Vermilion Sands
An occasional journal
Cloud of the Day: Cumulonimbus
Aug 13th 2018
A dinosaur rises up and waves its claws in a threatening manner.
Admin2 is reading Salt Lane by William Shaw. The offspring of the sixties characters in the last series arrives as a typical modern detective: divorced with a troublesome teenager.
Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens
Aug 12th 2018
Typical summer weather at last; cold and wet and windy.
Admin1 is reading Golden Prey by John Sandford. Admin2 is reading The Birdwatcher by William Shaw.
Coffee of the day: Brazil Ipanema, tall and tanned and young and lovely.
We scored 7.5 on the GWQ.
Red Is the Colour
Aug 7th 2018
Three of the last four days have been over 30 degrees.
Admin1 is reading The Birdwatcher by William Shaw. Admin2 has returned to The Stalker by Lars Kepler, which was long and distressing but strangely compulsive, with some interestingly weird characters.
Cloud of the Day: Cirrocumulus floccus
Aug 5th 2018
Our warmest August day ever: 31.5 °C. And our sunniest: 11.31 kWh.
Admin2 is reading The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths.
Coffee of the day Extra Dark Wild Ethiopian Highland: bitter with a taste of aniseed and cherries.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Critter of the Day: Celastrina argiolus
Aug 3rd 2018
Same flower, different flyer: the Holly Blue.
Admin1 is reading Salt Lane by William Shaw.
Critter of the Day: Pyrausta purpuralis
Aug 2nd 2018
There are hundreds of these tiny moths all over our herbs.
Admin2 tried reading The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (too Strossful), The Stalker by Lars Kepler (not another bloody woman butchered in chapter 1) and is now trying Broken Heart by Tim Weaver.
Cloud of the Day: Altostratus
Jul 31st 2018
Red clouds, blue sky.
July 2018 was our hottest month since records began; even our coldest day, at 23.3 °C, was our hottest coldest day ever. It was also our least rainy and second sunniest July.
Admin1 is reading Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi. Admin2 is reading The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe.
Cloud of the Day: Cirrus spissatus
Jul 29th 2018
Remnants of an anvil from one of the many clouds that have poured down rain on us today.
Admin2 is reading When the Devil Holds the Candle by Karin Fossum.
We scored 10 (amazingly) on the GWQ.
Rainbows
Jul 28th 2018
A sudden shower in the evening sun.
Admin1 is reading The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths.
Blood and Thunder
Jul 27th 2018
Tonight we were looking forward to either a red lunar eclipse or a spectacular electrical storm. We got neither; just a mass of dark clouds. But one thing we did see was a pileus swelling through the clouds though it had almost gone by the time we found a camera. This storm went over York, where it delivered some enormous hailstones.
Waiting for the Storm
Jul 26th 2018
The hottest day this month, featuring a short but heavy shower, lots of distant thunder, a faint rainbow and an orange moon.
Admin2 is embracing the weather and reading Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi; a cracking romp of espionage in this world and the next.
Beside the Seaside
Jul 25th 2018
Scarborough at low tide on a hot and sunny day.
Admin1 is defying the weather and reading Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson.
Cloud of the Day: Cirrocumulus
Jul 22nd 2018
Plenty of sunshine: 11.7kWh. Admin1 is reading Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves. Admin2 is reading The Vinyl Detective: Victory Disc by Andrew Cartmel. We scored 9 on the GWQ.
Run of the Year
Jul 20th 2018
The 28 days from 18 June to 15 July gave us our best ever run on the solar panels (including our best ever single day), and we came very close to the mythical 300kWh.
Critter of the Day: Polygonia c-album
Jul 19th 2018
Comma on a buddleia.
Another >30°C day.
Admin1 is reading The Vinyl Detective: Victory Disc by Andrew Cartmel (jolly japes with cats, big band jazz and badgers). Admin2 is reading Time Is a Killer by Michel Bussi which was rather disappointing: the precocious little girl that seems to be the signature in his other books has grown into a self-obsessed teenager and the culture and history of Corsica on which so much hinges is still a closed book to me.
Plant of the Day: Flowering Rush
Jul 17th 2018
Butomus umbellatus growing in our pond. We had 0.9mm of rain last night, accompanied by pink lightning.
Admin2 is reading Still Bleeding by Steve Mosby. We are watching Westworld.
Flying the Nest
Jul 15th 2018
It’s flying ant day again, but this time the ants are not so many nor so big.
Admin1 is reading The Seagull by Anne Cleeves. Admin2 is reading Cry for Help by Steve Mosby. We scored 9.5 on the GWQ.
Critter of the Day: Inachis io
Jul 13th 2018
First peacock butterfly we’ve seen this year. And the first rain we have seen for nearly a month: a whole 0.3mm.
Admin1 is reading The Cruel Stars of the Night by Kjell Eriksson, but gave up after 70 pages of gloomy introspection. Admin2 is reading Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson.