Imbolc: Day 7

The last day of our Imbolc celebrations this year. Rob was on shift on Thursday day/night, so I was left to my own devices for the final day. Here's what I got up to on Thursday...

‘Valentines’

Looking ahead to the rest of February, I read the 'Valentines' chapter in Ronald Hutton's The Stations of the Sun today.

Library Visit

Not exactly a seasonal thing, as I do this every month, but I was at the Avenue Library in Blackley this morning. At least one of the books I checked out had 'January' in the title, so that sort of counts!

Snowdrops

Hooray! I was worried I was going to get all the way through Imbolc without seeing any snowdrops, but look what I spotted in Heaton Park this afternoon!

Lunch at the Hidden Gem

Me and my mum went for lunch at the Hidden Gem coffee shop in Heaton Park today. Love this place.

Myst Replay

My brother came round tonight to continue our replay of the Myst games. It was the last day of Imbolc, so we had one last seasonal snack with our game.

And so the wheel of the year turns. We'll be celebrating again at the Spring Equinox.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 1

Our Year of Celebrating the Seasons has reached the big finale! It's time for the Countdown to Christmas! We have a lot of festive things planned for December, but also a lot of work things to do so I've not been able to keep on top of these blog posts in the same way as I have done for the other seasons. I think I'm probably going to have to splurge about 20 of them at the same time. Ah well!

Advent Calendars

 We take advent calendars very seriously in this house. Not least the cat, who has been staring at the cupboard door for 11 months now, waiting for the wonderful day when his advent calendar will appear. I make Rob's calendar each year - little letters in each of the drawers that are usually a story, but this year a puzzle. Rob got me a Bird and Blend Tea Co. calendar this year, and I also got a Ninja Book Box calendar for myself as well (with weekly, rather than daily, festive gifts).

Advent Tea

After all the work we put into getting the perfect advent calendars, I nearly ran out of time to open mine! Day 1 of my lovely Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Gingerbread Chai!

Christmas Earrings

It's the 1st December, so I got my Christmas earrings out today. My first pair were my white Christmas tree/reindeer combo.

Library Visit

We did our monthly visit to the Avenue Library today. Although that's not festive in itself, the library was decorated for Christmas, and I tried to get some vaguely seasonal books out (or, at least, books I'd like to read over the festive season).

Christmas Crisps

Since it's December, me and my brother decided to try something festive on our weekly game night. We had some of Tesco's festive crisps: Pigs in Blankets and... Christmas Pudding flavour??

31 Days of Halloween: Day 6

Bit of a busy day today. There were a couple of very Halloweeny things, and a few things that were nice but perhaps not 100% Halloween. I'm still going to count them though.

Today's Tea

Tonight's tea was... not strictly speaking Halloween themed. Or is a cowboy a Halloween thing? Anyway, it was The Bandit from Tea and the Gang. It's a chocolate and orange black tea!

Today's Story

Tonight's classic tale of horror was 'The Willows' by Algernon Blackwood.

A Visit to the Avenue Library

I was at the Avenue Library today. I tried to find the most Halloween-appropriate selection of books, but I'm not sure I quite managed it! Close enough though.

Lunch at the Hidden Gem Coffee Shop

I went for lunch with my mum at the Hidden Gem Coffee Shop in Heaton Park today. Again, not the most Halloween-tastic thing ever, but I guess Red Velvet Cake looks a little bit seasonal.

Ghost Story Readalong Live

I did the first Facebook Live for the Ghost Story Readalong tonight. It's didn't go... smoothly. But at least I had fun.