Photo diary: week 36, project 366

September is a month of plenty. All of a sudden my greenhouse tomatoes started to ripen en masse, and we have more tomatoes than we can eat in one go. And apples are also getting redder and redder, soon I'll have to begin putting them in big trays to keep in the summer house.

Last week my boys went back to school. While for Sasha it was a shorter break for about six weeks, for Eddie it was a much longer absence from school, from the beginning of the lockdown. He's rather apprehensive, and is worried about a lack of social distancing.

Walking into town last Sunday, we spotted this agile squirrel, running over the wire hedge.

Monday was a Bank Holiday, but we didn't do anything holiday-ish. My husband left for Italy, and the boys and I stayed at home, reading and watching TV.

Eddie and I have been reading the 6th book in How to Train Your Dragon series - A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons. We're very fond of Cressida Cowell, but this is not her best book. We found it rather same-ish and lacking in comparison with the previous books in the series. In fact, the funniest thing about this book was the hilarious review I've spotted on Good Reads.

We're not puritans when it comes to children's books, and don't bat a lid at one too many mentions of butts and boobies, but this gentle lady was clearly shaken. This gem of a review left me in stitches. Just because Cressida Cowell uses "inappropriate" words, the reviewer presumes she is British.

She would have conniptions if she tried to read David Walliams.

And just to clarify, I'm a big fan of Big-Boobied Bertha, she is my kind of hero.

Tuesday and Wednesday were Inset days at school. To cheer up my guys, I made a batch of white chocolate Oreo fudge. It is so tasty, but very sweet too. We have first come across it, when we stayed in Cornwall, and some local with a business acumen set up a mini-stall, selling home-made jams and fudge with an honesty box. This year they had fudge made with Biscoff cookies. Eddie said it was OK, but not as good as the Oreo one.

On Wednesday I've been staging some photo shoots for the forthcoming book reviews, which will appear later in the month, and I won't be sharing them in advance yet.
Instead here is a snap of nocturnal Venice, taken by my husband on his holiday. Just "because he's always been going to the film festival" is not a good enough reason to go there this year, in my opinion. But our opinions were not taken into consideration.

I have a huge stash of books for reviewing, but in between them I am also reading some of the fiction I bought recently. The stash below shows some of my latest acquisitions.
I follow Sue Moorcroft and Amanda Jennings on Twitter, and wanted to read their latest novels. Karin Slaughter's thriller was highly advertised on Classic FM in August, and it sounds like something I would enjoy.

Natalia Ginzburg is an Italian writer, and I recently read a book review of The Little Virtues which compelled me to start reading it. This is a collection of essays written in the 1940-50s.
The essays are fascinating. One of them is about England. Ginzburg is rather harsh about the country where she found refuge. Some of her observations are spot on, but many show her as a thankless person. Still, she is a brilliant writer, with a unique style.

Friday was Eddie's PE day at school, and they were expected to arrive in their PE clothes.

After I dropped him off at school, I did a tour of a few charity shops, and got an old Puffin edition of Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer. Someone mentioned this book on Mumsnet over a year ago, and I have added it to my wish list. Imagine my delight when I saw it in a big pile of Puffin paperbacks.
It's a story of Charlotte who goes to a boarding school, and wakes up to find herself in the same school, but people call her by a new name, and in fact she is now a different girl living forty years earlier.
I love books with a time travel element, so I know I will enjoy it.
Have you read it?

I was getting a bit overwhelmed yesterday, and when I'm feeling stressed, I need to bake something to lower my anxiety. I spotted a recipe on Twitter for easy cookies made with a cake mix box, 2 eggs and oil as the main cookie dough base, to which you add any extras, like M&Ms etc.

We didn't have M&Ms, and I halved the cookie dough, and made one batch with Maltesers, and another with raisins, dried strawberries and mini meringues.

And that's my favourite mug in the picture. I have a big collection of mugs and cups with saucers, but this Emma Bridgewater mug is the one I use most often. For some reason, tea always tastes better in it.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter