Here’s a glimpse of the elusive bird that has been tormenting us with its vanishing tricks. One day we’ll catch it in the open.
We had macaroni cheese, vegetable and fruit salads and a sad-looking but tasty brick-like air-fried courgette cake for our family dinner and scored 12.5 on the GSQ; thx everybody and happy birthday eve Bob.
A1 is rereading Not the End of the World by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is rereading Machines like Me by Ian McEwan.
Tag: admin1 reading
Book read by Admin1
Maggie and Baggie
Up high, under a grey sky, a magpie accompanied by a birdlike bin bag.
A1 is rereading One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is reading Cult* by Camilla Lackberg and Hendrik Fexeus.
Dunnock of the Day
A shy hedge sparrow hiding in the bushes on a dark and cloudy day.
A1 is rereading Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is rereading Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw.
Crowing
A crow in a tree.
A1 is reading Trapped* by Camilla Lackberg and Hendrik Fexeus. A1 was less impressed with this, getting very bored with one protagonist’s obsession with cleanliness and sanitising everything, and the other’s with counting everything. Take all that out and it’d be half the length. The plot was daft, too.
A2 is rereading The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe.
Head Scratching Time
Thanks to channelling our brainpower, we scored 12 on the GSQ tonight after our delicious dinner of roast chicken and apple crumble; our best score this year so far.
Ai is rereading The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is reading Trapped* by Camilla Lackberg and Hendrix Fexeus; a special unit in the Department Q/Peculier Crimes mould recruits a mind-reader to solve a series of murders committed with stage magic equipment.
Another Beak in the Wall
Troglodytes troglodytes (so good…) aka a wren. We have never photographed one before, or even knowingly seen one. It was bouncing around like a little brown ball, occasionally stopping to search for critters in cracks. And here’s a nice song:
…well, not so nice for the poor old wren.
A1 is rereading A Snowball in Hell by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The Unlucky Lottery by Hakkan Nesser.
The Goldfinch
Carduelis carduelis; so good they named it twice. Haven’t photographed one for years but A2 spotted this one in a distant tree far, far away.
A1 is rereading A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away by Christopher Brookmyre, in which we learn its psychopathic terrorist loathes The Smiths. As does A1 đŸ™‚
A2 is rereading Borkmann’s Point by Hakan Nesser.
Cake of the Snake
It’s Lunar New Year soon and A1 has made a cherry and almond cake for our family banquet tomorrow and A2 has made a snake out of butter icing, blueberries and squashed marshmallows dipped in food colouring.
A1 is rereading Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is reading The Bezzle* by Cory Doctorow.
Tree Fellas, Again
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.
SAD
It’s Squirrel Appreciation Day: time to admire the thieving vandals that dig up our vegetables and eat our fruit.
A1 is rereading Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The weeping Girl by Hakan Nesser
Mellow Yellow
First supermarket daffodils of spring, as a decoration for our family dinner of spag bol followed by peach cobbler, at which we strained our brains to the point of pain and still only scored 8 on the GSQ. Damn you, Thomas Eaton!
A1 s rereading Dead Girl Walking by Chris Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The Inspector and Silence by Hakan Nesser.
A Clear Sky
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 Snows Are Melted, the Snows Are Gone
Ou sont les neiges d’antan? Well they have gone for at least a while and for the first time in ten days we have action on the solar panels and people are moving about outside.
A1 is rereading Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser.
Critter of the Day: Sturnus vulgaris
A starling all puffed up against the cold. It’s still snowy and icy.
A1 is reading Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway. A Le CarrĂ© novel by Le CarrĂ© junior, which competently plugged a gap in Smiley’s story in a suitably complicated fashion.
Still Snowy
It is still freezing cold, ice everywhere, lethally slippery pavements. A1 had to go to work in the horrible conditions and said it was like walking over crisps. A2 only went as far as the dustbin, wearing crampons and holding onto the wall, and noticed that the snowperson population had increased.
A1 is reading I will Find the Key* by Alex Ahndoril. A2 is reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (thx A1).
Wood Nymph
I looked out the window and what did I see?
A hole in a tree and a face looking out at me!
A1 is reading Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin. A2 is reading The Traitor by Jorn Lier Horst. For a change, Wisting’s daughter doesn’t get kidnapped. His granddaughter gets kidnapped instead.
New Year New Moon
On her way home A2 spotted this delicate crescent moon hanging in the darkening sky with Venus floating above.
Here is A1’s effort, taken with crater accuracy.
A1 is reading The Traitor by Jorn Lier Horst. A2 is reading City of Destruction by Vaseem Khan.
Happy New Year Everybody
Normally we like to see the new year in standing on the traffic island swigging port and watching other peoples’ fireworks but the rain was hammering down so we stood in the doorway while some fool somewhere let off rockets in the distance.
2024 was cooler and wetter than average and our least sunny year since the solar panels arrived.
A1 is reading City of Destruction by Vaseem Khan.
Critter of the Day: Turdus merula
Not a very pretty name for this handsome blackbird.
We had pasta, parkin and delicious Ethiopian coffee for our family lunch and scored 11.5 for the last quiz of the year, bringing our average to 10.2268518518519, a step down from last year’s 10.2756346153846.
A1 is reading Nobody’s Hero by MW Craven, another violent and thrilling outing for Ben Koenig; thanks, A2! — who is reading Orbital by Samantha Harvey (thx A1); 24 hours on the International Space Station watching the drama of the cosmorama, incorporating 16 days of the sun burnishing the oceans and 16 nights of lights fringing the coastlines while the astro/cosmonauts on board divulge a bit of backstory and have high-flown thoughts about the geography and meteorology of their home planet and a typhoon winds up over the Philippines. A short but engaging read.
Bob Unboxing on Boxing Day
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!).
Return of the Sun
After the solstice, a brighter dawn, with Mercury somewhere behind the clouds.
A1 is rereading Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen, his first Department Q novel from 2007. This was prompted by reading his recent novel Locked In, which finally resolves the mysteries posed in Mercy and ends with the start of that book.
A2 is rereading The Strangler’s Honeymoon by Hakan Nesser.
Night Lights
Random Christmas lights around the shops reflected in the rainy pavements.
A1 is reading Locked In* by Jussi Adler Olsen. It’s OK A1, A2 is reading I Will Find the Key* by Alex Ahndoril.
What’s the Point…
... 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.
Fish Egg
A poached egg on a piece of ham that looks a bit like a fish.
A1 is reading The Last Devil to Die* by Richard Osman. A2 is rereading The Accordionist* by Fred Vargas.
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.