31 Days of Halloween: Day 18

Today was a day of catching up on work after being a bit restricted by illness last week. I had a few (totally non-festive) meetings today too. Ah well, still time for a tea and a couple of stories though.

Today's Tea

Tonight's tea was Luna Elixir from Midnight Imperium. It's a very tasty blend of black tea, green tea, jasmine blossoms and cornflower petals.

Today's Story

Tonight's classic tale of horror was 'The Trial for Murder' by Charles Dickens.

Live and Spooky Campfire Stories (Shameez Patel Papathanasiou)

Another very enjoyable Campfire Stories video from Flame Tree Press, with Shameez Patel Papathanasiou reading an excerpt from The Eternal Shadow, the follow-up to The Last Feather, which is out next year.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 17

Another slightly late post... and another day of lowkey seasonal celebrations. I've come out of my sickbed now, but I still haven't got the energy for full-on festive frolics.

Today's Tea

Yesterday's tea was Dried Mummy's Brains from Monster Mash Teas. It's part of a gift set, so I have a different cup for this one as well. It's my first foray into corpse medicine this month! Only joking... it's Egyptian Camomile flowers.

Today's Story

And yesterday's classic tale of horror was 'The Room in the Tower' by E.F. Benson (one of my favourites so far, got to admit).

Halloween Earrings

Yesterday's Halloween earrings were little skeletons.

A Walk in the Forest

I had an autumn walk in Blackley Forest yesterday to blow the last of the cobwebs away (or at least to try).

Live and Spooky Campfire Stories (Christi Nogle)

Yesterday's Flame Tree Press Campfire Stories video was from Christi Nogle, reading her short story 'You Will Make Me Strong Again'.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 16

Sorry for posting this one a little bit late, but it was another day of celebrating the season for me on Sunday. It wasn't quite as pumpkin-oriented as Saturday, but there was still some spooky fun.

Today's Tea

Sunday's tea was Around the Fire from Hoogly Tea. There was a lot going on here. It's Oolong and Lapsang Souchong teas with cinnamon, orange peel, safflower and chilli. When you open the box, it smells like Laphroaig whisky, but the taste of the tea is actually a bit more subtle.

Today's Story

Sunday's classic tale of horror... 'Present at a Hanging' by Ambrose Bierce.

Virtual Writing Retreat

Technically, this is a monthly thing, rather than a specifically Halloween event! I run these Virtual Writing Retreats (as Hannah Kate) for my Hannah's Bookshelf gang every month, but I made the October one a little bit spookier. (And I was working on some creepy stuff myself, so I think it counts.)

Live and Spooky Campfire Stories (Gwendolyn Kiste)

And another enjoyable and intriguing Campfire Stories video from Flame Tree Press... Gwendolyn Kiste reading from her short story 'The Woman Out of the Attic'.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 15

After a week of not leaving the house due to my horror cold, I decided it was time to get back into the holiday spirit. I even put on my pumpkin dress for the first time this year, as we had a day of festive fun planned that I really didn't want to miss.

Today's Tea

Today's tea was another one from the Rosie Lea Tea gift set... Felix Felicis. It's a black tea with vanilla, liquorice and heather.

Today's Story

Today's classic tale of horror was an old favourite... 'The Monkey's Paw' by W.W. Jacobs.

Halloween Earrings (1)

As I was leaving the house after a week of quarantine (exciting! and exhausting!), I celebrated by wearing a pumpkin dress and sparkly pumpkin earrings.

Pumpkin Picking

Today we went pumpkin-picking Dunham Massey Ice Cream Farm! And we're very happy with our pumpkin choices. We'll be carving those later this week.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

I got some pumpkin pie ice cream from Dunham Massey Ice Cream Farm as well!

Halloween Earrings (2)

Second pair of Halloween earrings of the day... as we were off to see a horror film at the pictures, it felt right to switch to my Billy the Puppet earrings for the evening.

Smile

Saturday night at the movies! We went to see Smile tonight, which was very good fun.

The Black Phone

And when we got home, we watched The Black Phone (also good fun).

Live and Spooky Campfire Stories (Brad Abdul)

Another very enjoyable Campfire Stories video from Flame Tree Press today... Brad Abdul reading from his upcoming debut novel The Devil's Advisor.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 14

Sadly, it was yet another day of illness for me, so no real Halloween celebrations to speak of. I did enjoy a little online video that's part of a Halloween series, so I'm counting that! Otherwise, it was just a tea and a story for me today.

Today's Tea

Today's tea was Spiced Apple Chai from Camellios. It's... well... a spiced apple chai! Very delicate flavours too, so not at all overpowering.

Today's Story

Tonight's classic tale of horror was 'The Outsider' by H.P. Lovecraft.

Live and Spooky Campfire Stories (J.H. Moncrieff)

Flame Tree Press started a new Halloween series of short videos called #LiveandSpooky Campfire Stories tonight, with J.H. Moncrieff reading an excerpt from her novel Dragonfly Summer which is out next month. I really enjoyed this, and I'm going to try and catch all the #LiveandSpooky Campfire Stories this month for an extra bit of Halloween fun.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 13

Well, I'm still ill, but the show must go on. For the first time this week, I managed to fit in a little bit more than just a tea and a story (but I'm absolutely shattered now as a result). I did find a way of making my horror cold work for me though...

Today's Tea

Tonight's tea was Witches Brew from Pentacle Herb Store. It's hibiscus, rosehip, elderberry, orange, lemon and mulled wine spices. And it tastes, as you might imagine, like mulled wine. (I've definitely had way more hibiscus than pumpkin so far this year.)

Today's Story

Tonight's classic tale of horror is 'The Terror of Blue John Gap' by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Tonight's Halloween Look

I wanted to go for a Woman in Black vibe for tonight's Facebook live event. The one saving grace of being so poorly is that I didn't need any white face make-up, I could just lean in to the deathly pallor I'm currently sporting.

Ghost Story Readalong Live

Well, I managed to get through tonight's Ghost Story Readalong video on Facebook Live without sneezing. Who knows what next week will bring?

Mr Harrigan’s Phone

As me and my little brother are both still ill, we couldn't get together for our regular Myst replay. We decided to have a remote film night instead (party like it's 2020!). We watched Mr Harrigan's Phone and I had some Joe and Seph's Strawberry Cheesecake popcorn. If It Bleeds was the first Stephen King book my brother read (he randomly borrowed it from me one night last year), so it was nice to watch the adaptation of 'Mr Harrigan's Phone' together.