Category: weather

Another hot day – 30 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Temperatures around 25ºc expected again today.

Scamp was supposed to be going for coffee with June, but she called off this morning with a dodgy stomach. I know how she feels.

That left us with a different shaped day. We did consider going for walk, but decided it was too hot for that today. Instead, Scamp went out to do some weeding and pruning. I was checking the roses and found a sticky residue on one of the buds, in fact, on more than one of them. I suspected aphids and was about to grab the bug killer spray when I noticed a little blob of orange on one of the rose leaves. It was a little sixteen spot ladybird, Halyzia sedecimguttata, orange with white spots. I put away the bug spray. The ladybird will hopefully deal with the aphids and get lunch along the way. Of course I took a fair amount of photos of the little orange killer. One of them got PoD.

We went to Tesco to do some shopping. We also had a fair load of stuff to go on the skips, so we split up. Scamp went to Tesco and I drove over to the skips to dump the old carpet tiles, the broken carpet sweeper and yet more Wii controllers. Hopefully they were the last of the Wii. While I was there I managed to grab a few shots of a Teddybear’s Tea Party.
Back at Tesco we met up just as Scamp was finishing the shopping and drove home to have a roll ’n’ banana for lunch.

In the afternoon, Scamp was going to do some more trimming and I was taking the A7 for a walk and to check out the graffiti on the Luggie because I’d promised Alex a walk there tomorrow. Unfortunately they hadn’t been improved since last time. Then I went for a walk in Fannyside, hoping to get another photo of the caterpillar I saw last week, but there was nothing interesting to be seen. I drove home and had a beer in the garden while Scamp had a Pimms.

Dinner was a Scamp speciality, Potatoes and Cabbage with an addition of fried bacon for me. Then I washed the dishes while Scamp grabbed a few more minutes in the sun in the garden.

Today’s prompt asked for A Guitar. This is my Spanish guitar It’s a fairly old instrument now and is a bit battered and bruised, but it’s had a hard life and still sounds good. It’s nylon strung and therefore it’s a bit easier to fret than a steel strung acoustic guitar.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet my brother for a walk around Glasgow and the chance of a coffee and a blether.

In Glasgow – 29 May 2023

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Today we were going in to Glasgow.

It was what I would call “A Roaster”. I don’t know what temperature was reached but it was certainly in the mid to high twenties. We were on a mission though. We had a list of things to buy, or to be more precise, Scamp had a list of things to buy, but this time they were for me:
A pair of Crocs – Failure. Couldn’t get my size in anything other than white. Can you imagine me in a pair of white Crocs? How long would they stay white?
Dubbin for my boots – Success. Even if it was one and a half times the price of my old tin!
A new Concertina Sketch book – Success and I also got a ‘Rigger’ which is a very fine long haired brush for painting fine lines.
A Hat – Failure. The Tiso shop I was in didn’t have the fancy sun hat I was looking for, but it did have a cheaper version. Maybe …

That took us an hour or so of wandering around, then for lunch I suggested going to The Burrell. It was a good idea, but all of Glasgow seemed to be there. A lovely lunch there, although Scamp complained that the scone she had was a bit dry. I had the New York Special which wasn’t dry inside!

Drove back home and began to feel a bit tired, hard to explain. A fifteen minute snooze on the couch turned into a two hour sleep. I think I should have bought that hat and worn it to keep the sun off my rapidly balding head.

Eventually sat outside with Scamp and a bottle of beer.

Dinner was another Scamp salad with Tuna Macaroni, Baby Tomatoes, Grated Carrots and Peaches and a variety of leaves. Quite delicious and to finish a slice of M&S Bramley Apple Pie.

PoD went to a couple sitting in a chair at the end of a corridor at the Burrell.

Today’s prompt was Something Under A Magnifying Glass. I was initially at a loss as to what to draw, then I thought about the distortion a magnifying glass brings and this is the result. I’m not sure if the person holding the glass is being examined, or if they are examining ME!

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for coffee with June and I’m intending taking stuff to the skips.

 

A glass of wine and a cucumber – 26 May 2023

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The glass was a prompt but the cucumber was in the garden.

While Scamp was off at FitSteps class this morning I did a rough sketch for today’s prompt which was A Glass of Red Wine or Juice. I chose the wine of course and as usual, the rough sketch got more and more refined until it became the painting. I was running out of free space on my concertina sketch book, so I’d drawn it on the back of a sheet from my A5 sketch book and I’d already been doodling on it weeks ago. That meant I had a lot of erasing to do once I’d finished painting. I think it worked really well.

When Scamp returned we went for a wander round the garden and that’s where I saw the wee green spider. It’s a Cucumber Green Spider and it looks like it’s just caught its lunch on its web. The web was stretched across one of the rhododendron flowers in the garden.

After our lunch, Scamp went and sat in the garden for a while and I put up a hook on the fence to hang the watering can from. That was the sum total of my work today, other that frying my lunch which was a venison burger that I found in the freezer. It was a bit past its ‘sell by date’ and had lost a bit of its flavour, but was ok with potatoes and beans. Scamp had the same potatoes and beans, but with a veg sausage.

She stayed out a bit longer but eventually gave up because the sun was coming and going all the time, just as the weather fairies had predicted.

Hoping to go to dance class tomorrow if we can get a quorum.

Leeks, Kale, Flowers and a Bow Tie – 25 May 2023

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Today we went to Torwood to buy some plants. We didn’t buy a bow tie.

We were off out this morning to get some flowers for Scamp. I bagged myself a tray of Kale and another of Leeks, both of which will be going into the raised bed once I get it fixed up again. Lunch was at Torwood too. Quiche for both of us. Scamp’s tomato and cheese seemed fine. My chicken and bacon was a bit too dry. Maybe I’m just a perfectionist! When she was last there, she’d seen a garden kneeler that converted into a seat and was quick to add it to the trolley.

Back home, I started work on today’s prompt which was “A Gift Loop or a Knot or Towel Day – a tribute to Douglas Adams.”
That is a bit of a mouthful and I had no idea what a Gift Loop was, so I took the Loop and Knot part and made today’s sketch a Bow Tie which has a Loop and a Knot. Simples!

While I was drawing and painting, Scamp was eager to get her Rozanne Geranium, planted out and an ornamental grass put in its place for now. I left my kale and leeks to stand outside for a while until I get some wood to repair the raised bed. With that done, she took her seat out and found a place in the sun until a call from Jackie interrupted her. I knew the two of them would be busy blethering, so I took that as my cue to get out of the way for a while.

I took the A7 back up to Fannyside, but first I went to M&S to get the makings of tonight’s dinner which was to be potatoes and spaghetti with a pesto sauce. Then I posted a card I’d been given in the postbox at Condorrat. Then, finally I was on my way into the great wide open. It’s such a lovely place, Fannyside. Much nicer than its name implies! Unfortunately there was a lack of insect life today. A few of the black Hawthorn flies, but that was it. I did get a quite twee rural scene of sheep lazing in the shade of the big pine trees. I quite liked it and it became PoD.

The potato and spaghetti pesto was not voted a great success, which is a pity because the pesto took a long time to get looking right. However I’ll remember to forget it for the next time!!

Hazy’s cat, Penny was at the vet’s today for a little op.  She got home tonight and was looking quite sorry for herself in the photo Hazy sent us.  Poor wee soul having to wear a lamp shade for a week.  How embarrassing!  Hope she  feels better soon.

Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps tomorrow morning and I might go for a walk to get a photo, because the weather fairies say it will be a bit cloudier than today in the afternoon.

Grass Cutting and Water Drops – 24 May 2023

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Not me, Scamp was doing the grass cutting today.

I was the hired help who moved the plant pots for the gardener to cut right to the edge of the path. Then once the cutting had been done, I moved them all back again. It wasn’t an onerous task and I’m much rather do the lifting than the cutting.

Today’s prompt was A Water Drop. It seemed such a simple task, but even with a few photos in front of me, I just couldn’t get anything like a drip to grace the paper. After three attempts, I gave up and had a “Piece ’n’ Sausage” for my lunch. I really needed to clear my head of water drops, so I drove up to Fannyside Moor and went for a walk with the A7. I’d two lenses with me. One wide angle and one macro. I reckoned I could use both today and I did. I took a few landscapes with the wide angle, the best of which is on Flickr. It’s a view from my parking place, across the moor to the Campsie on a beautiful spring day. Changed to the macro and caught a little ladybird, a Striped Ladybird to be precise. Red with white spots and stripes. I also saw a strange beetle which Mr Google says is a Two Banded Longhorn Beetl, quite a mouthful, and a host of slow flying Hawthorn Flies.

The best of the wildlife was still to come and it was the PoD. It’s a Drinker Moth Caterpillar, about as long as my middle finger and it was walking along a barbed wire fence. It was walking because these caterpillars have feet, not all do. I remember seeing one before, but I can’t remember where. Will have a look through my records.

Back home Scamp was reading in the garden and I encouraged her to have a glass of wine while I had a beer. Well, it’s ‘hump day’ (the middle of the week) so we were allowed. Scamp made stir-fry for dinner and it was really good, better than mine. After dinner I returned to the painting of the water drop and went back to basics. No fancy backgrounds, just the water drop. It worked, but I’m still not happy with it. Could do better is the expression I’m thinking sums it up.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Where did the sun go again! – 23 May 2023

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Yesterday we sat in the garden in the sunshine.

To risk that today would have been foolhardy in extreme. Cold wind from the west, although Scamp said it was just cool, not cold. The furthest we got today was the Tuesday shopping run to Tesco.

In the morning I finished Jimi Hendrix Live In Lviv. I put a review of it in Goodreads and just in case you were thinking or reading it, I’ll warn you that my review has spoilers. Rated it at 3.5/5

Later in the afternoon I took the A7iii for a walk in St Mo’s and captured a photo of three snails climbing a dried up weed by the edge of the path. After a fair bit of post processing I came up with a mono version of it that looked better than the original colour one.

Dinner was my version of Amatriciana, perhaps with too much chilli flakes.

The prompt today asked for The Contents of a Drawer.
You don’t really want to see the contents of my drawers, do you? You certainly don’t want me to sketch them, because that could take until next week to accomplish. What I have given you instead is a sample of the contents of my acrylic paint drawer in my useful IKEA cabinet. I don’t know if the contents of any of these tubes is still liquid, because the last time I painted with acrylic must be pre-covid, maybe even pre-historic! Anyway, it fulfils the brief.

No plans for tomorrow.

A Busy Morning – 19 May 2023

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Bags to pack, Cards to post, Sketches to do and Photos to take

Strangely for me, all the above were achieved in a morning!

This afternoon we drove up to Perth to the old dilapidated Salutation Hotel which started taking paying guests in the year 1699 and is still taking guests to this day. Inside it’s an overheated maze with a wheezy old lift that struggles to carry folk up to the third floor and that’s where we were going. We had a corner room, not open, airy outside corner room, but a tight oddly shaped internal corner with a view into a compactor where the day’s rubbish and all sorts was compressed in a skip. Delightful. I won’t mention the shower which wasn’t so much a shower as a warm drizzle. There, I said I wasn’t going to mention it, but I did. I will not speak of it again.

We had plenty of time for a walk round Perth which was looking at its best today. An almost totally calm and still River Tay gave perfect reflections and one of them became PoD. We walked through the park beside the river on a beautiful spring day. On the way back Scamp went browsing in M&S and found what might have been a new dress, only to discover when we returned to the room that it was the wrong size and would need to go back tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was served in the breakfast room. Last November it had been a slightly shambolic buffet in the ballroom. Today’s was a better arrangement and the food was ok, just ok. Dancing started around 7.30pm and continued until midnight, but we had had enough by 11.30. One of the good things about having the dance in an old hotel is that the walls and floor seem to be a lot thicker and sound deadening than in newer establishments. In our room there was not a whisper coming from Stewart’s sound system, or maybe we were just so tired by then that we didn’t notice.

The prompt today asked for Sports Equipment.
I’m not really a sporting person these days. Maybe a couple of days cycling a year but nothing more energetic. There was a time I liked a game of badminton, but that was many years ago. I almost reached the point of the owner of this racket, but not quite.

More dancing, much more dancing planned for tomorrow night, plus the dreaded Joy’s Waltz with its Overturned Spin Turn.

A day in Japan – 17 May 2023

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Scamp was out early this morning to get her hair cut.

When she came back I was just finishing hanging out the washing. It was a lovely morning again and we discussing where to go when Scamp said she fancied going to the Japanese Garden near Dollar. I tidied up the things I was messing about with on the computer and off we went.

Scamp had bought the tickets online before we left, so we knew we’d get in, but we had to squeeze into one of the last three spaces in the overflow carpark. Then it was just a case of picking up a map and walking round the pond. We’d been before back in October last year and had seen the place in its autumn colours. We were hoping to see it in its spring regalia, but we were disappointed. A few of the azaleas were flowering in bright yellows and one or two rhododendrons were also flowering but everything else was green. It seems like it’s not just us who are running about a month late this year.

On the map we’d been given there was a mysterious number that would apparently unlock a gate. We looked where we thought the gate should be, but it wasn’t there. Finally we found it at the other end of the garden. There was a keypad on the gatepost and when we punched in the mysterious number the gate opened to allow us into the woodland walk. For the most part the walk was through woods, as you’d expect, but we could see a children’s adventure playground at the top of a hill, but ignored it and walked on. That’s where we found the ‘village’.

The noticeboard explained that last year’s storm ‘Arwen’ had felled or damaged a lot of the trees in the garden but that even the damage led to new beginnings. It was scamp who say the first tree stump with a heavy rope wrapped around the top and a variety of mosses and little trees growing in it. Then she saw the houses. Taller stumps topped off with roofs and with windows and doors added. Loads of these tree houses making something new from Arwen’s destruction a nice bit of creative thinking.

We wanted to have a coffee and a bite to eat, but the cafe was understaffed and there was a half hour wait before they’d be taking orders, so we left.

Scamp suggested we go to The Bothy for lunch instead. It was a great idea, but everyone of the townships we drove through had 20mph signs on entry. Why? There was no-one on the streets? We reached the cafe and after a bit of a wait we did get lunch with a cafetière of good coffee for me and peppermint tea for Scamp. Happy, we drove home.

Neither of us fancied dinner tonight and just to finish off the day I washed the car. I know it will be covered in seagull crap tomorrow, but I washed it today.

PoD was a view through one bridge to another in the Japanese Garden.

The prompt for today was A Pencil Case. This is my go-everywhere pencil case. Unfortunately, today it has no pencil in it, but the prompt only asked for the case! So I fulfilled the brief. The case does contain a pencil sharpener just in the unlikely event that a pencil jumps into the case and needs sharpening. This is the slimmed down version of the real pencil case which holds so many odds and ends that I have difficulty zipping it up.

No plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Another day, another lunch – 16 May 2023

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This lunch was with Crawford & Nancy.

We were booked at The Cotton House for midday. The secret with Cotton House is to get there early. We were the first to arrive with about ten minutes to spare. C&N coasted in about five minutes later. Food in Cotton House is always good, and it didn’t let us down today. Chicken Satay, and Spring Rolls for the girls and Chicken Noodle soup for the guys. Mains were Lemon Chicken and Chicken Chow Mein for the girls and the guys sticking together again with Sweet & Sour Chicken with Fried Rice. Ice cream for all as a dessert. Then coffee for three and a Chinese tea for me. We took all of the available two hours as did a few other diners and discussed cruises and family and C&N’s grandson’s up and coming skydive! A good catch up. This going out to lunch could catch on, you know!

The morning had been beautiful sunshine but with a cold wind and quite a strong wind too, it was nice to look out at, but not so much fun to be out in. That’s my excuse for not taking any photos in the morning. By the time we got home after our extended lunch, the big heavy clouds had rolled in and the sun had disappeared, but at least the wind had died down. I still couldn’t gee myself to go out and take some photos, so it was flowers in the garden that were the subjects for today, specifically another pink Aquilegia. A bit more careful framing this time. That became PoD.

Today’s prompt was Something Sticky and what could be more sticky than honey. Well, as some of the artists in EDiM have shown, there are many more things that are sticky and some of them I don’t want to think about. I’ll stick (no pun intended) with honey. Lovely sticky golden honey.

Scamp is off getting her hair cut tomorrow morning and that is as much as we have planned.

Out to lunch – 15 May 2023

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We got the text just after 9am. Ben went to school!

That meant we were on track to take Ben’s mum, Shona to lunch. Picked her up just before midday and drove by the backroads to The Stables because it was such a lovely day. Shona was adamant that this was her treat. In fact this was her contribution to our Golden Wedding anniversary. When she told us that, how could we refuse. Scamp and Shona had a Fish Finger Sandwich each. Big chunks of fish in batter in a panini, with a cup of chips each. I had the meat eater’s version which was a slice of fillet steak cooked rare and also served on a panini and also with a cup of chips. Both lunch meals were delicious.

After lunch we went for a walk along the towpath of the Forth & Clyde canal which runs past the front of the restaurant. We walked for about a mile in the general direction of Glasgow before we turned back. Loads to see today. Butterflies all along the path, Peacock, Orange Tip and Cabbage Whites, mainly. Bluebells growing under the trees and a big Aquilegia growing wild in the hedgerow. Loads of people out on bikes making the most of an unexpectedly good day. There was even a canal boat chugging sedately heading for Glasgow, probably. It was the Yarrow Seagull and it got PoD with Scamp and Shona getting in on the photo too.

We dropped Shona off at her house and we drove home via Tesco. Back home, Scamp swithered, whether to cut the front grass or not. Eventually she decide she would and I was enlisted to lift the flower pots out of the way of the mower and replace them when she was finished.

Some of the roses needed a last trim before the flower buds appear and that was my job. I also pruned the Forsythia now that the flowers had gone over and before the leaves come fully out. My final job was to tie back the pink fluffy plant in the back garden. I can never remember its name. I know there are two of them, slightly different from each other but both are planted beside each other. The one I was working with today is really tall and although I’m sure it can stand up for itself, a bamboo stake and a couple of fairly loose cable ties wouldn’t do any harm to give it a little more support in today’s gusty breeze.

Today’s prompt asked for “Artwork you love”. Scamp and I both love the massive Kelpies. The 30m (100ft) high artwork was created by Scottish sculptor Andy Scott. They stand in Helix Park in Falkirk at the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde canal. They are made from steel and each one weighs over 300 tonnes. They were modelled on real Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron.

We’d ordered a pair of slipper shoes for Scamp at a fair discount last Friday. They were supposed to be delivered today, but the postcode was wrong. A mix up at the ordering stage. My fault for not checking properly. However when we got home the parcel was there waiting for us. One of the benefits of having the same postman all the time is that they get to know the names and addresses and don’t rely too much on postcodes.  And while I’m on the subject of shoes.  A big thank you to Scamp for sneakily getting my favourite black and white dance shoes soled and heeled for me.  I’ve been meaning to do it myself, I even bought Evostick glue to do it, but just never got round to doing it.  Sometimes you have to get the expert to do it properly, so thank you again, Scamp.

Tomorrow, unbelievably we’re hoping to go out for lunch again with Crawford & Nancy.