Spring Equinox: Day 2

It's the second day of this year's Spring Equinox celebrations. And the first day that we've done anything together. It was our wedding anniversary on Wednesday, and we weren't able to celebrate (for personal reasons), so we deferred things till tonight.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs

I surprised my brother with a Reese's peanut butter creme egg this afternoon. 'Tis the season...

Poetry in the Park

I had a wonderful afternoon with Castlerea House care home, celebrating the upcoming Spring Equinox in Crumpsall Park with poetry, cakes, fresh air and flowers. Bet you can't guess what poem I ended with...

Ostara Candle

We lit our Ostara candle from Chalice Creations tonight. Lime, bergamot, coconut and grapefruit to last us through till the Spring Equinox.

Wedding Anniversary Gifts

It was our 9th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. 9 is the willow or pottery anniversary, so we've been nauseatingly cute about the theme.

Wedding Anniversary Cocktails

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with this month's Muddlebox cocktail... and it was a Gold Digger!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 21

Another very belated festive post! This one's about our last day in Lizard, before we headed back home for Christmas.

Advent Tea

Day 20 on my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Mint Pistachio!

‘Mummers’ Play and Sword Dance’

The next Christmas chapter of Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun was 'Mummers' Play and Sword Dance'.

Muddlebox Cocktail

Tonight we opened our November Muddlebox box, and it was an Acapulco!

A Christmas Carol

Our final film at the cottage (as most years) was A Christmas Carol!

Black Lake Manor

And the last book I started while we were away (though I haven't yet finished it) was Black Lake Manor by Guy Morpuss.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 19

We're up to 19th December now, so I've only got a few more Christmas blog posts to write. The 19th was a pretty big day, or rather, it was the day we did a pretty big job!

Advent Tea

Day 19 of my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Dozy Girl!

Christmas Earrings

Today's festive earrings were my dangly Santas!

‘Rites of Purification and Blessing’

The next Christmas chapter of Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun I read was 'Rites of Purification and Blessing'.

Apple and Blackcurrant Flapjack

We had another one of the flapjacks we got from Flapjackery in St Ives today... Apple and Blackcurrant this time!

Christmas Pudding

And this was the big job... it was time (slightly late, admittedly) to mix the Christmas pudding. I use quite an old-school recipe, which not only takes a lot of mixing, it takes a lot of steaming! (And as I'm posting this after Christmas, I can add that this year's pudding tasted great!)

Christmas Jumper Biscuits

Each time we go away to Cornwall, my mother-in-law buys me a festive baking kit to take. This year it was Christmas Jumper Biscuits. They look a little wonky, but they tasted great.

Muddlebox Cocktail

We caught up with another of our Muddlebox boxes today. This one was from September, and it was something called Sex on the Brain!

Nativity!

Our festive film tonight was Nativity!

Gifts

And tonight's (very festive) reading was Gifts by Laura Barnett.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 18

And another belated Christmas blog from me... I'm still determined to get these finished, even though we're almost on the other side of New Year!

Advent Tea

Day 18 of my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was All Nighter!

‘Rites of Celebration and Reassurance’

The next Christmas chapter of Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun was 'Rites of Celebration and Reassurance'.

Ann’s Pasties

I feel like since we were in Cornwall, it would be wrong of me not to post a picture of a pasty. Specifically, one from Ann's Pasties, which are the greatest of all pasties.

August Muddlebox

We carried on with making headway with our Muddlebox boxes while we were away, as we have really fallen behind with cocktails this year (weird). Can you believe this one was from August?? And it was a Seven Seas Martini!

Fred Claus

Tonight's festive film was one of our absolute favourites... Fred Claus!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 14

I am determined to publish all my Countdown to Christmas blog posts, even though it's taken me until New Year to write them. I think my stubborn completist streak has kicked in. Anyway, here's another day of festive stuff from our pre-Christmas trip to Cornwall.

Advent Tea

Day 14 of my Bird and Blend Tea advent calendar was Birthday Cake (a tea I drank quite a lot of back in August)!

Christmas Earrings

Today's festive earrings were little gingerbread houses.

Muddlebox Cocktail

Somehow, we've managed to fall very far behind with our Muddlebox cocktail subscription boxes this year, with some sitting in the cupboard for far longer than intended. This seemed like a good time to catch up a bit! This box was from March (can you believe it?), and it was a Mai Tai!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Bit of festive baking today. It looks a bit wonky on this picture, though it wasn't quite that bad in real life! (And it didn't taste wonky, if I do say so myself!)

Figgy Pudding Liqueur

This was a nice little festive tipple I'd be saving for a pre-Christmas treat: Figgy Pudding Rum Liqueur from Riverside Craft Spirits.

Scrooged

We watched Scrooged tonight, another of our regular festive films.

The Sentence is Death

I do like to save murder mystery books for this time of the year (as well as ones set in Cornwall or at Christmas), and so the next book I read was The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (and I LOVED it).