An occasional journal
A colourful halo seen from the library roof. Still very dry this month (0.3mm so far), but rain is expected over the weekend.
A1 is reading All of Us Are Broken* by Fiona Cummins, the third book in a row not cast aside lightly. Thrown with great force, to be precise. It was horrible.
A2 is reading The Shadow by Ajay Chowdhury
A1 has been reading the recently published Perspectives by Laurent Binet, an epistolary murder mystery set in 16th-century Florence. And was rather struck by this passage:
As I descended from the ramparts, I heard some guards climbing the stairs. Since I had no business being up there, I would have had no excuse to justify my presence if they had seen me. So I hurried back to the roof. But you know the palace better than I, so you know that there are no hiding places up there. I ran to the wall; a leap from that height could be fatal, even to me. But God rewards the brave: at the foot of the wall was a cart loaded with hay, left there by some groom. It all happened in a flash: the decision, then the execution. I climbed onto the parapet, arms outspread like Christ on the cross, I closed my eyes and I dived. During my fall I heard the cry of an eagle. My landing was as soft as on a feather bed, and in a second I was up on my feet again, completely unscathed.
That’s from page 140. So here’s a sequence from 2009’s Assassin’s Creed II, which is set in … 16th-century Florence. Which is where we are here:
This really does stretch coincidence too far. All that’s missing is the eagle — but as any fule kno, nearly all Assassin’s Creed games have an eagle perched on the viewpoints you can jump from (he must have flown off before I got there this time). And there is always a convenient hay cart below (well, unless there’s a lake).
I think it’s pretty certain that M. Binet is a fan 🙂
More wildlife from Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Here are some boxing hares, being drawn by our heroine Naoe. Who turns out to be a dab hand at sumi-e (ink wash) painting.
And here’s a kitten!
The day started auspiciously with a fine 22° halo, seen on the webcam.
Clouds rolled in, but there were enough gaps to see the eclipse between 10am and noon.
And here’s the traditional colander picture, with hundreds of crescent suns:
A2 is reading The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre.
Warmest day of the year so far: 19.0°C, and the sunniest by a couple of watts, and dry.
Met Office forecast for today: “Cloudy with strong winds and rain”
We have been watching Adolescence. Phew!
A1’s new game is Assassin’s Creed Shadows, set in 16th century Japan. There are samurai, ronin, cherry blossom, lords and peasants…
…and cats!
Dogs too, but you can’t have everything.
Addendum: A2 noticed the unusual tail — this is a Japanese bobtail. According to a source of the time, “It has no mind to hunt for rats and mice but just wants to be carried and stroked by women.” 🙂
Yes, it’s International Women’s Day. We had a family lunch of kedgeree (with boiled eggs for the fish refusers), ate a blueberry cake and scored a substandard 9 on the GSQ.
A1 is rereading When the Devil Drives by Chris Brookmyre. A2 is reading The Fourteenth Letter* by Claire Evans, which was weird and unbelievable.
A delicious chocolate cake baked by A1 formed the finale to our family dinner of stroggers for the adults, salmon and leek pasta for the piscatarian and a pineapple pizza for the Bobster himself. But no Saturday quiz because it’s Friday.
A1 finally managed to sneak up on the redbreast unawares. There are all sorts of birds about at the moment, trying to hook up for the mating season.
A2 is rereading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.
Our family dinner was rainbow trout with almonds, fried potatoes, leeks and courgettes, with parkin and custard for pudding.
We scored a reasonable 10 on the Guardian Quiz.
A2 is reading Picks and Shovels* by Cory Doctorow, a crime novel where the crimes are financial but a few people get beaten up nonetheless.
Another one bites the dust; though Storm Eowyn tomorrow might have demolished it for free.
A1 is rereading Country of the Blind by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The G File by Hakan Nesser.
At last, a cloudless sky with Venus, Mars and Jupiter all shining brightly. And the Moon rises.
A1 is rereading Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The Return by Hakan Nesser.
The Bobster enjoys a present.
We had the family round for Boxing Day, with a repeat of our Christmas Day meal (but pico-pizzas for the veggies). There were even more prezzies, including the traditional coffee, some rather lovely pictures and about 500 tomato seeds of many varieties — thanks, G,D,F & B!
And unlike last year, we managed a flaming pudding by using calvados rather than brandy.
We scored a traditional 10 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter (thanks, A2!).
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.. of alcohol-free gin? And it’s not much cheaper than ordinary gin.
A1 is rereading The Mercy Chair by MW Craven.
A2 is reading The Red Notebook* by Michel Bussi; malfeasance to and from migrants in Marseilles, with a terrific twist.
The cats being friendly, for a change. It’s the Geminids tonight, but in keeping with the rest of the year we’ve had unrelieved gloom. Tomorrow night looks like it might be better, but there’ll be a nearly full moon.
A2 is reading Locked In* by Jussi Adler Olsen. Department Q’s lead detective is jailed and beset by assassins on all sides for fearsomely complicated reasons.
A halo and contrails, while we’re waiting for Storm Darragh.
A2 is reading The Last Devil to Die* by Richard Osman. We are watching Black Doves.
Our webcam caught a colourful sunrise this morning:
A1 is reading Leave No Trace* by Jo Callaghan. A2 is rereading The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas.
The full Moon surrounded by a colourful corona, with Jupiter on the right. There are Leonid meteors around now, but the glare makes them very hard to spot (sneer at the link’s “rare celestial spectacles” — they happen every year).
We had seasonally appropriate bangers and mash for dinner. And we’re looking forward to (allegedly) nine hours of heavy snow from midnight on Tuesday.
A1 is reading The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe. A2 is reading Polostan by Neal Stephenson.
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is on its way. The image below was taken by the sun-researching SOHO spacecraft, and shows the comet moving into its field of view. Also captured is a solar flare, which — when the CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) hits the comet later today or tomorrow — may disrupt the comet’s tail. CMEs also cause auroras when they reach Earth. The weather is looking clearish for sunset time from 10 Oct, when the comet should start to become visible from here. Here’s hoping.
A1 is reading The Mars House by Natasha Pulley, thus finishing A1’s immensely pleasurable tour through NP’s oeuvre (A1 really needed some distraction during recent events). TMH is a cheerful SF tale clearly playing homage to Terry Pratchett (complete with amusing footnotes). The SF elements can be a little ropey, but the writing is so splendidly enjoyable that it’s forgivable. It’s baffling why her previous publisher (Bloomsbury) refused the book and dropped her completely … she’s clearly a terrific writer with much left to say.
A2 is reading Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming.
Pigeons being fed in Dortmund Square.
Yesterday and this afternoon A1 and A2 tried to clear some of the rampant brambles, raspberry canes and weeds clogging up our back garden. With an audience: this little chap kept his beady eye on the progress on both days, doubtless hoping for some grub to be unearthed. A1 also tidied the pond a bit, so now we can actually see it. And we still have fish! At least six were spotted.
A1 is rereading Restless by William Boyd. A2 is reading Enlightenment by Sarah Perry (thx A1) in which we all learn a bit about astronomy.
After a cloudless day, the clouds rolled in after midnight and there were only a few small gaps at 3:20am when an eclipse was due. Fortunately one of these gaps let the Moon peep through, and we saw the (very! — 8%) partial eclipse.
Fittingly, A1 is reading Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd.
…Cloud Appreciation Day. So here’s a montage timelapse of today’s cloudscapes, about 6 hours in less than 2 minutes: cumulus, altocumulus and cirrocumulus all blowing in different directions.
A2 is reading Precipice by Robert Harris; the PM dallies with a young woman on the brink of World War One. True story; nothing changes.
Tonight we saw some weird lights in the sky illuminating the clouds, perhaps over Roundhay Park.
A2 is reading Kill the Father* by Sandrone Dazieri which was also weird and illuminating.
It rained a lot last night, but the damned pigeons have been sitting in the rain gauge again and blocked it with their crap.
A1 is rereading Ghostwritten by the splendid David Mitchell, a welcome change after the recent run of humdrum books. Rereading DM is always worthwhile, with shared characters and previously undetected links between novels becoming apparent.
A2 is reading Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan which is also humdrum.