Category: Garden

Ten Years After

It has been ten years since we started uploading annual May Day pics of the garden after whatever weather was earlier. During that time the rain and sun have waxed and waned and the tulips and bluebells have slugged it out; tulips in the ascendant this year after an April that was our fourth sunniest April ever and not so showery.
Admin1 is reading A Killing in November by Simon Mason — another unpleasant protagonist whom the author works hard to make sympathetic. Not really successful at humour, and side issues (refugees, jihadists) not explored adequately. But readable.
Admin2 is reading Companion Piece by Ali Smith, which features an imaginary female character who is A Smith.
We had the pleasure of Gez in the flesh for the first time since Mother’s Day and scored, oh dear, worst this year, 7 on the GSQ.

Easter Eggs

Magpies have built a fine nest next to our house (apparently magpies nest next to humans to keep away their crow kin) and today Admin1 sent up the drone to look for blue eggs or fluffy chicks, but they had built a roof and the tree was in leaf so no luck.
Meanwhile Admin1 had his first stab at making a Battenburg cake which turned out extremely well. A lovely meal was had by all and we scored 11 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is reading The Stone Chamber by Kate Ellis and Admin2 is reading Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard, which was extremely implausible.

Tulip Time

The garden after an April of freezing nights and the sunniest ever days (237.145kWh) and some heroic tulip planting by Auds and Bobs.
Admin1 is reading Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton. And whatever the opposite of misanthropic is, this book was it — a real change from my last two. Set over three hours of a school shooting incident in Somerset, it’s terrifically well-written (almost Kate Atkinson quality), engrossing and emotionally charged. A wonderful, page-turning read.
Admin2 is reading Leonardo’s Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms by Stephen Jay Gould. Snappy title, eh?

Digging for Victory: Season 2 Episode 1

It’s the spring equinox and the first radishes and carrots are in the ground. The netting is an attempt to keep the birds and squirrels away, and to stop the local cats using it as a toilet (we’re looking at you, ginger bugger).
Admin1 is rereading The Burning Man by Christopher Fowler and Admin2 is reading Never Forget by Michel Bussi, a compulsive but implausible “girl” book, about a boy.

Willow Pattern

Spring is coming, but where are the frogs?
It’s world book day!
Admin1 is reading The Night Hawks by Elly Griffith. Admin2, inspired by the Kate Atkinson book, is rereading The Seed Collectors by Scarlett Thomas, which does indeed feature academics with unfinished books and dissertations, and confusions over parentage, but has a lot of old people and botanical disquisitions so reads somewhat like a Margaret Drabble book. Not going to reread a Drabble book next, though, because we have NEW BOOKS!