Spring Equinox: Day 3

Another day of celebrating the season for us. It was a bit of a quiet day, as I was out for a big chunk of it. But I think we've managed a bit of equinox-y fun.

Daffodils

I was at a community fun day in Boggart Hole Clough for a big part of the day, but I did take a couple of minutes out for a bit of daffodil spotting!

Rites of Spring

Rob found us a few spring-themed horror films to watch this weekend. We started with Rites of Spring tonight. (Side note: I get that in a folk horror film, you're going to see people sacrificed to ensure the harvest. But the dude in this film sacrifices people for an early harvest. That's just greedy. You wait till Lammas for your cornflakes, mate, like everyone else.)

The Reaping

Our second spring-themed film tonight was The Reaping.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 13

Another day of Christmas fun, and the first full day of our annual pre-Christmas Cornish retreat!

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Tea and Toast (which you may remember we had at Lammas as well)!

Wireless Station

First proper day of our holiday in Cornwall. We're staying in Lizard, at a National Trust property that was once Marconi's wireless station!

Fuzzy Duck Gift Set

Back at the beginning of my Halloween celebrations in October, I won a Baylis and Harding Fuzzy Duck gift set on a tombola at a funday at Boggart Hole Clough. I saved it for my winter holiday, so I've got Mulberry and Mistletoe body butter and Frosted Christmas Tree shower gel to enjoy while we're away.

Don’t Look Back

I usually read a lot while we're away in December, so all year I've been saving up books to bring that suit the season and/or the location. The first book I read from my pile was Don't Look Back by Ben Cheetham, which is set in Lizard.

Sint

Continued our annual Christmas viewing with Sint (aka Saint) this evening.

Stay Another Day

I read another book tonight that I'd been saving for Christmas, as it's super-festive - Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 8

The Countdown to Christmas (and the countdown to our December holiday!) continues. It was mostly work-but-make-it-festive today, though the very wintery weather certainly helped with the festive feel!

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Cold Weather Warrior (much needed today)!

A Winter Walk

I had a very frosty estate walk with my colleague this morning. It was a wee bit nippy, but it didn't half look festive!

Boggart Hole Clough

The lake in Boggart Hole Clough looked absolutely stunning in the icy weather today! (And the mince pies at the Lakeside Cafe weren't half bad either!)

Dam Head and Crosslee Christmas Party

The Dam Head and Crosslee Tenants and Residents Association held a lovely Christmas party for older residents on the estates today. Hotpot, massive cakes (seriously, massive), music, a festive quiz and Christmas cards made by kids at the local school.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 8

It's been an incredibly busy week, so today was a game of two halves. A litter-pick in the park in the morning, but then a quiet afternoon making soup and reading a book.

Today's Tea

Tonight's tea was Druids Dream from The Tea Crew. It's an infusion of hibiscus, apple, elderberry, banana, rosehip and strawberry. It's absolutely delicious and looks gorgeous, but it leaves the question: do Druids dream of bananas?

Today's Story

Tonight's classic tale of horror was 'The Vampyre' by John Polidori.

Boggart Hole Clough Litter-Pick

I was out in Boggart Hole Clough (a park that is reputedly haunted by a boggart) this morning for the monthly community litter-pick. It was quiet, but gloriously autumnal. I've taken lots of acorn pictures this year, but seem to have missed the conkers. Went to a big chestnut tree in the Clough today to look for some, and this is literally all the squirrels had left, the greedy little nutkins.

Mystery Allotment Squash Soup

Remember my mystery squash from Tuesday? Well, I cut into it and I really don't think it was a summer squash or a round courgette. I'm pretty sure it was some type of winter squash. Anyway, I made it into a soup with a red chilli (also from the allotments), and whatever it was it tasted great.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 1

It's here! The most wonderful time of the year! Our Year of Celebrating the Seasons has reached Halloween! Like last year, I'm going to be celebrating 31 Days of Halloween throughout October. I set the bar pretty high in 2021 (I mean, I walked across hot coals last October, so there's no beating that), but I've got a lot of stuff planned for this Halloween as well. I've got 31 Halloween teas ready to enjoy, and I've picked a book of short stories to read as well. My box of Halloween earrings is out of the wardrobe and ready for action now as well.

So here's how I celebrated my first day of Halloween this year...

Today's Tea

My first Halloween tea of the year! I'm starting off with Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice from Mystic Brew Teas. Looking at the ingredients, the 'everything nice' is not an overstatement. It's got everything from white pepper to rosehip in it! But mostly it tastes of pumpkin, ginger and cinnamon.

Today's Story

Last October, I read a story-a-day from a book that turned out to have less than 31 stories in it. This year, I'm reading a story-a-day from a book with way more than 31, the Classic Tales of Horror anthology from Canterbury Classics. (I had to work out which stories to skip this month, and I'm afraid the Edgar Allan Poe ones have been ditched - I read a lot of Poe last Halloween.) Today's classic tale of horror (the first of the season!) was 'The Devil and Tom Walker' by Washington Irving.

Halloween Earrings

My first pair of Halloween earrings of the year... pumpkin candies!

Fun Day in Boggart Hole Clough

I had a great time today at a fun day to raise money for Rodney House Specialist Support School at the Lakeside Cafe in Boggart Hole Clough. I even won a prize on the tombola. Woohoo! It's not just the boggart that makes this a Halloween event though. I opted for a seasonal design from the face-painter, and a member of the Lakeside CIC community group regifted her tombola prize to me... a pair of skull shot glasses!

(Virgin) Espresso Martini

Espresso Martini from Glen Affric Brewery to celebrate the start of the month. (But I've got a litter-pick first thing tomorrow so it's mocktail, not cocktail.)

31 Days of Halloween: Day 9

My month of Halloween continues! I've done a few seasonally spooky things today, so it's a little bit of a longer post this time.

Haunted Whisky Tasting

Tonight I did a haunted distilleries whisky tasting with my husband and my brother. I found five ghost stories about distilleries, and chose a whisky from each of those distilleries (from Master of Malt) that Rob and James tasted blind (I also tried the whiskies, though I had the background info of course). All they had to do was match up the whiskies with the ghosts. Unfortunately, they didn't do too well at identifying either the distilleries or the ghosts, but we still really enjoyed drinking five excellent drams! Oh, and we also had some Halloween crackers to set the mood for the night!

Abominable Books

Cheating a bit with this one, as I do it every month... I have a subscription to the Abominable Book Club, a monthly horror book subscription box. October's box arrived today, so I got to do my regular unboxing (and I like to take my time over this). And woohoo! lots of goodies this month! I've got My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones and Six Rooms by Gemma Amor, plus some chocolate ginger biscuits and a Pinhead pin! And my mystery book this month was... The Uninvited! It's apparently the novelization of ITV's chilling new (1997) series starring Douglas Hodge & Leslie Grantham, from the producers of Hamish Macbeth!

Snail

Not the most Halloween-y thing, but I think it still counts. I spotted this snail on a litter-pick in Boggart Hole Clough this morning. I don't know if I'm including it for the snail or the fact that Boggart Hole Clough is an inherently Halloween-themed place!

Today's Story

Today's story was 'The Bird' by Thomas Burke. Did not expect the direction this dark little tale took at all.

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Enchanted Narnia from Bird and Blend Tea Co., which promised to be a Turkish Delight-inspired brew. It's certainly packed with rosebuds! But I've got to admit, the cocoa and lemongrass came through much stronger than the rose flavour. It was very light as well. I might brew the next cup a bit stronger to see if it's rosier!