gentle Colzium. Drumpellier was our choice, so off we went.

As usual we walked anti-clockwise round the loch, then into the woods, taking it in turns to decide which road to take at each split in the path. It was a really warm day with a bit of cloud cover. We were just coming out of the woods when I saw a woman pushing an older woman in a wheelchair and recognised her voice. It was Morag from school and the older woman was her mum. We met up with her husband just a bit further along the road. We must have stood there for easily three quarters of an hour, just catching up and talking about folk we’d worked with. Funnily enough John and I had done exactly the same thing on Friday night. Morag has gone back to teaching again for half a week after having retired! I don’t know why people do that. Surely they are just taking jobs away from up and coming teachers who really need a job. I’m perfectly happy being retired and being able to live my own life. I’m sure Scamp would say the same thing, even if I do get in the way a lot of the time. We eventually said our “goodbyes” and we strode off, because the ice cream van was beckoning!

Just after getting the cones, I saw the opportunities of a photo with the swans. I handed my cone to Scamp and took a couple of photos of the birds. They weren’t too happy to see me and started hissing, as swans do, probably because I’d woken them up from their afternoon snooze. Two shots was all I risked, then caught up with Scamp again and we scoffed the ice cream, then drove home.

Two photos isn’t really enough for me. I kept my walking boots on and took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s where I got another sleepy dragonfly and back in the garden, a bi-coloured dahlia. Strange thing. Most of the flowers on the plant are pale pink, spotted with dark red. Some are plain red, but this one was half and half. Some sort of throwback perhaps. All are available on Flickr, but the swans got PoD.

While I was out, Scamp had been cutting the back garden grass. Hopefully that will be her finished for the year. Depending on the weather, the grass might need one more cut, but equally it might be good enough as it is,

Rather a good Pasta Carbonara tonight using Val’s Italian recipe with two full eggs and one extra yolk, but no cream. Apparently that’s how carbonara should be made.

Tomorrow we’re booked for coffee with Isobel in the morning. The rest of the day is our own.

A dull day – 23 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

As we stroll into autumn, the temperature appears to drop significantly.

Having said that, it was warmer outside than it was in the house today. But oh what a dull day. From when we woke it seemed to grow darker and darker. Eventually Scamp said we should get up before it got too dark.

By lunchtime the day had lightened a bit, but it didn’t brighten up much more after that. There were occasional spells of sunshine, but they were few and far between. I wasn’t at my brightest either today, finding something wrong with almost everything. Even after I found that I’d achieved an ‘Explore’ in Flickr for my loaf picture, I just grumbled that there was nothing special with the photo and why was it chosen for the ultimate Flickr accolade?

I did manage to get a PoD. It was a Echinacea from the front garden. It’s a bit faked, because some of its petals had been chewed and I replaced them with other ones, but you’d have to be very picky to find which ones were replaced. We really thought these cone flowers were annuals and were surprised when they produced new flower heads in the early summer. They’re still flowering well now that it’s almost autumn.

Dinner for me was tea and toast tonight, because my stomach was a bit upset. I think it might have been a slightly sour and very dry Victoria plum I had in the afternoon, but it prevented me from cooking pasta tonight. Scamp chose to have a baked potato instead.

Tomorrow looks like the best day of the week if the weather fairies have it right. We may go out for a run somewhere. It will give us a chance to buy some of the cut-price petrol that’s appeared in the pumps, perhaps.

Spiders in the rain – 22 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It was a wet day today. No real incentive to go out.

Scamp drove up to the chemist to get her meds, but I stayed at home. She walked over to St Mo’s later to post a couple of parcels and got thoroughly soaked for her trouble. So badly soaked was she that her raincoat is still drying in the kitchen.

Earlier I almost managed to choose a dry spell for a walk in St Mo’s. Lots of spiderwebs with their attendant spiders easily visible after the rain. One of those shots got PoD. I was quite pleased with the out of focus raindrops hanging from the web. It almost looked like the Milky Way to me. Although I did get wet, I wasn’t nearly as wet as Scamp was later in the afternoon.

Spoke to Fred for a while later and discussed paintings he’d done and sketches I’d done. I must get that back bedroom cleared out and create some space to get some painting done.

Dinner tonight was a very tasteless Spice Tailor daal. With leftover chicken from Saturday’s dinner. It’s not often we have a failure with Spice Tailor kits.

Scamp and I played Rummikub later because there really is nothing worth watching on terrestrial TV. Maybe we should have a rummage through the offerings on Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Maybe it was just a bad day and tomorrow will be better. It doesn’t really look like it though. Wednesday looks the best day of the week. We might go somewhere then.

 

An improving picture – 18 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp tested negative this morning. Me, I’m at the coo’s tail as usual, still positive.

Scamp was careful not to look at the pink column as it rose in the recording window of the test kit. Then after about twelve of the required fifteen minutes she gave a yelp. It was a negative result. Not even the slightest ghost of a ’T’ trace. At last, one of us had broken free. Mine was slower than usual to confirm a positive, but it was there for all to see by the fifteenth minute. I didn’t expect it to be any better, but it would have been a nice surprise …

I took a walk down to the shops to get some bread and a bunch of flowers to brighten the house. Also got some cherries and the stuff to make a stir fry for dinner. Later in the afternoon we both went for a walk in St Mo’s. Just once round the pond, but that was enough for me to snag a few shots of dragonflies resting on the boardwalk. I reckon it’s the daily rain showers,  another of which we had in the late afternoon, that are increasing the water level in the ponds and that’s encouraging the hatch of dragons. Mostly Common Darters, both male and female, but a few Black Darters occasionally added to the mix. One of the low down views of a dragonfly made PoD.

Stir fry was ok, but I inadvertently picked up a carton of Vegan broth mix instead of Chicken. I’ll be more careful in future. I much prefer the milder chicken flavour.

It was a bit dull today. Couldn’t really get myself interested in anything. I’m just finishing my first Stuart McBride book in years and am not all that impressed with it. Too predictable, I think. However, I bought the Audible version with the Kindle book and it helped the flight home pass much more quickly than reading.

We may go out somewhere tomorrow, just to get out of the house.

Cabin Fever – 15 August 2022

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Cabin Fever was setting in. I can’t stay cooped up for long.

It had been a wild night, with more thunder and lightning during the night. Also a lot more rain. Torrential rain that came along with the thunderstorm, but also just sheets of straight-down rain that soaked the gardens and grass. That was the kind of rain we needed. The torrential rain just runs off the hard baked ground, but it’s the gentler rain that soaks down into the roots of the plants and trees and that’s what the roots will soak up.

In the afternoon I decided it was calm enough to risk a short walk round St Mo’s. A chance to see what difference the change in the weather had made. There were slugs and snails everywhere. It looked like they were having a party. I suppose slugs especially dehydrate in the heat and so need to get out into the wet to absorb the water into their bodies. Snails can survive for longer by retreating into their shells. I’d taken a camera of course and my PoD was a little Scabious flower with pink among the blue petals. Also, as it was still raining, there were some water drops to add some fine detail. Everything seemed to shine in the sunshine through the rain. I felt better for that short walk.

Still feeling tired and the cough is still there, but Scamp is a looking and feeling a lot better. We’ve agreed to do another test tomorrow.