Category: weather

Got a little bit of sunshine today – 11 January 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to Costa this morning to meet up with Isobel. June had a problem to sort, so she called off. I stayed home and did more tidying up of the back bedroom.

Actually I spent a lot of the morning poring over other folk’s photos on Flickr. I also read my blog post for 10th January 2022 and found great similarities with my thoughts on 11th January 2023, namely that the weather was awful and it was getting harder and harder to find a picture every day that would deserve the name of PoD. Then I glanced out the window and it was raining. There’s the reason. When the weather is so persistently bad, it’s difficult to find the incentive to get up of the sofa, get dressed for winter and head out into the cold to take some photos that look so dull they could be monochrome. What is the point? Then, five minutes later, the sun shines and lights up a patch on the hills and I just want to go out and capture it. A 365 isn’t an easy thing to do, but it does force me to get out of the house and find something interesting.

When Scamp came back we had lunch and then I took a big blue IKEA bag filled with broken or obsolete electrical stuff out to the council skips. As the light was still holding up, I drove up to Fannyside and parked in my usual spot in the shelter of the big Scots Pines. Then I walked down the road to see if I could get a close up view of the old ruined farm. Walking down the path I spotted a couple of sheep, sheltering from the cold west wind. I managed two shots of them before they headed off. That photo was to be PoD. I didn’t know that then, of course, so I carried on until I was nearly at the farm, but I couldn’t find a path to take me closer and to be honest, although it was bright and sunny, that cutting wind was making me think of a nice warm car, rather than a mucky tractor path to a ruined farmhouse. Maybe another day. That’s what I told a solo sheep that had come to interrogate me. I bade it goodbye and walked back to the car and drove home via Tesco.

Scamp was feeling a lot better today, but was still not completely free of whatever had upset her stomach, so she asked me to pick up some Kefir milk or yoghurt at Tesco. I also needed tomatoes for Friday’s starter. Last, but not least, we had no plain gin. Yes, we had raspberry gin, but no honest to goodness plain gin. That in itself needed remedying! Got the essentials and also filled up the tank of the blue car

Dinner tonight was Prawn and Pea Risotto. I’ve not had the courage yet to try the Magic Pot for risotto, so this one was hand made in a normal pot on the stove and it turned out fine.

Tomorrow looks a bit like today. If I’m going to get a decent PoD, I’ll have to be up and out early. That’s unlikely to happen, but we’ll see what transpires. Hoping to go dancing in the afternoon.

Wet! – 10 January 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It was raining when I went to make breakfast and it’s still raining tonight. It hasn’t stopped!

Scamp was feeling better this morning. Sometimes a bit dizzy, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. As the day progressed and it looked like we wouldn’t have been going anywhere anyway because of the weather we settled down to regroup and relax.

Lunch was scrambled eggs for Scamp which I messed up the first time. “How can you mess up scrambled eggs?” I hear you ask? I mean, the word ‘Scrambled’ in the name describes it perfectly. My excuse is that I added water to the eggs before I beat them, it should have been milk. Scamp corrected me and watched over me as I made this culinary delight, especially delightful if you’ve a dodgy stomach. I had the much more rustic piece ’n’ square sausage cooked medium rare, just the way I like it.

After lunch and after being assured that she was fighting fit, Scamp started the ironing and I parcelled up Hazy’s calendar then drove up to Tesco to post it. Drove back home in torrential rain again and not long after that, Hazy herself phoned. She’d read the blog and wanted to know how the patient was. I think she was relieved to hear the Scamp was feeling a lot better. We talked for a while about holidays to come and problems with planes, Neil’s surgery, which seems to be healing well and also cats with heart problems. All in all we covered a fair bit of ground.

Dinner was just a plate of the tomato soup we’d put in the freezer last week. It was ideal for today. Easy to thaw out and reheat, and gentle on the stomach. I do think that soup brightened the invalid up, because she was back to her old self after that.

I still hadn’t a photo of the day and it was a tube of Rowntrees Pastilles that gave me the idea, that and a torch I’d been playing with all afternoon. It’s a set of traffic lights made with the new Rowantrees Illuminated Pastilles which missed the Christmas shelves due to the train strike or the postal strike or any other strike you care to mention. It doesn’t matter, they’re fictitious anyway!

Tomorrow, Scamp is going for coffee with Isobel and June. I’m sure I could come too, but not when there are three women all talking at the same time. I don’t think I’d fit in, nor would I be able to get a word in. Anyway I have work to do at home that will keep me occupied for an hour or so. If possible I’d like a dry half hour some time before the sun sets.

Out to Lunch – 9 January 2023

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Today Scamp was out to lunch with an old friend she used to work with. I wasn’t invited.

It was a dull morning with rain. Not much to recommend it and because it was Monday, nobody seemed to want to move from the car park at the house.

Since Scamp was driving to Calders I thought it might be a good idea to change the windscreen wiper blades. I’d had two new blades sitting in the boot of the car since before Christmas and they weren’t going to be keeping the windscreen clear if they were languishing there. Five minutes later they were on and were keeping the screen much clearer than before. Scamp drove off about fifteen minutes later in a downpour.

Left to my own devices, I started another clean up of my room. It didn’t last long. I chucked out a couple of magazines and ditched two exhausted basil plants. The plants went into the compost bin and the pots went into storage in the wee greenhouse. The greenhouse was a mess. Inside the walls were running with condensation and all the plants that had been put in there before the snow and ice came were well and truly dead now. One of the problems with wee plastic greenhouses is that there is no air circulation. I think the greenhouse will need a good hose down, inside and out, on the first dry day – if such a day ever comes.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s later to get some photos. I wasn’t very hopeful, but I did come home with some interesting macro shots of a clump of Cladonia lichen I’d never seen before. The PoD was a photo of a Knapweed seed head, looking like it was covered in little spiders. Actually they are the seeds themselves.

When Scamp came home I started to make some soup in the Magic Pot. Just a variety of “Just Soup”. A mixture of veg with some lentils and a couple of Stock Pots to add some flavour. Ten minutes cooking time and there was a pot of soup. That was dinner sorted.

An hour or so after dinner Scamp began to feel a bit unwell. Feeling sick, and then actually being sick. We both immediately blamed the soup, although I didn’t seem to be affected. Even after she’d been sick, she wasn’t much better, feeling light headed and just not right. She went to lie down for a while and although that helped, she still felt queasy when she got up, so decided she’d have an early night. She and Denise had had sandwiches at Calders, Scamp’s being Tuna. I just wondered about what Jamie always said about not trusting mayonnaise in cafes and restaurants. Maybe that was the culprit and not the soup. Time scale was about right, at 7 hours. Maybe …

I decided I too would have an early night, so this is a catch-up. Scamp is feeling better this morning and is going to risk scrambled egg and toast. The soup went down the toilet this morning.

Today we’re having a lazy morning and probably a lazy day. It’s raining!

At last, a walk in the sunshine – 6 January 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we managed to go for a walk. It was cold, but it didn’t rain.

We drove to Drumpellier and went for a walk through the woods. Lots of folk out doing just the same thing, although to be honest most of the folk were doing circuits of the pond. Not our idea of fun, now that we’ve discovered the variety of paths through the woodland. Some are official paths, but there are a lot more that are just paths trodden by walking feet and although many are mucky and slippery, they are more interesting than the official paths.

I took a few photos in the woodland, but the best by far was just where we were parked. It was the Whale’s Tail with two gulls landing and one just taking off. Another two gulls were taxiing before take off. The low sun you get at this time of year helped add a bit of contrast to the scene. The finished shot was almost as it came out of the camera.

We need a large wall calendar for the kitchen and when we left Drumpellier we drove to The Fort to see if we could find one. But we came home empty handed. I’ve an idea where we might find one tomorrow.

Back home I was trying to work out how to use mail merging in MS Word to create a Word document from an Excel sheet. I’d already tried to do the same thing on Pages in the Mac, but it’s really just a toy. Very little practical use. I’m still trying to do it and it still evades me. I know I used to do it regularly in school, but then I was using a PC every day. Macs in general aren’t used for this sort of thing. I found the Avery app really useful for it last year, but that facility is no longer in the app or is so deeply buried that it would take me too long to find it. I’ll keep looking, it’s in there somewhere.

Scamp was ploughing through the holiday companies on the computer looking for somewhere warm for February. After a fair bit of searching and evaluating, I think we can say that we may be going to somewhere warm for a week, all being well. Still nothing booked for the summer, but we have a few possibilities that just need some things confirmed before we make a final decision.

Dinner tonight was a half a pizza each. Actually it was more like two thirds for me and just a third for Scamp. It was washed down with a nice glass of red. Dessert was Scottish Tablet Ice Cream!

Tonight looks wet, but tomorrow, for the most part may remain dry during daylight hours. That’s the best you can ask for. It was good to be out in the sunshine today somewhere that isn’t Cumbersheugh!

What a delightful day – 5 January 2023

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Yes, that was sarcasm!

Dry early in the morning, but after that the rain came and forgot to leave. Also the rain slid in quite quietly, but got stronger and heavier as the day progressed.

I suggested that we go to The Bothy near Stirling for lunch and Scamp readily agreed. It’s a nice wee cafe/restaurant at the foot of the Ochil Hills. We’d been there before and I had great memories of the Sri Lankan Lamb Curry. Maybe I’d have something different this time.

The place was busy when we arrived and they were handing out buzzers which isn’t really a good sign. We were told a wait time of about fifteen minutes. Half an hour later our buzzer buzzed and we were shown to our table for two. A quick glance at the menu while Scamp was looking for her glasses confirmed my choice. There it was on the menu Sri Lankan Lamb Curry. My day was going to be fine and hang the bad weather. Scamp chose Mac ’n’ Cheese, her second favourite on the menu. We weren’t disappointed.

After our I grabbed a few photos of the Ochils with the rain clouds misting them and a massive flock of geese in the field at the bottom. A panorama made in Lightroom from three of the frames got PoD. I had another try at photo of the Wallace Monument without the irritating electricity lines catching the eye, but it didn’t work, so I went with the geese on the grass at the foot of the hills. Then it was time to drive through Stirling because Scamp wanted to visit Dobbies. However, the shop was doing its Twelfth Night changeover from Christmas to Valentine’s Day, so it was, in a word, shambolic. We drove home.

For a three cylinder car the Micra fought its way through torrential rain and standing water to get us home safely and in good time. We stopped off at Tesco for a bunch of flowers for Scamp (it was Thursday, remember) and to see if the rum tanker had made it through. Flowers were bought, but no sign of the rum yet.

We watched the first episode of The Apprentice tonight, but it was more of an advert for Antigua than the usual contest, but the usual n-hopers were there and one of them got fired.

It’s a windy night tonight, but it might be a dry afternoon tomorrow.

Another day Another walk – 4 January 2023

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A slightly different start to today’s walk, but basically the same route. There are limited variations in this area.

The day started with the usual struggle with Wordle and Spelling Bee, but they weren’t all that difficult today. Just before lunch I got a message from Alex to say that the family were almost all down with what sounded like a Norovirus variant, so we wouldn’t be going for a photo walk this week. Hopefully they will be over it by next week.

After lunch we went for that walk round part of Broadwood Loch and then up the path beside the exercise machines. Then it was back through the underpasses and on the path to home. While Scamp walked home, I went for a circuit of St Mo’s. Instead of the usual circuit I went up through the woods behind the main pond and got some photos of the smaller manmade pond near the motorway. I could see streaks of blue sky through the clouds and waited for a while to see if those streaks would get bigger, but I was disappointed. They just faded away as the sun started to drop to the horizon. I walked straight back to the path through a shallow bog. I am sure I lost the lens hood from the Samsung 18mm lens in that bog in the spring and I was hoping I might catch a glimpse of it in among the grasses, but again I was disappointed. I trudged home thankful for good boots and dry feet. The boots aren’t too clever on ice and slippery leaves, but are (touch wood) waterproof and comfortable giving a good grip on dry ground.

Today was the day we’d agreed to take down the tree.  No matter how careful you are with taking all the ornaments off first,  there’s always one more you find.  Also there are always one or two decorations left on the wall and you don’t notice them until the rest are packed away.  The place always looks really bare once the decorations are packed away and the tree is also in its old cardboard box that Scamp says is more parcel tape than cardboard now.  However a bunch of flowers in a vase will add some colour again.

Dinner tonight was the remainder of the fish pie from yesterday for Scamp and a piece of bacon joint for me. Using up stuff that was near its ‘best before’ date made good sense after the excesses of the last couple of weeks.

Just before 9pm someone knocked the door and there was a bloke with a big parcel that wasn’t due to arrive until tomorrow. It’s been on the road for about a week now and was a bit battered, but secure and everything inside was intact. Prezzies for Scamp, June and me from Hazy and Neil. Scamp got a pair of fancy earrings and a pair of cleverly up-cycled gloves. Mine was a book I was considering buying and a badge with ‘bad words’ on it that brought a smile to my face. My Bergy jacket was getting washed and I’d worn my old, and I mean OLD Bergy today. It has a badge on it and that badge also has ‘bad words’ on it. Needless to say it came from Hazy and Neil, but I think Hazy was the prime mover there. We got a box of high octane boozy chocolates to share. My Mojito had a fair kick to it! I can’t remember what Scamp got, but she could walk after it!

PoD was a shot of a branch with two pine cones on it, sitting on a mossy stone. It was taken in the woods at St Mo’s. 11,359 steps today!! First time I’ve broken the 10,000 this year.

Tomorrow we may be going to a garden centre, it being Thursday. We may have a spot of lunch too.

Dull and Wet – 3 January 2023

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Yesterday was cold, today was just miserable.

Dull and wet. That sums up today. After our counter-clockwise walk yesterday, neither of us really wanted to go much past the door today. However, to prevent us starving we did have to drive to Tesco to get the bare essentials. The ‘Bare’ essentials means No Alcohol. New Year is past and Christmas is only a vague memory, so that means back to working week abstinence. I can’t say I’m delighted, but it does make sense.

I swear there was more water on the inside of the car windscreen than on the outside. Apparently it’s because modern cars are so well sealed that the water we give off in our breath and sweat condenses on the cold glass and that’s what causes wet windscreens inside the car. I’m not so sure I believe that, but if it’s true someone must live in the headlight housing of the car, because it mists up too, quite often. Thankfully Nissan has installed a heavy duty blower to get rid of the last remnants of moisture once we’ve wiped up the worst of the water and it was used with a vengeance today.

After lunch and in the rain, I went out into the garden wearing a raincoat to keep me dry and with a towel wrapped round the A7iii to keep it dry and I snapped a few photos in the back garden. My favourite subject is the hanging basket at the back door. It’s falling apart and covered in moss, but there are always a wide variety of leaves and almost dead strawberry plants to photograph in it. It created the PoD although it was an untidy looking subject.

Early in the evening a mist descended, and looked like it might be quite photogenic, but by then it was far too dark for even the most intrepid photographer to venture down the dark lanes of Cumbersheugh and that includes me. Instead, Scamp and I made a Salmon and Prawn Pie in a Pan. Of course, Scamp did most of the work and I just helped chop some tomatoes, but those tomatoes allowed me to claim my share of the glory if it worked. It did work. Lovely crunchy Filo pastry, slices of salmon and juicy tomatoes with some couscous to soak up the juices. Jamie Oliver isn’t as stupid as he looks! We may try some more recipes from his vastly overpriced book.

Entertainment on the TV was Paddington 2 which was a delight. That’s our kind of film, I think. No complicated plot lines to follow and everything turns out fine in the end. I hope I’m not spoiling the film by giving away the ending! If I am, just ignore this paragraph.

Tomorrow looks a bit drier than today, not that that would be difficult. We may go out for a walk if it is.

A walk in the cold – 2 January 2023

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It was a bit cool this morning. We were definitely in the sub zero realm.

It was a good morning for a walk, so we got booted up and went for a walk. It was not only cold, but frosty and just a wee bit slippery. I stuck to wearing boots, but Scamp wore her Yaktrax for that extra bit of security. We walked round the machines in a counter-clockwise direction! That’s the opposite direction to our normal walk. It was a bit worrying for a while, but once we calmed down the unusual walk was quite enjoyable.

I got a few photos, but nothing really worthwhile, so while Scamp walked home, I went for a circuit of St Mo’s and got a few more photos. My favourite, and PoD was a view looking down through the trees to the boardwalk. I know I’ve taken it before, but it just looked so pretty!

Later, after dinner, we had a free and frank discussion that led to the creation of a toilet calendar. It’s not really a calendar because it doesn’t have any dates in it. It doesn’t have cherries or apples in it either. It’s just twelve photos, six from each of us and each with a month. If I get it printed off, it will hang in the downstairs toilet. If you hang it in the toilet, everyone who comes into the house gets a chance to see it.

It was a very cold day today, but hopefully it will thaw a bit tomorrow, but it looks like we’ll be getting a lot of rain tomorrow, so probably not a walk, clockwise or otherwise.

Happy New Year – 1 January 2023

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A new day, a new year, but the weather remains the same.

New Year’s Day is one of those days that promises a lot and delivers very little. It sounds as if it’s one big party from start to finish, but for most folk it’s not. It’s a day off work for those lucky enough to be employed, but a day off work in the dullest time of the year isn’t a bundle of fun, really. Christmas is all bright lights and having fun, but NYD is a bit of a let down, I’ve always felt. Maybe it’s just me.

We went for a very quick walk round St Mo’s pond. Scamp wanted to try out the GPS on her new watch and yes! It worked!! It also gave us an excuse to be out in the fresh air. Bumped into Susan Greenshields in the park with her two dogs. We said hello and repeated the HappyNewYear speech everyone does on the 1st, as usual without a happy smile on our faces. It was a rushed conversation because we’d just been sent the Zoom link by Hazy who was hosting today again.

Back home it was boots off, jackets off and get the laptop set up. Scamp doing the ‘techy’ things today. Actually this was the high point of the day. Just like being there. Everyone talking over each other and it was good to see that both Neil and Jamie were looking a lot better than on Christmas Day when both were definitely not at their best. I think we used up almost all the allotted time on Zoom and I felt better after that. Just talking to folk is great sometimes, but talking to them and seeing them is even better.

Dinner tonight was Forestier Paté for starter then Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts and a choice of Salmon Fillet or Ribeye Steak for the main, finishing with Panna Cotta which I managed to make in the morning. It was a bit rubbery I thought, but Scamp said it was fine. Two more in the fridge for tomorrow.

I spent most of the rest of the day wrestling with Lightroom while Scamp read. Most of the swearing has abated now and I think Lightroom and I have declared a truce. Battle may resume tomorrow if it doesn’t play nice. However, we now have a photo calendar on the wall using Hazy’s wonderful idea of using a clipboard. Hopefully calendars will be printed this week … or maybe next.

PoD was a grab shot of a bloke walking his dog down that lane. The path that keeps giving.

Thank you, H, J, N & S for the Zoom meeting, it brightened our day.

Tomorrow looks better than today, but I’m not sure yet if it’s just a weather fairies’ ruse! Only time will tell.

The end of a long year – 31 December 2022

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At last we got a dry day!

To celebrate we went for a walk. A long walk round Broadwood Loch. Not the most interesting place for photos, but that didn’t stop me from taking some. I don’t think I’ve seen the loch looking so still. One wee moorhen paddling smoothly across the waters almost made PoD.

After lunch Scamp walked down to the shops and I went for another walk in St Mo’s this time. There I got today’s PoD which is a sycamore key caught in a whin bush. I just liked it and that’s why it got the last PoD of 2022.

I walked over to Condorrat later to get a Special Fish Supper for me and a Small Fish Supper with two Pickled Onions for Scamp. If you don’t know what a Special Fish is, imagine a haddock fillet dipped in breadcrumbs and deep fried x 2 and you have a rough idea. Just the thing for the last Saturday in 2022.

I’m not going to go over the good bits and the bad bits of 2022, because it’s not over yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Speaking about tomorrow, we have no plans. Probably because it’s snowing right now.

Happy New Year when it comes.