Category: Wild flowers

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.

 

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.

 

A little less driving – 20 March 2022

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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.

 

 

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.

Doing the housework – 14 March 2022

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Scamp was off to meet Isobel for coffee and I was staying home to brush the stairs.

I can see why Scamp didn’t want to do the job because all the dust might irritate her recently operated on eyes. There was quite a load of dust, dirt and general detritus lodged in the folds of the stair carpet and she was correct, the best way of tackling it was to get down on my knees and brush it out with a stiff brush. It took a lot longer than I anticipated and eventually I gave up using the shovel to hold all the grit and just brushed it into the middle of each tread, then used the portable Dyson to sook it all up. Then I started on the landing using the same technique, but it was much easier. No need to climb the north face of the Eiger as you scrub. Much easier on the flat. Soon it was all done.  One of the most delightful things today was walking barefoot up the stairs after they had been brushed and Dysoned.  The treads felt so soft and springy, it was worth all that work.

After that, and before Scamp returned, I started collecting the bits and pieces to go in the box with the Sony A7ii camera that was going to MPB. That’s the original Sony I bought in October 2020. It’s going to MPB to help pay for its younger brother who is working very hard for me every day. So many different cables, adapters, chargers and a massive brick of a manual that tells you nothing, but takes a long time to do it. Finally got everything collected and fitted into the box, just as Scamp came home and the rain came on.

After we had lunch and after I’d struggled with today’ Wordle puzzle, I was hoping to go out and find something other than frogs to photograph, but the rain stayed on. All afternoon it stayed on and eventually I put my boots on and went out for a walk. Knowing that I’d find something interesting … and I did. I was walking through a bit of mixed woodland behind St Mo’s park when I found a flower on a tree, then another couple. Not missing an opportunity like that I took a few shots. Then I saw what looked like a whole tree covered in white flowers. I think it’s either apple blossom or wild cherry (Gean) coming out a bit early. After about a dozen different photos I went for a walk down the avenue of trees and found a neat little larch flower with raindrops on it. Took a few photos of that too. That’s when the rain came on. It just got heavier and heavier. By the time I’d reached home I was ‘drookit’.

Scamp suggested Amatriciana which is Tomatoes, Bacon, Pinch of Chilli flakes, Onions and Pecarino cheese. It sounded like a plan and that’s what I made for dinner, served with Spaghetti. Long time since we’ve had that, but I hope it won’t be that long until we have it again.

After dinner while Scamp was reading I finished packing up the camera for the DPD driver to collect tomorrow. Wrote an email to Alex and confirmed Wednesday as a coffee meet-up with some of the Auld Guys.

PoD was a branch of those white Gean flowers that Scamp described as a flight of butterflies. I understand exactly what she means

Tea and coffee incoming tomorrow and cameras outgoing. Other than that, nothing planned, but I’m sure a walk will be squeezed in somewhere, possibly with photos.

The first day of meteorological spring – 1 March 2022

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Ok, not the real first day of spring, but if it makes us feel like it’s warming up I’ll go with the meteorologists.

It was a beautiful ‘spring’ day but I just didn’t feel like going out. I can’t describe it, it’s almost like I was coming down with a cold, but it wasn’t that either. It wasn’t Covid, because I did a lateral flow and that was ruled out. I just felt sort of ‘washed out’. Scamp reckons it’s the stress of the last few weeks leading up to her eye op and that could be true. I felt so bad because it was such a lovely day and here was I keeping both of us in the house when we could be out walking in the fresh air.

After lunch which for me was tea and toast, we did go out and did a couple of circuits of St Mo’s pond which brightened me up a bit. So much so that when we came back, I started making a pot of soup. A ‘what’s in the fridge’ pot of soup. Then I went out and put some air into Scamp’s car tyres. They were really very flat and I hope she notices the difference the next time she drives it.

I’d taken a few shots in St Mo’s one of which was a rather nice view across the pond, but it was almost an exact copy of one I’d produced last month, so I couldn’t really use it as a PoD. The actual PoD is a bunch of catkins and I realise I’ve used catkins last month too, but these were on a different tree so that’s ok by my rules.

After a bit of coaxing, I eventually got word from Sony that my request for a winter cash back on the new camera has been ratified and should be in the bank within 28 days. It’s only taken a fortnight and four emails to get them to admit it. They make wonderful equipment, but their after sales service is second to everybody’s!

I have no more sketches to do. The last one was posted yesterday and as far as that is concerned, I am free. Once I’ve posted this, my work is finished and I can go to bed early for a change and hopefully wake refreshed tomorrow. No plans for tomorrow. I misread the weather for today. It’s tomorrow the rain is due, but hopefully a dry morning.

Coffee with Isobel – 28 February 2022

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Coffee with Isobel in Costa. Always an entertainment.

I was glad the company was good, because the coffee was awful. Watery liquid with no taste of coffee. You should watch some time and see how much hot water goes into the cup and how little coffee. However, that wasn’t why we were there. It was just a chance for Scamp and Isobel to catch up on recent events. Isobel goes for her pre-assessment on Wednesday and was full of questions for Sheila.

After an hour and a half or so, we went our separate ways. Isobel to meet a friend and us to go and get the messages in Tesco. Drove to Craigmarloch and frightened ourselves with the price of petrol. Nearly £1.50 per litre! I don’t know if I can afford to fill up the tank of the wee blue car.

After lunch I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was another larch flower. It looked as if it and the pine cone were having a discussion, or more likely that the pine cone was giving the new arrival some hints and tips for an easy life in the woods. Or is that just me being stupid again. It’s called Anthropomorphism, just in case you are wondering. Then I thought the larch flower looked like a wee cup cake. I don’t think there is a name for that and I do believe I should severely reduce my alcohol intake in the mornings!!

When I came home and was perusing the photos I’d taken, I noticed the sun had come out for the first time today. It had been noticeably missing when I was out walking.

Today’s final prompt was Happy. This is me sitting at the table trying to think up something to draw for the final sketch of February 2022. I think that this is fitting. I’m happy that I’ve finished all 28 again. As always, it’s been a struggle some nights, but it was good to get ‘likes’ and even some comments, so thank you for your ‘reactions’ as FB describes it. It does make you want to continue and gives value to the sketches and paintings. Also, a thank you to my wife for being my most honest critic. I don’t think I’ll torture myself with an Every Day in March, but maybe I’ll participate in the May edition, if I’m allowed, DV.

Spoke to Fred tonight and he was asking how Scamp was getting on. Then we discussed the quality of work on Landscape Artist of the Year and what we’d have done to improve it. While Fred and I were talking, Scamp was talking weddings and outfits with Jacqueline (Big Jac). Later Jamie phoned and we discovered that the survey of the roof timbers of the house had found that the woodworm was historical and nothing needed to be done, but as usual, other timbers needed strengthening. Good news and bad news. That’s the way of the world. You just hope that the good outweighs the bad, because there’s usually little you can do about it anyway.

So with that thought, I don’t think we have any plans for tomorrow. It looks like rain.

A beautiful day – 27 February 2022

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We got up and went out this morning, pointing the blue car at Auchinstarry.

We were lucky to get one of the last spaces in the car park, then it was off on foot along the canal footpath as far as Twechar. Hardly a breeze to ruffle the surface of the Forth & Clyde canal. The path was busy with walkers taking advantage of the first decent day for at least a week. Lots of cyclist, most of whom were sensible enough to have a bell that worked on their bike. I was thinking I should really get my Dewdrop out and give it a run in the fresh air, but that’s all it was, just a thought!

At Twechar we met up with a wee group of boys, about 12 years old hanging over the barrier trying to get passing motorists to toot their horn at them. This must be ‘entertainment’ in Twechar. No TVs, no computers and no Xbox for them. Just a toot from a car sends them into hoots of laughter. One of the boys who may have been twelve but had the seriousness of a 90 year old great-grandfather agreed with Scamp that it was a lovely morning and told us that it was “good to get out in, er, nature”. I think he thought he was taking the mick! Probably another Twechar pastime.

We crossed the road and the sound of the toots and the laughter followed us for a while until we reached to path to take us back to the car. I’d brought the Sony A7 today and I found a great subject for it in the bank of snowdrops just beside the path. So good to see so many of them all flowering at the same time. We walked on, but apart from some shots of the Campsie Fells, there wasn’t much to entice me. Scamp just enjoys the walk and I sometimes feel I hold her back with my constant stops for photos.

Back home and after lunch I wrote to Alex to see if he was up for a photo walk this week. At present, Friday looks the best day. Then I grabbed the A7 with the posh macro lens and went hunting for the mysterious Female Larch Flowers. The female flowers are big and showy in pinks and yellows. They sit upright, usually at the end of a branch, looking like miniature pineapples. The male flowers are fairly insignificant little things that hang down from the branches in groups and are limited to yellow. There were a lot of the female flowers today. I got quite a few shots of them. Last year there were hardly any.

Today’s prompt was True Colours. I listened to the song until about halfway through and switched it off. I decided there was nothing inspirational in there.
No, I had to change my thinking on this one. There is no such thing as a true colour. There is no true blue or red or yellow. Ultramarine blue tend to purple, as does Alizarin Crimson. Lemon Yellow tends towards green, and that’s just the primaries. Once you get into secondary and tertiary colours it’s just a big mess. So that was my starting point for today’s sketch: My watercolour palette. Not one true colour in the box and as you will notice I ignore the teachers’ warnings not to start mixing colours in the pots. I just go for it. All the colours in the box started out as tube colours, squeezed out into pots and they looked pretty for about a day, then as they dried, they darkened and that gets us to a whole new argument about True Colours. Here endeth the lesson on colour theory. Maybe I’ll be a bit “Happier” tomorrow!

Booked for coffee with Isobel tomorrow.

Snow, Rain and Wind – 6 February 2022

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Welcome to Scotland. Three seasons in one day. We don’t do Summer.

I blame it on being out too late last night, too late for ‘auld yins’ anyway. I also blame it on the little nightcap we shared last night, but for whatever reason, we slept like logs last night. Logs that didn’t want to wake up or get up this morning. We both took one look out the window at the horizontal snow and said “No, not this morning, thank you!”

However, duty calls and there was a lot of work needing to be done today. A lot of blog, needed writing and sketches needing sketched and of course paintings needing colours splashed on them. So it was with a heavy heart that I dragged myself out of bed, just before 10am. Scamp did likewise. A couple of cups of coffee each put us in a better frame of mind and we were soon ready to face breakfast.

After we had fed ourselves we put on boots and coats and heavy jackets and went out to survey the wilderness. The snow had stopped, but the temperature hadn’t risen much above zero and that wind was cutting. Even with my woolly hat and my knockoff Buff, the wind was still finding ways through my armour. Once round the pond was good enough for Scamp, I’m made of sterner stuff and knew I needed some photos to fill the blog and put on Flickr. I NEEDED a PoD after yesterday’s poor carnations.

We walked once round the pond and then Scamp left for the warmth of the house. I went for a walk in the woods, but didn’t find much to photograph. On my way back I found the little weed that made PoD. I think it’s the dried remains of a Yellow Rattle plant. So called, apparently because the flowers are yellow and when the seed pods are ripe, the seeds rattle inside the hard thin skin of the pod. There you are, you learned something today. I didn’t make it up either, it came from Monty Don the gardener who swears by yellow rattle for keeping coarse grass under control.

After I came home, dumped the photos into the computer and satisfied myself that I did have a prospective PoD, I started on yesterday’s sketch which had the prompt Walking On Broken Glass. I’d already decided what my take on that prompt would be and although I overpainted it, it looked like what I had in my head for yesterday’s sketch.

The next thing to do was yesterday’s blog which I wrote and posted. Scamp had claimed the rights to today’s dinner which was to be curry. A special ‘dry’ curry baked in the oven. She busied away in the kitchen making it and there were some delicious smells coming from there soon after. While she was busy with that, I started making a pizza, a Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons). Not a real one, unfortunately, but a painting. Today’s prompt was The Four Seasons. I could have done four paintings of St Mo’s if only the temperature had risen a bit above zero, but as I said at the start, we only had Three Seasons today. I was quite pleased with the painting when it was finished and I learned from my mistakes and didn’t overpaint this one.
In watercolour the important thing is to know when to stop.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and for once neither of us had much to say.  Heard a bit about their plans and gave him  the latest updates on the cataract op.

In blog writing it’s also important to know when to stop and that’s what I’m going to do now. I’ve had a busy day and I’m going to have an early night. By the way, that curry was the best I’ve had for ages. Really unusual to have a curry without a sauce, but it worked perfectly. I take my hat off to you Scamp. Beautifully executed meal, and totally veggie too!

Tomorrow we have no plans.

Driving through the wild wind – 29 January 2022

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To go dancing!

It had been a wild night. Gale force winds and even stronger gusts. Unabashed, we got ready and drove to Bridge of Weir. Actually, apart from some buffeting on the M80, the drive was fairly incident free.

First dance today was Tina Tango which we both kinda knew. Kinda being the important word, but we blundered our way through, as did most of the class. Next was the new Rumba which now has the name Rumba Romantica. Some bits we’d been practising, some not. To be honest, we’d been practising the complicated stuff like the Alternative Sliding Doors (don’t ask) and the Circular Hip Twist which is as complicated as it sounds for the lady, but for the man is simply walking backwards. As always, these parts were adequately covered by the teachers, it was the links between them that caused most of the problems and also the fact that Jane had re-choreographed the Circular Hip Twist to make it ‘easier’, but it was almost impossible to practise on a carpet at home. We got through it all and learned more techniques than we’ll ever need to use.

We though that was us finished with the new stuff, but there was more in store. ‘Baby Waltz’ came next. It was a completely new waltz that I’ve filmed, watched and still have no clue about. Why, I ask myself, do I put myself through this every Saturday morning when I could be lying in bed reading a book? The answer is: Because it forces your brain to do something other that photography. Also because you learn stuff like how to maintain a ‘frame’ without twisting your neck or having your shoulders ache for the rest of the day. Thankfully a Midnight Jive or two brought today’s session to a close.
I can’t say I enjoy these dance classes, but I do learn things and some of it actually ‘sticks’.

We drove home along the M74 rather than crawl along the M8, although both these routes seemed to be eased by the majority of the Glasgow bound motorists choosing to go through the Clyde Tunnel, rather than go the normal route. Something to do with Batgirl which is turning Glasgow into a 1960’s Gotham City. We’ll never know. We took the road less travelled and went home via the M74/M73.

I took a walk over to the shops by way of St Mo’s looking for some decent light and finding it for once. PoD was a picture of a couple of yellow flowers on a Whin bush, or Gorse bush if you prefer, against a background of out of focus trees. Very arty and really quite good, I thought.

Watched a weird documentary about Andy Worhol who was actually born Worhola. Who knew? Hard do follow, but filled in a few explanations for bits I never knew. Watched through the lens of a glass of wine (or two), a bottle of beer and a glass of whisky, it made perfect sense. But then, most things do.

More wind and probably rain predicted for tomorrow. An anniversary of sorts, the important one, but not the official one. Celebrations necessary, none the less.