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.
Category: nature
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.
Plum Blossoms
Here come the potential plums. Hope the pollinators find them.
February 2024 was the fifth warmest, fourth wettest and third least sunny, even with the extra day.
A2 is rereading Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. A2 is reading Bridge* by Lauren Beukes.
Small World
Lichens on a fallen branch.
A1 is rereading This Is What Happened by Mick Herron and A2 is rereading the lovely Poor Things by Alasdair Gray.
Fallen Leaves
Abandoned books on a bench.
A1 is reading Stigma* by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. A2 is reading The Creak on the Stairs* by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir.
All the Leaves Are Brown
And the sky is grey.
A1 is reading The Spanish Game by Charles Cumming. A2 is rereading The Rapture by Liz Jensen; dire warnings about climate change which of course have gone unheeded.
Nature’s Trinkets
Bronze leaves and scarlet berries sparkling in the rain.
October was our coldest, wettest and second least sunny October since our records began. Same as July, but even colder, wetter and darker.
A1 is reading The Blackbird by Tim Weaver.
Puffballs
A2 went out to light up and strengthen the fence in advance of Storm Babet and discovered these tiny puffballs growing alongside.
A1 is reading Outside* by Ragnar Jonasson, which was unbelievable and rather stupid. A2 is rereading Revelation by CJ Sansom.
Oh No!
A sad stick in the road screaming because it has lost several limbs.
We scored an equally sad 9 on the GSQ after our family meal of stew followed by parkin to warm us up on a day when the temperature dropped to 1.1 °C.
Near and Far
Now that the data cable has arrived, A2 has been trying out the £2 camera’s 1 cm macro
and 26x zoom on a mistifying morning.
It’s not bad for £2 + £4 cable and various bits of salvage (luckily A1 found some unused metal hydride batteries and charger lying around so we have everything we need now). Thank you Salvation Army.
A2 is rereading Sovereign by CJ Sansom.
Mossy Stone
Cute little bryophytes growing on a wall.
A1 is reading Seven Bridges by LJ Ross.
Autumn Crocus
Hello October
September featured the hottest day this year and was the second warmest month of the year. Sunshine was about average and next better than last September and rain was on the high side but next lower than September last year. All to see on our weather and solar panel records.
We were still suffering from the aftereffects of our vaccinations so no family meal or quiz today.
A1 is reading The Body under the Bridge by Nick Louth, which started off OK (uninspiring if competently written), but quickly descended into ludicrousness and implausibility.
A2 is reading The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith; a lone female infiltrates a cult run by a charismatic couple on a remote fortified farm (yes, it’s the same picture as Wolf Pack* but on a much bigger canvas).
In the Monet
The twins are gone now but here are some waterlilies from Harlow Park.
Admin1 is rereading The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod. Admin2 is reading The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry, which was set in dreamland and consequently is already forgotten.
Wood Work
Nearly all the entrances to the Scott Hall Playing Fields have been blocked by enormous chunks of trunks to discourage unathletic types (or something) but the wood has weathered in interesting ways so here is a portfolio:
It’s too cloudy for meteors (what Radio 6 Music called an ‘astrological phenomenon’). Admin1 is reading The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman.
Happy Flying Ant Day!
Loads of these came out to play today, including one which flew straight into Admin1’s mouth.
Admin2 is reading Fludd* by Hilary Mantel. Her slim volumes about weird northern ne’er-do-wells are much more entertaining than her Booker-winning turgid tomes about Tudor luminaries.
Shaggy Parasols
Or that’s what a passing woman said these car-park fun guys were called. She also claimed they were edible but apparently there is a lookalike called the vomiter so let’s not try.
Admin1 is rereading The Restoration Game by Ken MacLeod. Admin2 is reading Every Day Is Mother’s Day* by Hilary Mantel.
Critter of the Day: Hoverfly
At last, a hoverfly on its own.
We had meat loaf and garden veg for our family dinner and scored a miserable 9 on the GSQ.
Admin2 is reading The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel; a backstory, a barmaid, a banker, a boat.
FireIceland
It’s all happening in Iceland:
This is the new volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 24 miles from the capital Reykjavík. You can watch it live on this link. [Update 15 Jan 2024: live multiview link]
In contrast, Admin2 is reading Snow by John Banville. A priest is found stabbed in the library of a snowbound country house. Suspects: the Colonel, his neurotic wifeling, wayward daughter, arrogant son, apple-cheeked retainer and halfwit stable boy. Whodunnit? It gets darker.
Elders and Critters
Admin2 photographed these elderflowers on her travels and only when she looked closely did she spot this little beast. Apparently it’s a varied carpet beetle (Anthrenus verbasci), eating pollen while looking for a mate. Good luck with finding a carpet in a car park.
Admin1 is rereading The Eight by Katherine Neville. Admin2 is reading It Ends at Midnight by Harriet Tyce.
Two Seasons
Spring petals and autumn leaves. We had chicken and tomatoes for our family dinner and scored 9 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is rereading Heartstone by CJ Sansom. Admin2 is reading Ascent by Jed Mercurio, bought from the traditional charity shop on the way back from the jab. It has a rocket on the cover so it’s bound to be good. [And it was — a fictional Russian Apollo 13.]