31 Days of Halloween: Day 12

It's the twelfth day of our Halloween celebrations, and I think my cold might be starting to lift! Time to crack on with celebrating the season!

Park Write – Spooky Season

This afternoon, I ran a spooky-themed creative writing workshop in the park for Friends of Crumpsall Park.

F is for Friday the 13th

We were back on our Halloween A-Z this evening, starting with Friday the 13th.

G is for Ghost Story

And then we watched Ghost Story (after a bit of back-and-forth about which 'G' film to watch).

31 Days of Halloween: Day 11

Another day of celebrating Halloween, and here's hoping the curse is lifted and I'm well enough to get back to having some seasonal fun.

Cup of Tea

Reader, the curse is not lifted. I still have a cold. Still, at least my teacup is festive.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 10

I've dragged myself out of my sick bed for the tenth day of our Halloween month. I'm hoping the cold has peaked now, and I'll be properly on the mend soon.

Ducks on Trams

I had to do some social media posts advertising an event we're doing at work. I took a couple of little Halloween ducks in for a photoshoot, and they had a great time travelling around on the tram and the bus.

Chocolate Skeleton

Today was a long day, as we had an event on after work. Fortunately, I had a little chocolate skeleton to keep me going.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 9

Day No. 9 of our Halloween month, and the curse is truly come upon me. I have a very nasty cold, so I won't be doing much celebrating today sadly.

Wax Melts

We switched over our diffusers today, got the Halloween one out, and lit a Warming Cashmere wax melt from Scentered Serenity to make the house feel cosy.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 8

It's the eighth day of our Halloween celebrations, and sadly it's the day when the Curse of Halloween has hit. For the third year in a row, I've come down with a horrible cold during our month of Halloween. Urgh.

The Substance

Only one thing on today's list, as it was a busy day at work, but I did manage to make it to the cinema to see The Substance with a friend. We went to an early evening screening, and I was still feeling okay at this point. The Curse of Halloween reared its head after I got home, and by the time I went to bed I couldn't stop shivering.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 7

It's Day No. 7 of our month-long Halloween celebrations this year!

Tea Meditation

Today started with something that maybe wasn't strictly a Halloween activity, but I'm counting it anyway as it happened in October! I attended a Chinese Tea Meditation (Cha Dao) session with TsiaTe. It might not be an explicitly seasonal thing to do, but the sense of connection to nature and lineage, and the encouragement to slow down and be mindful, certainly helps when you're trying to live more seasonally.

Lord of the Rings Walk

And another thing that wasn't actually for Halloween... me and my brother have been doing a Lord of the Rings walking challenge from The Conqueror this year. We've completed The Shire, and now we're about a third of the way through The Fellowship. Today we got together for a walk, which (I think) took us pretty much to Weathertop. We celebrated, not with a knife in the dark, but with Warm Blanket tea and a Halloween cupcake.

Beetlejuice Fanta

Little present from my brother!

Parkin

I had to go to a meeting this evening that I didn't want to go to, as I knew it would be horrible. So I took some parkin with me. Everything's better with parkin.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 6

Day 6 of our Halloween celebrations, and we were out and about for a lot of the day.

Litter-Pick in the Park

This morning kicked off with the monthly Friends of Crumpsall Park litter-pick. Mostly, this was an excuse to take pictures of mushrooms, golden leaves and cobwebs.

Roam for Cats

In the afternoon, Rob and I went for a 5-mile walk as part of our Cats Protection Roam for Cats challenge (we're a bit behind our target of 100 miles).

D is for Death Line

Continuing our Horror A-Z with Death Line...

E is for Eden Lake

... and then Eden Lake.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 5

Another day of celebrating Halloween, and we stepped things up a gear today as it was our first proper day together. Lots of seasonal stuff to do...

Squash

Rob bought a squash today. We named him Mick. Okay, I named him Mick, because I misheard Rob reading 'Mixed Squash' off the label.

Wax Melts

We lit our diffuser today, with a Pumpkin Spice wax melt from Scentered Serenity.

Halloween Decorations

Today was the day we put our Halloween decorations up. There's quite a lot going on in the living room, and the bathroom is filled with Halloween ducks now.

Halloween Biscuits

Rob went out to get some Halloween cakes or biscuits to celebrate getting the decorations up. The shop near us didn't have anything with a Halloween theme, so he just got some Viennese twists and put them on a plate with a ghost on it.

A is for An American Werewolf in London

For this October, we've put together an A-Z of horror films (all personal preference, of course). This afternoon, we kicked off with An American Werewolf in London.

Orphans of the Carnival

Started a new book today... Orphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch.

Squash Gratin

We ate Mick.

B is for Barbarian

The next film in our A-Z was Barbarian.

C is for Candyman

And then we watched Candyman.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 4

Another day of celebrating Halloween. It was a bit of a low-key day, as I was at work, but still a few nice spooky things.

Desk Spider

I was working downstairs in the museum this morning, and when I came upstairs to the office at lunchtime, my manager had put a spider on my laptop.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

And continuing the spooky office theme, I took some Clayton Park Pumpkin Spice Cookies in today.

Abominable Books

When I got home, I realized I still had my Abominable Book Club box from September to open. I got The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey and Delicate Condition by Danielle Rollins this time, plus some other goodies including Black Forest Gateau from Gnaw Chocolate.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 3

It's the third day of our Halloween celebrations!

Defeat the Librarian

Okay, so the things I did today weren't technically Halloween things (or, indeed, spooky), but I've sort of got a tendency to describe everything I do in October as a Halloween event. Case in point... myself and a colleague went to the Defeat the Librarian quiz at the Portico Library tonight (any resemblance to a certain Channel 4 comedy quiz show is purely coincidental).

Dinner at Wagamama

And then we went to dinner at Wagamama. Yeah, you might say this isn't a Halloween thing, but I had Pulled Shiitake Koyo Bowl, and what could be more seasonal than a mushroom?

31 Days of Halloween: Day 2

It's the second day of our Halloween celebrations for this year!

Harlequin Squash

Spooky season is also squash season. And right on cue, we got a harlequin squash in our Groobarbs veg box today! (Not sure if we'll go as crazy for squashes as we did last year, but you never know.)

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue

This is absolutely a Halloween tradition for me... it isn't October until I've watched The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue! We went to a screening at Cultplex this evening, as that's the one place you can guarantee will screen this absolute classic every year.