The title refers to our current Book Club reading. We are discussing it next week and I have almost finished. Quite surprised I haven’t read it before. Have to say considering it is nearly ninety years since it was first published apart from a couple of things it still seems remarkably fresh. Our Book Club varies on choices to old classics, to contemporary books. I should think 70%  of the choices might be classified as novel/fiction but we do read non-fiction as well. We also do extras like favourite journalistic pieces, Desert Island Discs, cartoons, balloon debate etc. Sadly we haven’t had one of our infamous Book Club feasts on a book theme for a year now! I love the diversity and the inventiveness of our Book Club -we have also done a Dickens Cycling Tour of London and a cultural weekend in Oxford (there were many books or authors connected with the city.) We had hoped to do a Dylan Thomas weekend in Swansea last September (one for the future!)

Yesterday’s Quiz on Birds!

a) Norwegian Blue was the Monty Python Parrot!  b) The Eagles are Crystal Palace,  The Seagulls are Brighton  The Magpies  are Notts County and Newcastle   c) Louisiana is the Pelican State   d) Charlie Parker played the sax   e) Puck is  also known as Robin Goodfellow

Today’s quiz is all on Places in Books (well I did mention books didn’t I!)

a)  What county is Cold Comfort Farm in?    b) Who lived at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging?   c) What city is Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle set ?   d) What city is Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie set?  e) Who lives in the Emerald City who might help some famous travellers? (it is a film as well)

Heard some noisy Mistle Thrushes today and then saw them. I recalled watching Winter Watch on T.V. and seeing how they defend clumps of Mistletoe and guess what that is exactly what I watched. One bird seeing off a rival and then disappearing into the clump! I also saw my first pair of Stonechats for a while. I do love this perky little birds that are often on the top of bushes. Always make me smile.

The ground is completely saturated and water is standing all over the place. The River Severn also looks high. When I have cycled recently the puddles have caused a few problems going through them!

Been thinking of my Story Telling and I am aiming to offer doing some virtual freebies for schools over the next couple of months while things are so awkward. I do sympathise with schools who seem to be given an impossible job by the DFE in the current climate. I hope they think about giving school staff the vaccine sooner rather than later.

Yesterday’s Fruit Quiz

a) Isaac Newton is connected with the Flower of Kent ( an apple tree of course)   b) Kiwi Fruit is a Chinese Gooseberry  c) The Bramley is the number one Cooking Apple in UK supermarkets   d) Avocado is the fruit with the highest fat  e) Mango is the most eaten fruit in the world.

Today’s Quiz on Birds (but you don’t need bird expertise!)

a) In the famous Monty Python sketch what was the breed of parrot John Cleese was supposedly sold?   b)   Which football teams are nicknamed “The Eagles”, “The Seagulls“, “The Magpies” (there are two teams) c) Which southern US state is known as the “Pelican State”   d) Which instrument was played by jazz musician Charlie “Bird” Parker?  e) What is the alternative name of the Shakespearean character “Robin Goodfellow” ?

Finally finished trimming our fruit trees today – phew! I do find exhausting bending, cutting and being on my feet for hours! I’m not as young as I used to be although I like to think myself as fairly fit I do normally cycle around 100 plus miles a week.

Quiz questions today is all on Fruit!

a) The Flower of Kent is associated with which famous historical chap?   b) By what name is the Chinese Gooseberry better known?  c) Which apple, a favourite ingredient in many puddings is the most widely sold cooking apple in the UK?  d) Which fruit has the most fat content?  e) Which fruit is the most consumed fruit in the world? (it might surprise you!)

It has been interesting seeing all the fuss about the new film The Dig about the fantastic discovery of the  Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. I have read quite a bit about the discovery and we will take the chance to visit the site whenever we are in the Suffolk area, I always go to the Sutton Hoo collection when visiting the British Museum  even if I am there to  see a specific exhibition. The pictures below was from our last visit and there was re-enactment group running stalls on the site. I do play with the ship burial idea with some of my Story Telling although I transport my story  to Gloucestershire and our Saxon links. I  hope to see the film at some point hopefully it will come onto mainstream T.V.

This weekend is the annual RSPB census of garden birds   We have been doing it for over 20 years. The Blackcap obliged by appearing after being absent for a week! We also do a weekly count in our garden for the BTO.

In my last few years in school we would do the RSPB School Watch. I would meet the children at school early morning and send them out in pairs around the site. It generated a wealth of data over the years which I used with my maths groups. Even doing % increases and decreases! When we finished our watch we would have Breakfast together! Highlights over the years included a Tawny Owl, Siskin, Sparrowhawk and a Brambling. A member of staff one morning commented to me that she had overhead two young people debating with each other about one bird- “I’m sure its a Parrot!” ” No I don’t think so, have a look at this picture of a Chaffinch.” “That’s it a Parrot!”

Yesterday’s Quiz on Crime  (no quiz today it is Sunday)

a) Robert Peel is known as the Father of Policing   b) Dactyloscopy is Fingerprint Identification  c) Lyon is Interpol HQ  d) Great Train Robbery in 1963 took place at Bridego Bridge  e) Sweeney is the Cockney Rhyming Slang

My goodness there are plenty of puddles around at the moment. I think if I was three in an all in one with wellies I’d be in seventh heaven! Part of the skill cycling at the moment is trying to anticipate when a car is near you know where the puddles are – I have speeded up on occasions to avoid a soaking and slowed right down!

Bitterly disappointed with the football today . We was robbed! Just need to put the ball in the net!

Yesterday Collective Nouns Quiz

a) A Cackle of Hyenas is what I was looking for but Witches, Crows and Geese are OK  b) A Bloat of Hippos c) A Shiver of Sharks   d) A Crash of Rhinos e) A Squabble of Seagulls

Today’s Quiz following on from the football daylight robbery is loosely based on crime!

a) Which Prime Minister is regarded as the father of modern British Policing?  b) What is dactyloscopy?   c) In which French City are the headquarters of Interpol?  d) What infamous crime took place at Bridego Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore, Buckinghamshire?  e) Which cockney rhyming slang is often used for the Metropolitan Police Force Flying Squad?

Delighted to see a Charm of 30+ Goldfinches all in a couple of trees while out on my walk this afternoon. I think it is one of my favourite collective nouns it so appropriate! If you get the chance listen to Charm on Goldfinch from Spell Songs (music based on the wonderful Lost Words book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris) it captures the beautiful essence of the bird. We had booked to see a concert of Spell Songs last April in Cardiff with Jackie Morris painting on stage but of course that didn’t happen. Look forward to the day we get the chance to see live music again safely.

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on films

a) Jane’s surname was Parker in the books it was Porter   b) Casablanca (my favourite film), An American in Paris  Chicago were the three films   c) Ned Kelly was the outlaw  d) Toy Story   e) Birds was set in Bodega Bay – I hitchhiked through there as a young teacher.

Following on from Charm of Goldfinches today’s Quiz is all on Collective Nouns! Some of my favourite ones fill in the blanks.

a)  A Cackle of .____________   b) A Bloat of _________________

c)  A _____________of Sharks      d)  A _____________of Rhinoceros

e) A _____________of Seagulls 

Just came off zoom from our Quiz League Match we finished second. The way it works is you get two points for getting your individual question right and a one point if the team answers it. Sadly the last round was all on films and the wheels came off! So guess what quiz I am setting at the bottom (might serve as revision for me!)

It was more work on the tree today and with a cycle I had to have a nap late afternoon-is that an age thing?

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on Trees

a) Dendrochronology is aging a tree by counting the growth rings   b) Mountain Ash is the other name for Rowan   c) The General Sherman is the sequoia tree   d) The Stereophonics sang A Thousand Trees   e) The Garden of Eden Tree is The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Today’s Film Quiz (sic)

a) In Tarzan films what is Jane’s last name?    b) Name three films that have won an Oscar with the name of a city in the film title?   c) In film both Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger  have played the role of which famous outlaw?  d) Sid Phillips is an evil bully in which Disney Film?  e) Which famous 1963 horror film took place in the sleepy coastal town of Bodega Bay?

Steve our wonderful gardening friend came to start trimming our Crab Apple and tomorrow it is our Bramley. I was shredder man at a distance! Always amazed at how quickly things grow – it only seemed like yesterday when we last did them!

Apologies that I’ve forgotten to give a couple of blogs recently no title, maybe the isolation has got to me! Today I did the title before the blog to make sure It has a title!

Managed to get a ride in the first day for a while where I didn’t have to consider where ice might be on roads. Having said that it was mucky so will have to clean the bike yet again and oil it! Seem to be doing that a lot frequently!

Yesterday’s Quiz Answers on Doctors

a) Boris Pasternak wrote Dr. Zhivago   b) Dr. Victor Frankenstein was crated by Mary Shelley   c) Doctor Dolittle could speak to the animals  d) Doctor Jekyll had the split personality  e) Hippocrates is known as the Father of Medicine (think Hippocratic Oath)

Another Trees Quiz for today (I think they are all new questions!)

a) What is Dendrochronology ?   b) What is the alternative name for Rowan?  c) A giant sequoia located in Sequoia National Park California is by volume the largest known living single stem tree on Earth; is named after which American Civil War general?  d) Which rock band released the single A Thousand Trees  e) What was the tree in the Garden of Eden called?

A sombre day with the news that 100,000 people have died now with Covid. The one thing in all this is the admiration for all those wonderful people in the NHS, public services and support workers (sure I’ve forgotten others).

I managed to do a voluntary job today (on my own for obvious reasons) sorting out the area around some ponds. It was muddy and raining. Someone has to do it!

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on Snow and Ice

a) The music for the Snow Maiden was written by Rimsky Korsakov   b) George R. R. Martin wrote Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)  c) Snow has to fall on the Met Office roof in London on the 25th December to be declared an official White Christmas  d) Torvill and Dean are the famous ice dancers  e) Ptarmigan is the bird that turns white in winter.

Today’s Quiz is on Doctors

a) Who wrote Doctor Zhivago?    b) He created a monster in Mary Shelley’s classic?    c) Which Doctor can talk to the animals?   d) Who had a “split personality” ? e) Who is the Greek Physician is  known as the “Father of Medicine?”

Well I think we all had some white stuff over the weekend some more than others! It was bitterly cold Sunday night here and the roads were dodgy this morning. I did do a tentative ride this afternoon virtually sticking to main roads which I normally avoid but I thought it was a safer option!

The cricket was a welcome tonic and Joe Root was superb as was the Sri Lankan left arm bowler. I think India will be a much tougher test but looking forward to it.

Football was disappointing yesterday and it didn’t help the ref made an awful mistake early on that hurt the Mighty Hatters. Still think the boys acquitted themselves well . We will now concentrate on the league!

Today’s Quiz is all vaguely connected with Ice and Snow!

a) Which composer wrote the music for the opera The Snow Maiden?   b) Who wrote the series of books Song of ice and Fire?   c) Where does snow have to fall for there to be an official declaration of a White Christmas?   d) Which British couple dominated the world of ice dancing in the 1980s?  e) Which bird turns white in Winter?