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 Carré novel by Le Carré junior, which competently plugged a gap in Smiley’s story in a suitably complicated fashion.
Tag: bird
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.
Bird in a Bush
A blackbird eyeing us through the window on a misty morning.
A2 is rereading The Chalk Circle Man* by Fred Vargas.
Get well soon Gez.
Bottoms Up
Storm Darragh is raging outside but our rain gauge is blocked and serving as a useful drinking source for the birds.
The family braved the storm for our family dinner of stroggers and sticky toffee pudding and we scored 11.5 on the GSQ. Yay us!
A2 is rereading The Readymade Thief* by Augustus Rose.
Pigeon
When there is nothing else to look at the pigeons are always there, watching everything.
A1 is reading Death on the Thames* by Alan Johnson, which was relentlessly average. A2 is reading Elaine* by Will Self; Will’s memoir of his mum as a furious, frustrated, flirtatious fifties housewife (oh God, let’s never go back to those days!).
Critter of the Day: Sturnus vulgaris
A starling amid the red leaves and mostly melted snow.
A1 is rereading the enormous and erudite Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It occurred to A1 on this reread that there is a possibility that Fraa Jad maps to Enoch Root, in some sense. But it appears I’m not the first to notice this (see ‘Speculation’ at bottom of page).
A2 is rereading A Climate of Fear by Fred Vargas.
Squabbling Squabs
Pigeons being fed in Dortmund Square.
Friendly Robin
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.
Starling…
Cute baby starlings at feeding time. They fared better than the dead bird we found under the table wearing a ring that had been put on one day ago and 4km away. And the one that got away from the cat and spent hours flapping behind the sofa before A1 finally ushered it out. Same two things happened almost exactly two years ago.
We had three sorts of delicious burgers (meat, fish and pizza) with many accompaniments followed by fruit salad for our family dinner (thank you A1) and scored a below-par 8 on the GSQ.
A2 is reading Scatter Her Ashes* by Heine Bakkeid; another grindingly miserable book: divorced deposed detective on trail of missing children and serial killers.
Robbin’ Robin
Stealing food from the squirrels.
We had porky vegetables and nectarine cake for our family dinner and scored 11.5 on the GSQ. Our average is almost back to 10.
A1 is rereading A Spy’s Life by Henry Porter. A2 is reading The Whalebone Theatre* by Joanna Quinn.
Snow Bird
A robin rehearsing for a Christmas card in today’s wintry weather.
A1 is reading Pulpit Rock* by Kate Rhodes, another Scilly crime story with KR’s usual idiot plot. A2 is rereading Smoke and Whispers by Mick Herron.
Three Little Birds
Starlings on the laurel tree. Tonight is the coldest night of the winter: -5.3°C.
A2 is reading We, the Survivors by Tash Aw.
Lady Blackbird
Happy Birthday Faye!
A1 is reading The Murder Box* and agrees with A2’s assessment: daft but readable.
A2 is reading Too Close to Breathe*, both by Olivia Kiernan
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
First robin of 2024.
A1 is reading The Lonely Ones* by Hakan Nesser. A2 is reading Him by Geoff Ryman (thx A1). Mary’s girl child undergoes a gender reassignment.
Critter of the Day: Tit
A bird on a bush.
A1 is rereading Slow Horses by Mick Herron.
We had stroggers and Aunt Celia’s Lemon Pudding (copyright Thomas M Disch) for our family dinner and scored 10 on the GSQ.
Blackbird in the Rain
A1 is reading We Know You Remember* by Tove Asterdal. A2 is rereading The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier, which is a pleasure to revisit.
We had chicken/veggie pasta and parkin for our family meal and scored 11 on the GSQ.
Misty Sunrise
Morning pigeons! Morning Sun! Nice to see you again after yesterday’s incessant deluge.
A2 is reading Snare by Lilja Sigurdardottir.
Jay Peg
Haven’t seen any of these lovely colourful crows for five years but have seen several in the last few days, raiding next-door’s bird feeders in the snow and freezing fog.
A2 is reading Someone to Watch Over Me* by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.
We had curry followed by trifle for our family meal and scored 11 on the GSQ
Sunrise
Here comes the Sun — and a flock of pigeons.
A1 is reading White as Snow* by Lilja Sigurdardottir. A2 is reading The Ice by Laline Paull.
And yes, it’s cold today.
A Ray of Sunshine
At last (but it didn’t last) a bit of brightness lights up the dark and oppressive skies.
A1 is reading Missing Pieces by Tim Weaver. A2 is rereading Red Pill by Hari Kunzru
We had chicken pie and apfelstrudel for our family dinner and scored a better-than-usual 12 on the GSQ.
One Swallow
A summery day at last.
We had our family meal of spag bol and garden berry cake four days late owing to illness and scored 10 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is reading Guilt Edged by Leigh Russell. Admin2 is reading Conquest by Nina Allan.
Baby Blue
A juvenile blue tit in the cherry tree.
Admin1 is reading Dark Angel by John Sandford. Admin2 is reading The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru, which starts off like Amitrav Ghosh and ends up like Evelyn Waugh. We had chicken and broccoli followed by 3 kinds of ice creams for our family dinner and scored a dismal 8 on the GSQ. The family took our Love (old Ikea chair) with them when they left.
Cherry Blossom Time
But the pigeons are eating the blossoms instead of waiting to eat the cherries.
Admin1 is reading The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman. Admin2 is reading Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor.
Starlings
Hello birds. Nice to see you again.
Admin2 is confined to the house with agonising leg pains and consoling herself by rereading an all-time favourite: 334 by Thomas M Disch; how the underclass live in the 2020s, as seen from the 1970s.
Red Red Robin
It’s raining, it’s snowing, it’s coming and going. It’s melted and gone — oh no, it’s back on!
Admin1 is rereading Europe at Dawn by Dave Hutchinson. Admin2 is reading The Innocent by Ian McEwan.