Happy Birthday

Admin1 celebrated his miscellaneous birthday today and was treated accordionly. What a surprise! He also got a load of books, a t-shirt, coffee for (and from) Africa and cups to drink it from. We ate emergency sandwiches (not expecting dinner guests) and yummy carrot cake.
Admin1 is now reading Bad Actors by Mick Herron. Enjoy! [Admin1: And I certainly did! Many thanks, also to GDA&B for the wonderful presents and a terrific birthday. I’ve just realised you could base a tune on their names…perhaps I could play it on an accordion 🙂 ]
Admin2 is reading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel.

When the Nights Are Blue

Happy birthday twins!
To celebrate, some low-down noctilucent clouds, the first of the year, and 13.397kWh on the solar panels, our third sunniest day ever, by 2 watts, what what!
Admin1 is reading Tragedy on the Branch Line by Edward Marston, which was a considerably cosier train ride than Bullet Train, soon to be a big film. Admin2 is reading Crow Court by Andy Charman.

Rusty Eyes

Somebody has had a bit of fun with this corroded junction box.
Admin1 is reading The Hiding Place by Simon Lelic, a compulsive investigation into bullying and a subsequent 22-year-old murder at a boarding school. As both Admins went to boarding schools, this rang very true 🙁 .
Admin2 is reading The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, a disturbing pre-WWII novel in which a Jew trying to escape the Nazis travels round and round Germany by train, without ever finding a way out. (If only Europe had had open borders and tolerance of asylum seekers.)
We scored 9 on the GSQ.

Shine On Strawberry Supermoon

Another super June moon, rising at midnight.
Our luckless ringed bird has been traced. The poor thing had only lasted 7 days and flown 3 kilometres after being ringed.
Some interesting facts discovered from ringing data….
* Oldest bird – Manx shearwater, 50 yrs 11 months
* Furthest travelled – Arctic Tern from Wales to Australia 18,000 km
* Strangest recovery – Osprey ring found in stomach of a crocodile in The Gambia!
Admin1 is reading Where Ravens Roost by Karin Nordin; another unfinished book, this time given up in irritation at the useless protagonist and his constant arguments with everybody.
We are watching Borgen – Power and Glory.

Street Party

After a gap of a couple of years, the street party on “The Green” is back, with even fewer people. Still it was a chance to show off the new gazebo and cool bench they blagged from a charity for use one day out of 365.
Admin1 is reading Bloody Genius by John Sandford. Admin2 is reading Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka; a terrifying farce involving dozens of murders on the Tokyo-Morioka Shinkansen.

The Birds and the Bees

Birds have had a hard time around here lately. The other day we found one of the baby starlings inside the house, banging against the window like a fly. Opened the window and it shot off into the sky. Yesterday we found a dead adult starling with a ring on its leg and reported it to euring. I’m looking at you, cat.
The bees are happy though. They are in clover.
Admin1 is reading The Fallout by Yrsa Sigurdardottir,  a fearsomely complicated child-abduction story. Admin2 is rereading London Rules by Mick Herron.

Considered Trifle

Our concession to the Platinum Jubilee: a sort-of Union Flag in raspberries and blueberries on a fruity trifle based on Admin1’s marble cake (also visible on the right). A splendid meal was enjoyed by all and we scored 9 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is reading The Killing Song by Lesley McEvoy. Admin2 is rereading Spook Street by Mick Herron.

Fool Me Twice

Admin1 made these sublime fruit fools from garden rhubarb and shop strawberries.
May 2022 had similar top temperatures to May 2021 but higher lowest temperatures, so it was warmer on average. Our solar panel output beat 2013, 2014 and 2021, but was still well below average for the time of year.
Admin1 is reading The Fire by Katherine Neville, a sequel to the entertainingly barmy The Eight, but sadly nowhere near as entertaining or, indeed, barmy. KN has drowned her muddled plot in a ludicrous amount of research, as shown in the extensive acknowledgements at the end. Oh Editor, wherefore art thou?
Admin2 is reading The Fallout by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

Feed Us All!

Here’s our attempt at the Platinum Jubilee Pudding which we consumed after a very filling and delicious meal of roast lamb,new potatoes, yorkshire puddings, gravy and veg. [The pudding itself was OK in its citrussy way, but not a patch on our usual fruity cakey trifles and we’ll probably never make one again but we had most of the ingredients already and didn’t have to use the recipe which would have taken hours, cost a fortune and left us with a bucketful of superfluous egg whites.] We were too full to think and scored only 7 on the GSQ. Shame!

Feed Me!

Next door’s bird table is popular with pigeons, squirrels and blue tits but its most enthusiastic patrons are starlings, which arrive in large crowds. Lately they have been bringing their children in their grey school uniforms. The children are as big as the adults and perfectly capable of feeding themselves but they still expect their parents to feed them (teenagers eh). Admins 1 and 2 have spent ages at the window trying to catch them at it but Admin1 finally managed to get the picture.
Admin2 is following in Admin1’s footsteps, rereading Dead Lions by Mick Herron.