Yesterday the temperature did not rise above zero; indeed it has been very chilly for most of the month: the coldest December days and nights ever recorded on our current weather station.
Admin2 is rereading Pompeii by Robert Harris.
Espresso Clementine Pavlova
Our pudding today was straight out of yesterday’s Guardian and set us up to score 10 on yesterday’s Guardian Saturday Quiz.
Admin1 is rereading Remembrance Day by Henry Porter. Admin2 is rereading The Fear Index by Robert Harris.
Mars occultation
We got up this morning at 4:30am to be greeted by cloud cover, but within 15 minutes it had cleared, allowing us to see the occultation of Mars by the Moon, starting just before 5am from Leeds. This is a quick and dirty upload, and a rather poor animation; more later perhaps.
The photos were taken through an ETX125 telescope with an attached Canon 7D camera, controlled from a Pixel 6a mobile running the excellent DSLR Controller app. There’s just a suggestion of surface detail on Mars.
Clouds of the Evening: Cumulus Humilis
Warm pink fleshy sunset clouds against the naked winter trees.
Admin1 is rereading The Dying Light by Henry Porter. Admin2 is reading The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker.
Skeleton Bob
The skull beneath the skin of creepy Bob, who had been enjoying his mum’s face-painting skills and was brandishing a Santa’s skull balloon. Dave was ill and absent from our family meal this week, so we scored a pathetic 8 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is reading Shrines of Gaiety (excellent as always) by Kate Atkinson (who still loves her parenthetical remarks).
Andromeda Galaxy
This picture is a tiny detail from an unzoomed shot taken with Admin1’s new phone — a Pixel 6a — from the light-polluted suburban environment of our garden. The inset in the green circle is a screen grab from Stellarium, a wonderful sky simulation program available for Linux and Windows. It shows that the faintly elongated blur at centre-left is, indeed, the Andromeda Galaxy; all the surrounding stars are correct. Our galaxy will collide with Andromeda soon. (OK, in about 5 billion years; no worries.)
It’s amazing that a small phone can capture something like this.
Today 2022 became our best year ever on the solar panels, and Admin1 is reading The Blood Divide by AA Dhand.
Cloud of the Day: Elephants on Parade
A sublime cloud photo, taken in Sheffield Park (which seems to be in Sussex, not Yorkshire) by the inestimable Beth.
November was, on average, exactly the same as November 2021 by day, but slightly warmer by night and was one of our wettest months ever: 144.3 mm and the third least sunny November of all time.
Admin1 is reading One Way Out by AA Dhand. Admin2 is reading Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra, a rich and captivating book which requires rereading with a Hindi dictionary at hand.
Another Fogging Day
All the daylight hours we were swathed in a wet grey blanket, despite which the solar panels did OK.
Admin1 is reading Box 88 by Charles Cumming. Admin2 is reading The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth by William Boyd.
Pigeon Post
Today the family all tested negative so were back around the table eating stroganoff and parkin. It was a joy to see them all again and against the odds of our ignorance we scored 10.5 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is rereading Unseen Academicals by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is rereading My Idea of Fun by Will Self; a nasty book from an era of nasty books.
Lighten Our Darkness
Spongebob Squarepants and others gather for the switch on of the local Christmas lights.
Admin1 is rereading Making Money by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading One Way Out by AA Dhand: a terrorist bomb outrage in Bradford City Park is only the beginning…
Starry Starry Night
Another lovely photo from Admin1’s new phone; the tiny cluster on the right is the Pleiades, the bright spot near the centre is Mars. Taken on the first clear night for ages, when the temperature dropped to 0.6 °C. Today is cloudy and rainy again.
Admin2 is reading Box 88 by Charles Cumming.
Fog on the Lake
Taken on Admin1’s new phone, a view over the rooftops to a misty Gledhow Valley Lake, looking like a Chinese painting.
Sadly Gez had the corona so we missed our family meal and did the quiz over the phone: 12 points, including several contributions from the invalid. Yay!
Admin1 is reading Going Postal by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin.
All the Little Lights
Reflections in a car park after another day of unremitting rain (34.8 mm and ongoing). November may well be another month of record-breaking wetness.
Admin2 is reading A Change of Climate by Dame Hilary Mantel.
Mist
Blurred lights beyond the dripping trees.
Admin1 is rereading Mort by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading Red Bones by Ann Cleeves, which was enjoyable but the only two interesting characters got killed off in short order, leaving only a pair of fussy feuding families for suspects, and it’s still not clear why who done it did it.
Fog
All day we have been veiled in fog. A man came round to cut off the top of the laurel tree in the centre of the picture so the sight has changed and Admin1 has animated the picture on the webcam so the site has changed too.
Admin1 is rereading Wyrd Sisters by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading Vacant Possession by Dame Hilary Mantel, which is also wyrd.
We scored 9 on the GSQ.
Doomed!
A petrified pepper anticipates climate change in the cooking pot.
Admin1 is rereading Witches Abroad by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading Emergency by Daisy Hildyard; a childhood fascination with nature (but not the human kind) recollected in lockdown.
Moon, Clouds, Planet
The moon shining down in a misty sky. This morning was properly foggy.
We had our family meal of chicken, bacon and broccoli and apple meringue (we are constantly trying out new recipes to get shot of our glut of apples) and scored a magnificent THIRTEEN on the GSQ.
Admin1 is rereading Monstrous Regiment by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is rereading Beyond Black by Dame Hilary Mantel, which is beyond brilliant.
Bonfire Night
Whizz bang pop! People are letting off rockets in the distance! Happy birthday Guida!
Admin1 is rereading Moving Pictures by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading Queen High by CJ Carey; a sequel to Widowland and very engaging; just hope it isn’t latest in a never-ending series.
Brolly Poor Show
Storm Claudio came in the night, uprooted our garden parasol and tossed it down onto the lawn far below among the autumn leaves.
Admin1 is rereading Maskerade by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading Widowland by SJ Carey; The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Man in the High Castle meets Nineteen Eighty-Four, set in 1953 when the new king is about to be crowned.
Horrors
The ghosts of Jackson and Bob, begging for vegan sweets.
Admin1 is rereading Lords and Ladies by Sir Terry Pratchett.
October was, on average, slightly warmer and sunnier than last October, and a lot rainier (123.6mm and counting [now 135.9mm, with 11.1mm in the first few hours of November])
Hallowe’en E’en, E’en
This scary puppet joined us for our family meal of meatloaf and fruit salad.
Admin2 is reading The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North.
We scored 10 on the GSQ.
Halloween Pumpkin Tomato
A very big tomato from our garden which was jucier and taster than you’d expect.
Admin1 is rereading Small Gods by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading The Long Knives by Irvine Welsh.
Moon Bites Sun
A very partial eclipse, taken through an infrared filter.
Admin1 is rereading Reaper Man by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is reading Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver.
Autumnal colours
All the colours of the autumn leaves, the rainbow and Diwali. Oh and a person of colour for PM.
Admin1 is rereading Soul Music by Sir Terry Pratchett.
Season of Mists
A morning fog blurs the turning leaves.
Admin1 is rereading The Truth by Sir Terry Pratchett. Admin2 is rereading Stars and Bars by William Boyd.
We only scored 8.5 on the GSQ, but we are still in double figures — just.