Vermilion Sands
An occasional journal
Cloud of the Day: Praecipitatio
Sep 23rd 2018
Rain that doesn’t reach the ground, and a rainbow that doesn’t reach the sky.
Admin2 is reading The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer; two mediaeval plague victims have the chance to save their souls by living for one day in each of the next six centuries.
We are watching Unforgotten.
We scored 7 on the GWQ.
Weather of the Day: Rain
Sep 21st 2018
Hot on the heels of Storm Ali comes Storm Bronagh. We had 21.6mm of rain today.
Admin1 is rereading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.
Love Conkers All
Sep 18th 2018
Admin1 is reading Unleashed by Peter Laws. Admin2 is reading The Few by Nadia Dalbuono.
Cloud of the Evening
Sep 17th 2018
We scored 8 on the GWQ, so a slight improvement on the last 2 weeks.
Last Poppy
Sep 14th 2018
The two flushes of poppies are bookends of the summer.
Admin1 is reading The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths. Admin2 is reading An American Story by Christopher Priest (thx Admin1); 9/11 conspiracy theories with some mathematical flummery and some impressive scenes. Admin1 is playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Sun of the Day
Sep 12th 2018
Shining through the trees.
Admin1 is reading By the Pricking of her Thumb by Adam Roberts. Admin2 is reading Transcription by Kate Atkinson (thx Admin1); a cosy wartime spy story.
Coffee of the day: Rwanda Kanyege: very fruity!
Sun of the Night
Sep 10th 2018
A sunflower peeping over a fence.
Admin1 is reading Cry for Help by Steve Mosby. Admin2 is reading By the Pricking of her Thumb by Adam Roberts.
We are watching Spiral saison 6 and we scored 7 (again) on the GWQ.
September in the Rain
Sep 6th 2018
Happy Birthday Lee. Here is a cake (thx Chris) with sprinkles (thx Audrey)
Admin1 is reading Beyond the Truth by Anne Holt.
Coffee of the day: Tanzania Tarime Natural; sharp and citrussy.
Critters of the Day: Green Shield Bugs
Sep 4th 2018
An adult hanging out with a teenager.
Admin1′s 700th book is The Hit by Nadia Dalbueno
Admin2 is reading The Outsider by Stephen King which contained a lot of product placement for the iPad.
Critter of the Day: Small Tortoiseshell
Sep 2nd 2018
One of many colourful visitors in recent warm days (30.4 °C today).
Admin1 is reading The American by Nadia Dalbueno.
We scored 7 on the GWQ, but would probably have done better if it wasn’t for those pesky kids.
Another Fly Undone
Sep 1st 2018
Victim of the sundew.
August was our warmest (average high 24.9 °C) and driest (28.8 mm) August ever recorded but the second-worst August for the solar panels (182.583kWh).
We are watching Hidden.
Fly Undone
Aug 30th 2018
A victim of the Venus flytrap.
Admin1 is reading The Few by Nadia Dalbueno, in which a detective struggling to overcome his family’s Mafia past investigates corruption and sordid goings-on in the highest levels of Italian society; pretty good, but not a book likely to be recommended by the Italian tourist board.
Admin2 is reading The Discourtesy of Death by William Broderick.
Coffee of the day: Hill and Valley.
So Tired
Aug 28th 2018
Admin2 is rereading Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan: the spy who loved reading novels. Admin1 was reading The Lies We Tell by Kristina Ohlsson, but gave up because it was rubbish.
No Don’t Stop the Carnival
Aug 27th 2018
A grey day for a bright parade, but better than the pouring rain of yesterday.
Admin2 is reading Marked for Revenge by Emilie Schepp; another story that constantly chopped between characters, translated into irritating Americanese, and part of a continuing saga of an erstwhile child soldier turned public prosecutor.
Critter of the Day: Earthworm
Aug 26th 2018
Lumbricus terrestris crossing the road in the rain. We have had more rain today than in the whole of June, and unfortunately it coincided with the Reggae Concert.
Admin1 is reading The Discourtesy of Death by William Brodrick (intriguing and well-written; excellent).
Coffee of the day: Nicaragua El Amparo Caturra; sweet and chocolatey.
Sunset Sundog
Aug 25th 2018
A contrail with a handsome trailing fringe and sunset clouds with added colours.
Admin2 is reading Spiderweb by Penelope Lively; an anthropologist retires to a Somerset village.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Rain Again
Aug 23rd 2018
We had proper rain this afternoon at last, and a not very bright rainbow.
Admin1 is reading Race to the Kill by Helen Cadbury. Admin2 is reading Thin Ice by Quentin Bates, a racy read that constantly chopped between a large cast of varyingly unsavoury characters and a detective who was too involved with her dysfunctional family to catch most of them.
Where’s Ya Bean?
Aug 19th 2018
We planted these beans very late (because our first lot did not grow) but they are bearing fruit at last.
Admin1 is reading Thin Ice by Quentin Bates (readable, but the constant scene-switching is just as annoying as in his other book we’ve read). Admin2 is reading The Lies We Tell by Kristina Ohlsson, a sequel to Buried Lies, which we read ages ago and have long since forgotten; but as more and more characters turn out to be directly or indirectly (a) related to each other and (b) killers, it seems to be a modern reworking of the Orestian trilogy.
We scored 9 on the GWQ.
Under the Surface
Aug 18th 2018
Our big fish lurking in the shadows.
Admin1 is reading The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home (amateurish, and rather confused as to what it was about). Admin2 is reading Beyond the Truth by Anne Holt.
On the Beach
Aug 14th 2018
A giant sandpit surrounded by altogether too many funfair rides.
Admin1 is reading The Stalker by Lars Kepler; overlong and rather nasty.