18 months or so ago we took pictures of the weathered logs blocking the entrances to Scott Hall Playing Fields. Whether it is the age of the logs or the time of year, they are all now blooming with magnificent structures. Here are a few:
A1 is reading Wild Animal* by Joel Dicker, a typically convoluted thriller, with two pretty loathsome intertwined families and a jewellery heist.
Category: nature
Fungal Infection
A2’s travels took her past many rotting tree trunks sporting a fine selection of fungi. Here are some of them.
In other news, geomagnetic activity was very lively this evening and, in a small gap in the black clouds, we photographed a purple thing in the sky which was possibly a STEVE. No aurora though.
A2 is reading The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa. Time was, writers like Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburo Oe dug into the raw depths of the human soul. Now it’s all trains or cats or both.
Frosty Morning
Last night was our coldest this winter: -2.1°C and this morning brave flowers are pushing through the icy leaves.
A2 is reading What the Dark Whispers* by MJ Lee; a detective with a dead wife and troubled teenage daughter on the trail of a revenge killer. A workmanlike book fool of Type Os spill chequers cant sea.
Kneedful Things
A2 is indisposed, getting a new knee, so no family meal or quiz today. But here are some photos taken in the hospital grounds during various visits. Primrose and autumn leaves above, and some splendid fungi on the right.
Get well soon, A2!
[later] A2 is back. And A1 is rereading — of course — Needful Things by Stephen King.
Bracket (Fungus)
Fruiting bodies in the woods.
A1 is reading The Einstein Girl by Philip Sington, a somewhat ponderously written “literary thriller” set in pre-WW2 Germany, about a psychiatrist treating an amnesiac woman who may or may not have some familial connection to Einstein. Well researched, and the rise of Nazism is grimly drawn, but overlong.
A2 is rereading The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.
Autumn Fungus
Storm Amy has been blowing around us all day but there’s nothing to photograph so here are some mushrooms on a lawn up the road.
A1 is reading The Chemist by AA Dhand, who, having apparently exhausted the criminal possibilities of Bradford (in his Harry Virdee books), has turned his attention to Leeds. In particular Headingley and Beeston, with side trips to Beckett Park and Harehills. Who knew Headingley was such a pit of vice?
NB: When A1 did it, the Otley Run started in Leeds/Headingley, not in Otley. But being confused is pardonable, given the quantity of booze.
A2 is rereading the wonderful On Wings of Song by Thomas M Disch.
Autumn Leaf
The leaves are falling and so is the temperature.
A1 is reading The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, parts of which read a bit … oddly. AI assist?
A2 is reading The Chemist by AA Dhand.
Autumn Crocus
Flowers with no leaves that grow in the woods at this time of year.
September was our rainiest September ever: 141.6mm, beating last year into second place, and our second coldest, only beaten by last year, but the solar panel output was close to average.
A1 is reading the unseasonal The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch, a Rivers of London “novella”. Time was when a 165-page book would be a fairly standard SF novel.
Not a Fun Guy
A Miserable Mushroom in the woods.
A1 is reading The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, a Georgian-era picaresque novel. Indeed, Henry Fielding, one of the originators of this type of fiction (Tom Jones), is a character. It’s very hard to write about this terrific and wonderfully well-written book without spoilers, so you’ll just have to read it yourself 🙂
Conkered
A squashed chestnut on the road, looking a bit like a face.
A2 is reading In the Blink of an Eye* by Jo Callaghan; first outing for the AI detective.
Big Broken Mushroom
A battered autumnal fungus in spring.
A1 is rereading Dead Ground by MW Craven. A2 is reading Hollow Grave* by Kate Webb.
Turkey Tail Fungus
The multicoloured fans of Trametes versicolor growing on a tree.
A1 is reading The Shadow by Ajay Chowdhury. A2 is reading The Vinyl Detective: Underscore by Andrew Cartmel.
Speckled Wood
New life on a dead tree.
A1 is reading A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering* by Andrew Hunter Murray — an enjoyable light read (if a bit overlong), and highly reminiscent of Andrew Cartmel’s Vinyl Detective books in style and characterisation. So much so that A1 wondered if a pseudonym was in effect here … it turns out not (AHM is a Private Eye contributor, among much else). But in the course of this wondering A1 discovered that, on that very day, a new Vinyl Detective book was published! Spooky or what? Anyway, duly ordered.
A2 is reading The Friends of Harry Perkins* by Chris Mullin.
More Japanese Animals
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!
Spring
Warmest day this year, 18.9°C, and the little plum tree is covered with delicate blossoms with translucent petals and trembling stamens waiting in anticipation for pollinators.
It’s World Book Day so A2 is reading Perspectives by Laurent Binet; an epistolatery art history mystery.
Leaf Pattern
The many colours of leaves in a puddle.
A1 is rereading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (his 1500th book; A1 not Neal). A2 is rereading A Memory for Murder by Anne Holt.
Fun Guys
Puffballs in the mossy ginnel.
We had roast chicken and trifle for our family dinner, did this week’s and last week’s quizzes and scored 9 on one and 11.5 on the other.
A1 is rereading Bryant & May: Wild Chamber by Christoper Fowler. A2 is rereading Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. What a good book.
Autumn Colour
A pretty tree. A2 spotted a bloke photographing it and stopped for a quick chat but instead got a lengthy lecture. Mansplainers eh?
We had chicken stew and apple crumble for our family dinner, did 2 old quizzes and scored 10.5 on one and 11.5 on the other.
A1 is rereading Bryant and May and the Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler. A2 is rereading Fundamental Disch by Thomas M Disch.
Incoming Hoverfly
It’s World Photography Day so here is a photo of a hoverfly about to land on a passion flower.
A2 is reading Blacklands by Belinda Bauer; a 12-year-old boy contacts a child killer with consequences that combine humour with nail-biting tension.
Weed All About It
Haven’t seen any interesting clouds or wild animals today so here is a common wild flower.
A1 is reading Winter’s Gifts* by Ben Aaronovitch. A2 is rereading Gallowstree Lane by Kate London.
Thistle Do Nicely
There are no good clouds or wildlife at the moment so A2 is reduced to wandering the byways admiring the fine selection of weeds. When we deliberately attempt to plant wildflowers nothing comes up.
A1 is reading The Prey* by Yrsa Sigurdasdottir, a horror short story expanded tediously to novel length. A2 is reading Gallows Rock*, also by Yrsa Sigurdasdottir, which was not as ghastly as The Prey.
Solstice
Good day sunshine! 25° and 12kWh at last!
A1 is rereading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.
Fungus
There’s not mushroom between them.
A1 is rereading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. A2 is rereading Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer.
…Moss
Fruity bodies on the library roof.
May 2024 was averagely warm but our second most rainy May ever (117.9mm) and our least sunny May of all time (a gloomy 192.926kWh).
A2 is reading The Mill House Murders* by Yukito Ayatsuji; country house whodunnit in a thunderstorm — twice.
Sun in Rain
A2 was trying to photograph the sun’s reflection in a puddle when a single raindrop hit it. Looks kinda astronomical.
A2 is rereading Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell.