Vermilion Sands
An occasional journal
Critter of the Day: Starling
Mar 12th 2017
Sturnus vulgaris singing in the trees on an unexpectedly sunny day (warmest day so far this year too: 18.4°C).
Admin1 is reading No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary (melodramatic and almost laughably grim). Admin2 is reading Booked for Murder by VL McDermid.
And we unexpectedly scored 8 on the Guardian Weekend quiz, thanks to wild guesses or possibly unrecovered memories.
Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky
Mar 10th 2017
Yesterday was the hottest and sunniest day this year. Today is something completely different.
Admin2 is reading An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell; a short book that touched a lot on autumn as a metaphor for old age.
Critter of the Day: Robin
Mar 8th 2017
Wearing red in honour of International Women’s Day.
Admin1 is reading The Sword of Justice by Leif GW Persson. Admin2 is reading The Twilight Time by Karen Campbell
Critter of the Day: Goldfinch
Mar 7th 2017
Yellow bird, up high in horse chestnut tree.
Admin1 has been reading An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell and is now watching the film. Admin2 is reading The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville, which was surreally odd.
Drip Drop
Mar 5th 2017
Splash in a puddle on another rainy day. It has rained every day for the last 2 weeks.
Admin1 is reading The Twilight Time by Karen Campbell, a really impressive first novel. Picked on a blurb from Kate Atkinson, and I can see why: KC has a real author’s skill in encouraging empathy for difficult characters. The only caveat is some slightly overwrought writing in places; the author should have perhaps paid a bit more heed to her editor’s ‘kill your darlings‘ advice.
Crocus
Mar 4th 2017
Hooray hooray spring is on the way. We topped 3kWh today for the first time this year.
Admin1 is reading Booked for Murder by VL McDermid.
We scored 7.5 on the Guardian Weekend quiz.
Moon and Venus
Mar 2nd 2017
Together in a clear sky.
Admin1 is reading The Damage Done by James Oswald, which started off as an unexceptional police procedural but went bonkers towards the end, demonstrating the author’s previous career as a fantasy writer. Admin2 is reading The Sword of Justice by Leif GW Persson, featuring the irrepressibly reprehensible Backstrom but with an exceedingly clever plot, tying together a maltreated rabbit, an assault with an auction catalogue, a murdered lawyer, Tsar Nicholas II, Winston Churchill, Vladimir Putin and Pinocchio.
Black and White in Colour
Mar 1st 2017
Cumulus and nimbus pull apart to reveal a spectacular corona. Sadly the nimbus seems to have won.
Admin2 is reading The Killing Bay by Chris Ould; not much of a story but an interesting Faeroes background.
At the End of a Storm There’s a Golden Sky
Feb 27th 2017
Admin1 is reading Black Noise by Pekka Hiltunen (a kind of poor copy of an episode of a JJ Abrams serial (perhaps Alias), with implausible heroines but missing an entertainingly barmy mythology). Admin2 is reading The Ice Twins by SK Tremayne, a Sunday Times bestseller which came free with the Guardian and was unmitigated codswallop.
Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of our book recording project. So far we have read 1008 books between us.
We scored 9 on the Guardian Weekend quiz.
Spawn Again
Feb 23rd 2017
It’s Doris Day but the frogs were breeding regardless. Admin1 is reading The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson, which was pretty good, and refreshingly free of Persson’s usual main character, who’s an unpleasant idiot. Admin2′s 500th book is a topical re-read of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Crowd of the Day: One Day without Us
Feb 20th 2017
Migrants, that is. Not a huge crowd; most of them were probably at work.
Admin1 is reading Blessed Are Those Who Thirst by Anne Holt. Admin2 is rereading Quarantine by Greg Egan.
Happy Birthday Bobs
Feb 17th 2017
Admin1 is reading Jigsaw Man by Elena Forbes. Admin2 is reading The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson; man on last legs solves last case, entertaining and touching.
Grey Skies All of Them Gone
Feb 14th 2017
Valentine’s Day, and our best solar panel day of the year so far (which is not saying much).
Admin1 is rewatching Fringe.
Admin2 is reading Satellite People by Hans Olav Lahlum. On this day we have read 1000 books between us since 26 Feb 2013.
Gloom
Feb 12th 2017
Another cold dark miserable wet day. Admin1 is reading Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdasdottir. Admin2 is reading Report for Murder by Val McDermid which contains a lot of polemical lectures. We scored 9 on the Guardian Weekend quiz. We have been watching Humans series 2 which lost the plot.
The Skeleton Road
Feb 6th 2017
Strange stuffed toy on the front of a van.
Admin1 is reading Report for Murder by Val McDermid. Admin2 is reading Blessed Are Those Who Thirst by Anne Holt; shedloads of bloodshed.
The Birds in the Trees
Feb 4th 2017
All lined up to salute Admin1′s 500th book since we started keeping count: Heat Lightning by John Sandford. Admin2 is reading Their Lips Talk of Mischief by Alan Warner: a Scotsman, a Welshman and an Irishwoman on the dole in 1980s London. We scored 7 on the Guardian Weekend quiz.
Cloud of the Day: Altostratus Opacus
Feb 2nd 2017
Admin1 is reading The Rose of Tibet by Lionel Davidson. Admin2 is reading The Castle and the Key by Cassandra Knye aka Thomas M Disch.
We are occupied with watching Occupied.