Welcome Lena to another cold-ridden two-house quiz meal. We had baked chicken and apple strudel and scored just 9.
Admin1 is reading The Girls Beneath by Ross Armstrong and Admin2 is reading Borderliners by Peter Hoeg.
Tag: quiz
Prickly Pear
Last of the garden cucumbers; tiny and a funny shape but fabulously tasty.
Admin1 is reading The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth. Admin2 is reading The Girls Beneath by Ross Armstrong
We scored 10 on the GSQ; reverted to Zoom thanks to the Worst Ever Cold.
Red, White and Blue Sky at Night
A sunset panorama.
Admin1 is rereading Finders Keepers by Stephen King. Admin2 is reading River of Darkness by Rennie Airth.
We scored 12 on the GSQ.
Jupiter Rising
Admin1 is reading Cold Kill by Rennie Airth. Admin2 is reading Death in Florence by Marco Vichi, another book set in the 1960s, this time featuring the catastrophic Florence flood.
We scored 12.5 on the Guardian Saturday Quiz which we had to do online because there were no newspapers in any of the shops yesterday. When the lights go out we’ll have beautiful views of the stars.
Conkerama
Autumn’s bounty of inedible chestnuts.
Admin1 is reading Telling Tales by Anne Cleeves. Admin2 is reading The Reckoning by Rennie Airth: events in WW1 resonate in a nostalgic post-WW2 world where the characters wait uneasily to see what the Labour government will do.
We scored 10 on the unchanged GWQ in the new-look magazine. So it’s the Guardian Saturday Quiz now.
The Sun Shines Down on Scott Hall Road
Admins 1 and 2’s traditional post-vaccine roadscape; this time for flu vaccines. How our arms hurt!
Admin1 is reading Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen and Admin2 is reading Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan: a cursed block of flats inhabited by successive generations of weirdos, including William Burroughs.
We scored 12 on the GWQ.
Clouds that Look (a Bit) like Fish
A red snapper escaping from an electric eel.
Admin2 is reading Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Critter of the Day: Red Admiral
A warm and sunny day, and this fresh-out-of-the-chrysalis butterfly graced our garden with its presence.
Admin1 is reading Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds and Admin2 is reading The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth.
We scored 11 on the GWQ.
Finding Jesus
Baby Jesus has been missing from our Nativity scene for years now but Admin2 found him in the cupboard while reading the gas meter. Admin2’s mother made the set from a kit of plaster of Paris moulds back in the olden days. Jesus looks like a self portrait.
Admin2 is reading Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux but abandoned it because surfing is boring. Admin1 is reading The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Flowers in the Rain
A very wet day: 25mm and counting. Nonetheless our dining companions turned up in their raincoats, enjoyed a lovely meal with us and scored 10 on the GWQ.
Admin1 is reading Vanished by Tim Weaver and Admin2 is rereading Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux.
Cloud of the Day: Cirrus fibratus duplicatus
Criss-cross clouds. We’ve also had the pleasure of seeing a couple of Perseid meteors this week.
Admin1 is reading Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas. Admin2 is reading Providence by Max Barry.
We scored 12 – yay! – on the GWQ.
Dish of the Day: Apricot Tart
Yums!
Admin1 is reading The Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas and Admin2 is reading The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry.
We scored oh dear 8 on the GWQ.
Sunday Tea
A (mostly) cold meal this evening: salad, cold meats, pigs in blankets, jacket potatoes, tuna, boiled eggs, freshly baked rolls and fruit salad with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries from our garden. We scored 10 on the GWQ thanks to Dave and thanks also for his heroic gardening efforts.
July gifted us 126mm of rain but was otherwise a pretty average month all things considered.
Admin1 is reading The Waiter by Ajay Chowdhury. Admin2 is rereading One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.
Lady with Attend-Ant
Admin1 is reading London Bridge Is Falling Down by Christopher Fowler. Admin2 is reading Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer.
We scored 10.5 on the GWQ, thanks to Dave and his lucky guesses unassailable erudition.
Epic Street Chalk Day
Well that’s how it was billed, but nearly all the chalk was in one patch (exception for ELMO LOVES YOU next door to us) and Auds and Bobs preferred to draw all over our patio. Admin1 is reading Dark Memories by Liz Mistry, a confusingly overpopulated crime novel set in Bradford which belongs more in the misery-lit genre. Admin2 is reading The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig; a corny Cornish gothic romance overlaid with trendy topical talking points (and impossible to believe that a former advertising strategist dealing with a couple of public-facing characters would not have cleared everything up with an internet search). Yesterday was our warmest day this year: 30.7°C.
We scored 11.5 on the GWQ.
Crepuscular Rays
A pillar of darkness between the werewolf on the left and the fine upstanding man on the right.
Admin1 is reading A Climate of Fear by Fred Vargas. Admin2 is reading The Trawlerman by William Shaw.
We scored 11.5 on the GWQ.
Nice Melon
This pretty fruit is called Matisse.
We’ve had more rain in the last two days than in the whole of June.
Admin1 is reading The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox. Admin2 is reading The Hidden Man by Charles Cumming. He ain’t no Mick Herron or even John le Carre.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Every Home Should Have One
Our new combined clock, thermometer and flowerpot.
Admin1 is reading Smoke Screen by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. Admin2 is reading The Evidence by Christopher Priest; forgetting to return your hotel key can have consequences in a world where parameters can shift unexpectedly.
Somewhat late, we scored 9 on the GWQ.
Pink Stripes in the Sky
Admin1 has been reading Black Sun by Owen Matthews and Admin2 has been reading A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee. We now have new books so need a new photo soon. Meanwhile we scored 12 on the GWQ, thanks to a spread of lucky guesses, mostly.
Saturday Lager
Beers and a delicious veggie supper at a new pub table in the evning sunshine. Thx Gez and Dave, and props for scoring 13 on the GWQ.
Admin1 is reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman — readable, but amusing rather than funny and somewhat twee. Admin2 is reading This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas, which was marvellously convoluted.
Red Sky @ Night
A fine sunset following our excellent Chinese family banquet during which we scored 12.66666 on the GWQ.
Admin1 is reading Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee. Admin2, who is really enjoying these Indian historical crime novels, is now reading A Necessary Evil by the same author; so far she has read the series in reverse order.
We are watching Unforgotten series 4.
Flute/Cake
Sunshine at last! We had a family afternoon tea (salad, sandwich fillings, cake, trifle, lemonade, beer, gin and tonic) in the garden with a wonderful musical accompaniment. And we scored 13 on the GWQ!
Admin1 is reading Ruin Beach by Kate Rhodes and Admin2 is reading Let the Dead Speak by Jane Casey.
Happy Birthday Eve Dave
A birthday tea indoors for the first time in over a year.
Admin1 is reading Burnt Island by Kate Rhodes.
We scored 10 on the GWQ and would have done better if we’d thought a bit more.
Weather of the Day: Fog
Followed by sunshine, thunder and painfully large hailstones.
Admin1 is reading Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver. Admin2 is reading Burnt Island by Kate Rhodes, a readable but forgettable crime novel set in the storm-tossed Scillies.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Raindrops
It rained today, but the rainbow was in the garden.
Admin1 is reading The Cutting Place by Jane Casey. Admin2 is reading The Expats by Chris Pavone, a rubbish book about American chicanery in Luxembourg. This is the author’s attempt at rendering a Scottish accent: “Whot are you, soom kinda fookin bobby?”
We scored 9 on the GWQ.