Category: weather

I’m busy doing nothing – 28 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

That’s how today felt.

Scamp was out to lunch with Nancy today which left me the run of the house.

It was a beautiful day again, possibly the last really warm day for a while, so after I’d changed the battery in the solar powered light ball that hangs on the tree in the garden, I went and sat on the front step and read my new book for a while, until lunch time, in fact. After lunch which was a chicken, mushroom and red pepper omelette, I continued my sunbathing and reading, although I did change to shorts and a tee shirt because it was really quite warm. I got a warning from Scott the taxi driver that I should have sun cream on and thought that was a wise precaution, so I went in search of sun cream. Finally found some, slapped it on and grabbed a beanie hat to complete my rig out. Possibly not the most elegantly dressed gent in the estate, but certainly the most comfortable, because now I’d taken a folding chair out. You can only sit for so long on a step before your bum starts to complain. I know I should have been sanding down the woodwork of the bin shed, but you can’t put a good book down! The book was All That Lives by James Oswald, in case you’re interested.

When Scamp returned I thought I’d give her some space and too the camera and the Lensbaby out to get some photos of the flowering cherry that grows in the depths of St Mo’s woodland. I got a few shots of it and am beginning to come to terms with this strange contraption. It does produce some very arty effects, almost painterly. That’s what produced today’s PoD of the flowering cherry tree.

That was about it for today. My work on the light ball lit up tonight and is now off again. The little Ni Mh battery does a good job and gives two or three hours of light. I’m hoping there will be enough sun tomorrow to charge it up again. Apparently it’s going to get a lot colder in the next few days with a wind from the north and talk of that white fluffy stuff falling from the sky!

One more thing.  I made Pasta Carbonara tonight for dinner, with a difference.  Two kinds of cheese, Pecarino and Parmigiano-Reggiano and NO CREAM!  Instead I tried Val’s recipe with an extra egg yolk instead of cream and it did taste better.  Must try it again some time.

Tomorrow Scamp is out again. This time it’s coffee with Shona. I’ll hope for a morning of sunshine.

 

Mothers Day – 27 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

After the crowds and rushing about of yesterday we wanted a quieter day today.

A lazy morning, taking some photos in the garden. Completing today’s Sudoku and just generally chilling. That was the tone for today. Scamp spoke to Hazy in the morning, and found that Neil was feeling a lot better and talking about going back to work tomorrow after his Covid scare. Scamp too was in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying the good weather.

After lunch we went out and did a bit of gentle pruning of the Schoolgirl rose that grows up the trellis beside the front door. Last autumn we’d done some drastic pruning and cut it back quite hard. It seems that the brutality of the pruning has encouraged a fair amount of new growth and perhaps we can do even more cutting after the risk of frost is past.

With the work in the garden done, we went for a walk round St Mo’s. Just one circuit. I was going to go for a second round, but the light was fairly flat, even for a bright day and we both walked down to the shops to get milk and sweeties. No gin today. Back home, Scamp made herself a Pimms and I opened a cheap bottle of beer that tasted like a cheap bottle of beer. I don’t think I’ll buy another one of those, but I would definitely have another bottle or two of Wainwright. Cheap beer that tastes like good beer. We sat in the garden and had a wee drink and I took some more photos, but most of them failed the cut because of striping, something to do with the electronic shutter. Too technical for me, but annoying. PoD went to a shot from the morning of some lovely scarlet anemones. Taken with the new toy, the Lensbaby Sweet 50.

With the sun going down, the Pimms drained and the beer finished too, it was dinner time. The main constituent was there remains of yesterday’s chicken with potatoes and cauliflower. Dessert was ice cream with our new raspberry sauce which tastes a lot like the raspberry we used to get at the ice cream van when we were wee.

Later Scamp spoke to Jamie and heard about the problems of travelling to Trinidad and the difficulty of getting Covid tests in the correct time scale. Not for him, but for Sim. Also the joys of cutting an enormous lawn in the new house.

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for lunch with Nancy at The Fort. I think I may go down the Luggie to get some photos, all being well.

Too many folk! – 26 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were heading east on the train. We were going to Edinburgh or Embra to give it its proper name.

We were a bit surprised at how many folk were already waiting at Platform 1 for the 10.25am train for the capital. There didn’t seem to be rugby on, nor was there a football clash. We shrugged and got on the train.

In Embra, once we got out of the station at Haymarket, there were a lot of changes since the last time we’d been there. Great glass monoliths had sprung up dwarfing (are you allowed to say that in these terribly PC days) the old sandstone building that looked disapprovingly on their new brash neighbours. We walked up Morrison Street to the Conference Centre then into Ladyfield and on to Conference Square. Canyons, both of them. Narrow paths between towering glass and steel buildings. They look like canyons and feel like canyons when that east wind is blowing, but catch the light nicely when the sun shines, and the sun was shining today. Crossed the road for coffee in Nero, our usual watering hole when we’re visiting the capital.

Refreshed we walked through the Farmers Market after glancing at the Van Gogh exhibition site and feeling glad we hadn’t bought the extortionate tickets to watch stars float across some wildly blown up photos of the artist’s work.

It was while we were walking through the market that I got the first inklings that it was a bit busier than it usually is at this time of year. As we neared the Grassmarket we both agreed that it was indeed a bit crowded. Every stall seemed to have queues of folk two or three rows thick trying to get a look at what is really just tourist tack. No chance of going to Petit Paris today for lunch. Up over West Bow to the Royal Mile and the crowds were still milling around. We walked through the Princes Street Gardens, but there were no seats available and people sitting on the grass everywhere. When we got to Princes Street itself, I think we both made the decision to go home.

We almost had to run to get on the train home and managed to get a seat after walking half way along the train. Each carriage was full. Finally we did get a seat, but once the train reached Haymarket it was standing room only. A most uncomfortable journey in a hot, crowded train. I don’t know why everyone had decided to go to Embra today, but we were both happy to get back to the house.

Scamp sat in the garden for a while enjoying the sunshine, while I tried to fix one of her light globes. I’ve just realised I’ve got it charging in the back bed room. Must switch it off before I go to bed.

We had stopped at Tesco on the way home to get a cooked chicken and a loaf and we had Neil’s Chicken Salad for dinner. Bramley Apple pie for dessert.

I think the next time we feel the need to visit Embra, we’ll go mid-week.

PoD was the view up West Bow.

Tomorrow a bit of basking in the sun, hopefully.

Off to Larky – 25 March 2022

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To see the optician.

Thankfully I didn’t need new glasses, in fact, the optician said that my long vision had improved since my last visit! I have no idea how that happened. Scamp did need new reading glasses, but she’s getting Transition glasses which darken in sunlight. I know they’ve been out for some time, but these new ones darken much quicker than the older ones I had once upon a time. Hers will probably more akin to the ones Zaphod Beeblebrox had that darkened when danger threatened! When we walked back out into the Larky sunshine I needed sunglasses because of the drops the optician put in my eyes. Trust us to both go on the brightest and warmest day of the year so far!

We sat in the car for a while until I deemed it safe for me to drive. To drive to Gouldings on Clydeside for lunch. Being Friday, it could only be Fish ’n’ Chips. For dessert we had an enormous double meringue with four flakes sticking out of it and a strawberry on top. Slightly over the top, but we shared the load of eating it!

After that it was back home for Scamp to try out her new compost scoop tool to help her to plant her new roses. The scoop has been a great success, the gardener reported and it hold a lot of earth. Meanwhile I took the Sony A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and PoD was one of a deep pink wild flower. Actually, I took a picture of a flower that looks exactly the same, a week earlier in 2021. That just shows two things:
1. Wild plants follow exact cycles every year.
2. I’m becoming very insular. Photographing in the same locality too often.

That was about it for today. Lovely sunny day again. Tomorrow we may go further afield.

 

Waiting, waiting, waiting – 23 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

For the postman to arrive. Hopefully bringing a parcel.

It took a while for the postman to arrive with the parcel and two cards. Scamp had already been down to the shops and back, leaving me to wait for the parcel. I did spend my time wisely, going out into the sunshine and photographing the Forsythia bush with my strange new lens. It’s a bit cumbersome and difficult to work with. If I’d put the camera on a tripod and then adjusted things, it would have been better. However, like most things photographic, the instructions that come with it are only a starting point. Mostly you learn by doing.

After lunch we set off for a walk in Drumpellier park. Scamp got to choose the paths this time, because it’s her week. She wanted to try a path to Bishop Loch. The sign pointing out the way seemed to think it was 1.5 miles to the loch. We followed its path until we came to the main road. There was a another signpost there telling us to go left. That was strange, because I was sure Bishop Lock was right. Also, the distance to the loch was now 1.75 miles. We both though the signs were just leading us a merry dance and we went back the way we’d come.

We hadn’t walked far when I got a call from the lady who asks us questions and gives us cotton bud things to stick down our throat and up our nose. Not out in the wilds of Drumpellier park, you realise, but back home. We agreed a time and walked a shortened version of our original route. A route that took us past the ice cream van, where we stopped for a ’99’, or as I said “a 99 with a flake”. Silly bugger. We found a seat by the loch (not Bishop Loch) to sit and watch the world go by as we ate our cones.

On the way back we stopped at The Fort. Scamp went to browse clothes shops and I went looking for a book in Waterstones. I came out with two books and still with a fiver in my book tokens to reduce the price of the next book I fancy. I’d hoped to get a birthday card for Scamp too, but Waterstones didn’t have any and I didn’t want to run the risk of Scamp spotting me going in to a card shop.

Back home, we still had an hour to spare before the Covid Survey lady was due to come, so I grabbed my camera bag and told Scamp I was going over to St Mo’s to get a few more pictures. Instead I walked down to the shops and got a card there. I’d also intended getting a bottle of Bramble Gin, but the queues in Aldi were ridiculous, so I gave up, put the bottle back on the shelf and walked home. Sorry Scamp. IOU a bottle of Bramble Gin. On the walk I did find something to photograph. It made the cut too and is on Flickr. It’s another bunch of seeds from a Silver Birch, lying on the ground. A boy on a bike watched me as if I was mad. Had he never seen a man on his hands and knees photographing a bit of stick lying on the ground? These are exactly the antics that get photogs a bad name!

The lady came and we told her some lies variations on the truth, but mainly truthful. We shoved the stick down our throats and gagged a bit. We stuck it up our nose too, both nostrils. Note! It’s really important that you do the throat first, not the nose. Think about it. There are some things you don’t want to put down your throat!  The last question they ask you is always “Have you been out of the country in the last 28 days?”.  We always look sad at that point, but today the lady did a little dance and said that she was hoping to get out of the country and go to Teneriffe next week.  She looked so excited I forgave her for making us feel worse!  It’s nice to get an interviewer with a sense of humour.  Actually most of them have been fairly happy folk.

Dinner was Easy Fish and Cabbage Risotto. The oven does all the work and nobody will be able to tell that you didn’t spend half an hour feeding hot stock into slowly thickening rice starch.

Hoping to go for lunch in Falkirk tomorrow, then a visit to Torwood Garden Centre.

 

Another beautiful day – 21 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Almost wall to wall sunshine today, although the old weather station in the living room and also my little weather device in my alarm clock were both predicting rain that never came.

It was very relaxing, doing today’s Wordle and catching up with my Sudoku and reading, with sunshine streaming in the front windows. In fact it was so relaxing, neither of us wanted to do very much at all until lunch time.

After that, Scamp went off to the shops to get some oranges and apples and I eventually got my act together and went looking for photos in St Mo’s. I managed to capture my first fly of the year and my first spider. Both separated by a couple of meters, so no insects were injured as part of the photography process. However, with a little bit of back lighting, it was a couple of leaves from a Dogwood bush that got PoD. I just liked the colours in the translucent leaves (which are really shields for the flower buds) and the textures in the background. While I was away, Scamp had returned and couldn’t just sit around, so she strimmed the grass in the front garden.

I also brought back a tick. The first this year. It is now much flatter than it was when I found it and also much deader. That’s what happens when you ignore the obvious fact that you have to keep using preventative measures. I’ll order some Smidge tonight.

Not long after I came back, the clouds started to gather and it looked like the weather stations would be right after all, but it didn’t happen. It was just a bit of light cloud the weather man said. His idea of light and mine don’t quite line up I think. These were big clumsy looking clouds, but it seems they’ve passed by now.

Tonight’s dinner was the remainder of yesterday’s veggie chilli. Scamp had added some more chilli powder and it had a better kick today. Still the best veggie chilli ever, I think.

That was our lazy day. Not a lot done, but sometimes you don’t need to do a lot. Tomorrow Scamp has an appointment with the dentist in the afternoon. Our morning is might be free.

A little less driving – 20 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

The furthest I drove today was to Tesco and back.

Scamp would have driven, but I wanted to retrieve my car from the parking place it was in from yesterday, before the road and the parking became even more congested. Sundays are always busy round our way. Anyway, if she’d driven I’d have been tempted to stay at home and snooze away the morning. Better to be up and out.

I think we bought out almost all of Tesco’s alcohol shelves. We had two bottles of gin and two, or was it three bottles of wine? I think it was three but who’s counting! On our circuits of the aisles, we bumped into a former colleague, Lynn. She is always either going on holiday or just coming back and she was amazed that we’d taken a two year sabbatical from overseas trips. Younger people don’t seem to understand that some of us ‘Oldies’ are reluctant to just jump in to a foreign holiday while there is still a chance of everything shutting down around our ears. Besides we have a fairly full dance card this year without going beyond the confines of the UK. Maybe later we’ll take the plunge again.

Back home and after lunch, Scamp persuaded me to humph a big bag of compost from the back garden where it had lain since autumn through the house to the front garden where it would be used to replenish some of the earth around her roses. After she had finished, I agreed with her that it had been worthwhile and the roses would feel the benefit. After that was done I even dug up part of the back garden to plant two plants that had been languishing in pots. I’m sure they too will benefit from their new beds and be able to stretch out their roots.

Gardening finished, I went for a walk around St Mo’s with one subject in mind. I wanted some photos of the Flowering Currant bushes (Ribes sanguineum) with their pretty pink flowers. Typically, there has been very little wind this last week, but when I want to photograph these flowers, they start bobbing around in the breeze. However I did get a few decent shots. One of them made PoD. Strangely they were the PoD exactly a year ago and also exactly two years ago!  How predictable I’ve become!

Dinner tonight was a veggie chilli, made with a base of brown lentils. Always a winner. It wasn’t very hot today, but that will change as it sits for a day or maybe two.

Spoke to Jamie and found out that the petrol crisis has had a knock on effect for his lady gardener who can’t afford to travel to his new house, but she has recommended someone who is more local. Sim is getting ready to fly back to Trinidad for a week. Lucky girl! We have sunshine, but Trinidad has SUNSHINE!!!

No plans for tomorrow, but the weather looks good, so maybe some gardening or a walk.

 

 

Dancin’ and Drivin’ – 19 March 2022

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We were off to the Saturday morning dance class and then a mystery tour.

The road was busy today, mainly because of the weather. Not bad weather, but exceptionally good weather. Blue skies and sunshine. Everyone was heading for the coast today I’d imagine. Then I found why everyone was driving slowly. It wasn’t just the volume of traffic, it was also because of roadworks. Forty miles per hour and just to make it even more depressing, those big yellow spies in the sky, Average Speed Cameras and they will be there for at least 12 weeks. I suppose the roads do need resurfacing and spring is the best time of year to get the work done. Hopefully better weather and not fully in to summer. We can but hope that other folk will find alternative routes and the traffic will thin out.

Only six people were in the class. There was a dance tonight and a lot of people, like us, were happy to go to class, or the dance, but not both on the same day. Too much travelling to and fro, so most of the normal class had chosen the dance.

The great thing about small class sizes is that you get almost individual attention. The bad thing is that there’s nowhere to hide. Today we started with an easy Midnight Jive and then it was into the Waltz we were learning last week. Thankfully some of the others in the class were still learning the part we’d done last week, so that gave us a chance to reprise that part, then it was in to the more complicated ‘back section’. A short break for another sequence dance, I forget which one and then it was on to the Cha-Cha. The Cha-Cha, in my opinion is a totally pointless piece of fluff with arm waving an extravagance I can do without. I put up with it then put it in its box and left it until next week when I have to pull it out, try to reassemble all the parts and dance it again. But wait! The teachers are off for a week in the sun from Wednesday, so there is no class next week! Oh joy of joys! I mean, of course, “Oh what a shame. We’ll have to wait two weeks for the next class.”

We drove out of Brookside, headed in the general direction of home and then took the dual carriageway to Irvine. It was still a long drive down to the coast, but quicker than the last route the sat nav took us. When we got there it was wall to wall sunshine. Unfortunately, it was also wall to wall cars in the car park. There are loads of car parks at the harbour in Irvine, but all of them were pretty full. However, we did find a place to park and went for a walk to feel what a walk in the sun felt like. Half the world seemed to be there and they all had ice cream. It would have been a terrible shame not to join them, so it was a medium sized 99 with raspberry on top, then a walk along the beach. There were people walking, sitting on the sand, paddling and Scamp even saw two wee boys swimming! In the sea! In March! Are they mad!!?

It really is a long beach and we walked along about half of it then I wanted to look at the big sandstone dragon that sat high on the dunes above the beach. We struggled to climb up to it, wading through the dry sand then up through the dunes proper, but the beast itself was quite impressive. Loads of kids climbing on it, but I managed to get a few photos and remove the weans in Photoshop later.

We said goodbye to the dragon and walked over the hillocks down to to boating pond we hadn’t seen before. This really is an interesting foreshore. Lots of cropped grass, hills and valleys to explore. Just shows what can be done if you have a bit of imagination.

Drove home via a Tesco petrol station to get a fairly cheap, by today’s standards, tank of fuel for £1.62 a litre. Then we drove home via East Kilbride because I couldn’t be bothered driving through the traffic at the Kingston Bridge.

Fish ’n’ Chips which Scamp went over to Condorrat for because I was snoozing on the couch. PoD was a fairly crowded Irvine Beach.

No plans for tomorrow, but apparently we need some messages.

At the Battlefield – 18 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

A beautiful Friday morning.

Scamp drove over to Tesco to post Neil’s granny’s birthday card. Age 90 deserves a card on the day and by our calculations, the card should arrive on time if it was posted early.

After that, we just hung about, me doing Sudoku and Scamp reading until it was time to drive to Glasgow’s South Side to the Battlefield Rest. An independent Italian restaurant houses in a waiting room and tram stop! It’s a strange wee building that sits on its own traffic island at a complicated junction surrounded by ugly high-rise buildings. We were originally introduced to it by my cousin, Donald, an architect and fellow foodie. We had booked last night, just to make sure we’d get a table.

First problem was getting there. I missed a turning on the sat nav and the next one too. I took things a bit slower and found the third one, only to discover they were digging up the road and we had to take a diversion. After another wrong turn we arrived at Battlefield Road and every parking space I could see was either blocked or too small. Then, out of the blue, we found a nice big space just a few minutes walk from the restaurant.

Scamp had Mussels in a Tomato sauce to start and a main of Smokie Crepe. I had Crab Bruschetta, followed by Spaghetti Paesana (Spaghetti with meatballs). Just because we could, we both had a dessert. Scamp, of course had Tiramisu and I had Pecan and Pine Nut Tart with a big scoop of ice cream. A lovely meal we both enjoyed. It must be well over three years since we’ve been in The Rest. Hopefully it won’t be so long until we’re back.

Since it was such a lovely day we went for a walk over to Queen’s Park, marvelling at the changes in the area and the amount of construction work still going on. We climbed up the long unforgiving hill to the flagpole and viewpoint in Queen’s Park. Great views of Glasgow from the viewpoint, but oh, the cobbled paths are treacherous. We both nearly took a tumble there. Saw a couple of Pied Woodpeckers in the wee wood behind the flagpole. First ones I’ve seen since we were down at Jamie and Sim’s old house. You can sometimes hear them in the woods at Drumpellier, but I’ve never actually seen them there. We followed another treacherous path down to the real, tarmac path and followed it round the park to the exit and from there back to the car. It was a fairly easy drive from there to the M74 and home.
Today was rated as “Excellent” by both of us.

The weather was still fine when we arrived home and I was tempted to take the camera for a walk in St Mo’s, but I knew I had a couple of interesting shots, one of which would make PoD. I was wrong. It was a cropped shot of The Battlefield Rest suitably toned to make it look older. That won PoD.

I got an email from MPB telling me they had downgraded my estimate for the condition of the camera. I didn’t fully agree with their description, but agreed because I know it was a borderline case for “Excellent”. Their estimate of “Good” was probably more realistic. Money should be with us next week, hopefully.

It appears that despite some people withdrawing from dance class tomorrow, because the first dance of the year is on tomorrow night. We’d intend going to both, but Scamp made the decision to go to the class and possibly a tea dance during the week. We did have a quick practise of the Cha-Cha and the Waltz as preparation for tomorrow’s dance so, I shouldn’t  make too many mistakes.

If the weather holds tomorrow, we may go for a spin after the class, maybe to the seaside. I’m not sure if we’ll pack buckets and spades. However, I do still have a snow shovel in the boot!

 

Meeting Margie – 17 March 2022

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Another day entering the wonderful world of Margie

Before we get to that, here’s the weather report for today. It will try to rain for a while, but its heart isn’t really in it, so it will stop and consider its options, then it will rain again, but decide maybe sun would be good. No, that doesn’t work either. Probably give them some more rain, just light rain this time, or maybe heavy rain would be better … Do you get the idea the weather was having one of its indecision days?

We stayed at home in the morning and watched the sun then the rain exchange places until lunch time, then after toast ’n’ beans, we did our Lat Flow tests and set off to Seafar to visit Margie.

She lives alone now since Tarry died. Her son visits her every day and has dinner with her every night. It was bucketing with rain when we arrived, but she brightened our day, as I hope we brightened hers. She had one of her paintings for me to look at and I had my Every Day in February sketches for her to critique. I liked her painting of two sax players. It was painted alla prima (in one session without underpainting) and in acrylic. It felt fresh and you could feel the subjects moving. I was impressed. She seemed to like my sketches too and gave reasons for her likes and dislikes. As always, she had lots of stories to tell mainly about Tarry’s family this time. All about his father’s escapades during WW2, being sent to internment camps in the Isle of Man. It’s easy to forget, in these days of Russia invading Ukraine, that Italians in the UK during the war weren’t trusted and sent to what were almost PoW camps here. After an hour or so we left her to rest a while before her son arrived, vowing to come back soon. She’s a great fan of Alan Cumming, Hazy and was interested to hear that he has a new book out. I think it’s on her shopping list now.

We drove home via Tesco at the town centre, because we were near there. As I was coming out, I saw a face that I recognised, but couldn’t put a name to. It was Brian Gregg, one time student teacher at my school, then a probationer with us too. He recognised me too and we talked in a howling gale for a while in the Tesco car park. Strange to think that seven years later he’s married with two kids. He’s still teaching and obviously enjoying it, also making plans for promotion too. It was really good to speak to him. Cheered me up just as much as Margie did.

Back home the wind was still wild, but the rain had turned itself off again, so I went walking in the woods of St Mo’s and that’s where the Larch flowers came from. It was a close thing between it and another blossom shot.

Dinner was the second half of yesterday’s minestrone. Almost as good as yesterday’s.

Today was the end of another of the drops for Scamp. Only one bottle left. Seven more days and four drops a day, so that’s 28 drops to go until we’re done, all being well.

Tomorrow we might go for lunch. Since we’ve been talking Italian today, we might to an Italian restaurant.