Photo diary: weeks 44-46, project 366

We're heading into a festive season, but not many people are in the right mood. 

Hallowe'en has passed barely acknowledged. We had some themed decorations and window displays in town, but none to the usual extent. Even the gadget repairs shop, Ability Systems, which always has the most spectacular window display with big-sized witches, bubbling cauldrons and all the paraphernalia, did nothing this year.

The Bonfire Night was a painful reminder for me that my Mum is so far away. In the last few years she was visiting this time of the year, and would build up a bonfire in the garden. Her enthusiasm is catching, she is like a big child who enjoys roasting marshmallows over the fire. I thought of doing it this year myself, but in the end lacked any mojo.

And now that we're approaching Christmas, who knows what lies ahead. It would be lovely to have some semblance of normality.

These last few weeks I've been struggling with winter blues. I'm going through motions, and haven't done much blogging, except for the book reviews, which I have promised to write a while ago. Hence a three-weeks' load of photos for the Photo diary, apologies if you resent posts with multiple images.

The last week of October is already a distant memory. We had some dry-ish days, when we ventured to the playground.

We're still playing Pokemon Go, in fact tomorrow is our first month's anniversary, since we started the game.

Raindrops on the lilac branch in our garden.

M&S has released a big range of Harry Potter-themed food items and children's clothes. I bought a chocolate Golden snitch and a couple of mini tins, and plan to buy a pyjama for Eddie. I did order a pyjama online, but when it arrived, it was huge. I returned it back, just the before the second lockdown, but they didn't have the same PJ in the shop.

Silly things keep us amused. We were buying a birthday card for my husband, and saw this Dracula face mask. Of course, someone just had to buy it.

Every year we choose one of our favourite characters for the carved pumpkin. In the past we had the Gruffalo, Meg and Mog, Hiccup and Toothless, the dragon from Merlin, etc etc. This year Eddie is taken by the Mandalorian series, so I decided to carve The Child for Hallowe'en.

Knowing that the bookshops would be closed soon, we headed to our Waterstones almost daily to chat to the ladies and get more books. 

The Midnight Guardians is Waterstones' book of the month. It had fantastic reviews, and if you've seen the quotes inside the book, from famous children's authors, you would think this is the masterpiece of the century. 

We're reading it now, almost finished, and to be honest, I'm not so enthusiastic about it. In fact, we were quite underwhelmed, reading the first third of the book. It gets better, as you get involved in the story more and more.

This is a YA fantasy novel, set during the WWII in England. I might be too harsh, but I think it would have benefitted from more rigorous editing and being slightly condensed. The author loves the expression "the hair's breadth" and used it about six or seven times. 

Pukka teas sent me a small parcel of their herbal teas for reviewing. Pukka Night Time is supposed to help with sleeping, but I'm probably beyond help now. I do enjoy herbal teas, and Night time is a tasty combination of oatflower, lavender and limeflower, but I'm too stressed right now to feel any difference in my sleep patterns. 

My first mince tart of the season, and the last trip to Costa in a while.

I walked to the nearest playground by the Trinity Church to check if the playground is open. With all cafes and bookshops closed, I was dreading what we'd do with Sasha at the weekends, as he expects to be taken out to his favourite places. There was a lady spraying some antibacterial solution over the play area equipment. I asked her if the playground would be open, and she confirmed that this time the playgrounds would not be closed. That's a relief, at least we could do something at the weekends.

This is our local church, where Eddie was baptised. 

The white doves smooching among the riot of colour on the "ghost house" in the neighbourhood.

How dismal-looking are these clothes in H&M? 

I remember reading one fashion blogger who has never been to Russia, claiming that the clothes during the Soviet times were all uniform black and grey. Not sure where she got that piece of information, but her statement stayed in my mind as one of those astonishing propaganda views. If anything, the colours I remember were clashing and very bright. I used to have one of those blindingly yellow fur coats in my school years (pretty ugly, but sooo dazzling). I also recollect with fondness my red jeans and turquoise blue pants with big pockets. All those brightly coloured shawls and scarves...

If anything, I wear more blacks and greys now. I do like black, but these clothes below just make me sad.

Well, this window display is probably what some people would assume the Soviet fashions might have looked.

Walking past St Mary's church, we saw that they are cutting the cypress. I read about it in the local papers that the tree is 200-years' old. It's not diseased, but the roots are ruining the graveyard, so they decided to get rid of it. So, so sad. They plan to use the wood for making furniture for the church. It's quite typical of the local church authorities.

Every time the rain stops, we tend to walk over to the playground.

View of St Mary's from the Leys in the afternoon, when the dusk is settling.

More of Witney landmarks - famous Witney Mill.

For the 11th of November Eddie's school asked children to paint poppies on rocks. They chose several to put at the base of the Witney War memorial which marked its 100th anniversary this September. Eddie was disappointed that his poppy didn't make it to the final few.

It was my husband's birthday. I bought two cakes, one for him to share with his colleagues in the department, and one for us. This is the Neapolitan cake from Waitrose. It's not bad, though very-very sweet. Smells lovely of strawberries and chocolate.

The candles were a bit of a jokey token, as I didn't fancy putting over half a hundred candles on the cake.

I liked the pattern of the shadow on the blinds of Next shop.

Last week the town has been slowly transformed for the festive season ahead, with the Christmas lights and trees. Of course, there is no switching the lights on ceremony this year, sigh.

Are you still here? If you haven't fallen asleep, scrolling through three weeks of photos, you deserve a medal.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter