31 Days of Halloween: Day 16

My Halloween month continued today, though I'm a bit tired after the week so far! We had something cool planned for the day that I've been looking forward to for a while.

Chilling Cocktails

Rob and I had a day off which we decided to fill with cocktails and horror films. We tried out some of the recipes in Chilling Cocktails: Classic Cocktails with a Horrifying Twist by Jason Ward, and teamed them up with the films that inspired them.

Reckless 80s Teenager

We're starting our film and cocktail night with Friday the 13th, and a cocktail Jason Ward calls the Reckless 80s Teenager!

Scrèam de Menthe

Our next film and cocktail combo was Scream and a cocktail called Scrèam de Menthe! Welcome to the 90s!

Redrum

Our final film this evening was The Shining, and we had the cocktail Jason Ward calls Redrum. Now, you notice that I wrote our cocktail as 'Red Rum', not 'Redrum', on my board. That's because, ever since we went to Southport, Red Rum has been my favourite celebrity horse. My favourite Red Rum story is that, after he retired, he lived in a field with his best friend, Andy the donkey. Red Rum loved Andy, so I feel like he would've wanted Andy to have a cocktail named for him as well. And so our final cocktail of the night was an Andy. Because you can't have Red Rum without his best friend Andy, can you? (This one wasn't from Jason Ward's book. It's all my own invention.)

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Taboo' by Geoffrey Household, a werewolf story! Or is it?

Today's Tea

Today's tea was All of Them Witches from Tenacious Tea, another spiced apple brew. The spice in this one is distinctly clove-y, which feels very seasonal. (This one also has an awesome name, but it's actually only my second favourite name from Tenacious Tea... we'll get to my favourite later this month.)

31 Days of Halloween: Day 15

Another day of Halloween month... and I wasn't sure I'd have much to say in today's post, as I was out for a distinctly non-Halloween day trip with the residents of the care home where I volunteer. Still, I've got a couple of things to add to my month of celebrations.

Blackpool

I didn't think I'd be able to count the care home day trip to Blackpool today, as it was really sunny and not at all spooky. But then I saw some festive garlands on the North Pier... Happy Halloween!

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Dead on Her Feet' by Cornell Woolrich, a semi-hardboiled detective story that paints a rather gruesome image in your mind.

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Spider's Kiss from Rosie Lea Tea, a butterscotch and marshmallow flavoured black tea. My first thought was: spider's kisses sure are comforting. My second was: oh, this tastes a bit like H.P. Lovecraft. Both those thoughts make sense in context.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 14

My Halloween month continues! I have to admit after the excitement (and terror) of yesterday, I felt like I should take it a little easier today! But I still had some nice seasonal things to enjoy.

Halloween Gifts!

My mum got me a present to say well done for last night. How cute are these little fellas?

Myst Rum

For the past couple of months, me and my brother have been replaying the Myst games for the first time since they came out (although I think we only ever played the first two all the way through, and then part of the third one). So far, we're up to Riven, as we only get to play for a couple of hours on a Thursday, and we don't always get chance to meet up every week. It seemed only fitting to accompany our replay tonight with some Myst Drinks spiced apple rum liqueur. Tis the season after all!

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Suspicion' by Dorothy L. Sayers. I'm not sure if I've read this one before but gosh... I LOVED that ending!

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Spiced Pumpkin Pie from Suki Tea. It's a herbal tea, and it looks like you could just eat it straight from the packet! It's incredibly light and delicate, but not unpleasant for it. Not as spicy as I was expecting, but still a nice flavour.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 13

So today's Halloween activities included something pretty dramatic. I don't know if it was technically a Halloween-themed event, but it was pretty special so I'm definitely including it!

Firewalk!

So, today I walked on fire! Okay, technically I walked on hot coals but I think that's a pretty big deal. I took part in a sponsored firewalk for the We Love MCR charity... and it was amazing! I've seen a video that one of my friends took of me doing the walk, and I looked totally relaxed about it all, but in truth it was a bit of an adrenaline rush. Plus, I raised over £350 for the charity!

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Cinci' by Luigi Pirandello. It's another one I wasn't familiar with, but another one I enjoyed. An unsettling little piece (translated from the Italian) about a boy and his dog.

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Pendle Witches Brew from The Tea Crew, a spiced orange black tea that looks pretty Halloweeny to me! (Though it smells a lot like Christmas pudding mixture!) This one is dark and spicy and tastes like winter, but in a festive way. I can't decide whether to drink it all for Halloween, or save some for Christmas.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 12

Another Halloween-tastic day for me!

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

This week's tram reading is My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. After I finished Grady Hendrix's The Final Girl Support Group (which I really enjoyed), this seemed like a good place to go next. I've only had a short commute today, so not a lot to report about this one so far!

Halloween Earrings

I've got a new pair of earrings! (Not a lot to report other than the fact that I wore them for the first time today.)

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Arabesque: The Mouse' by A.E. Coppard. And what a weird little melancholy story it was too. I rather enjoyed it.

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Silver Moonlight from Mindful Roots Tea, and I believe this is the first white tea of the month. If some of the other teas have had a Gothic/fairy tale vibe, this one is undoubtedly more folk horror...Don't be fooled by its lightness, this one has a lovely and distinct flavour. I'm not always a fan of white tea, but this one could definitely win me over.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 11

Another day of Halloween fun! Mostly just tea and a story today, but I am building up to some bigger things later in the week...

Today's Story

Today's story was 'The Sentence' by J Kaden-Bandrowski. I think this is the first one in the book that I wasn't at least a bit familiar with. It's not exactly a cheerful one - more evil that men do than supernatural hi-jinks (not that I need hi-jinks).

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Haunted Elixir from Rosie Lea Tea, another apple flavoured black tea but this time with a hint of cinnamon. This is a really nice black tea, with just subtle hints of apple & cinnamon. A very enjoyable brew, even if it is haunted.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 10

Continuing with my Halloween month (though a bit less intense than yesterday)... I just had my daily horror story and seasonal tea today...

Today's Story

Today's story was 'Lot No. 249' by Arthur Conan Doyle, a creepy story about 'the great terror of Abercrombie Smith' (that may or may not be a resurrected mummy).

Today's Tea

Today's tea was H.P. Lovecraft from The Literary Tea Company, a pumpkin black tea with toffee, liquorice and the fear of the unknown. H.P. Lovecraft smells and tastes quite strongly of toffee, which is actually surprisingly nice for a black tea. Mmm... eldritch.

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 10: Pin Money by James Cross

The next story in my Hitchcock reread is 'Pin Money' by James Cross. This is another one that feels very familiar. I don't think I've read it again since I was a teenager, but it feels like I might have read/seen something similar. It's the second one where I've wondered if there was a Twilight Zone episode with this plot.

Cross's story about two men who use nefarious means to get a promotion has a really satisfying ending that clearly stuck with me (it came back to me as soon as I started reading the story). But I did also immediately recall being a bit creeped out by the way both men use their wives to try and secure the boss's favour. And frustrated by the way the wives accept this.

But the clearest memory I have related to this story is that I'm sure I read it shortly after I first got interested in stories about Dr John Dee. I'd read a novel about Dee around the same time, I think. 'Pin Money' has an odd little version of Dee (or at least a character called 'Dr Dee') who is very much like the sort of goofy genie characters that crop up in some Twilight Zone episodes.

Isn't weird which stories are familiar on this reread and which ones I've completely forgotten? There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern to it!

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