Monday 1 March 2021

Photo diary: weeks 7 and 8, project 365

 As birthdays go, mine was quite unremarkable. Not that I minded much, in fact I'm not the type who expects celebrations and fireworks. Since going out for dinner is out of question, I bought a Neapolitan cake from Waitrose, and we had a long walk in town catching Pokemons. That's as exciting as it gets these days. Eddie said that Pokemon Go had a special raid day yesterday in my honour. 

I'm not moaning. In fact, here I am sitting by the laptop and dancing in my chair, singing to the tune of One way ticket to the Moon by Eruption. I remember that song when it first appeared. I was 10 years old, and loved it. Still do. That hairstyle haunted my dreams, I so wanted to have those dangly braids with beads. 

In the last couple of weeks we watched two seasons of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix. We were late to the party, and it took me a few episodes to get into it, but I did find it entertaining (not as good as Marvel films though). 

The garden is looking pretty, with a carpet of snowdrops and crocuses. The yellow crocuses have been gobbled up by some critters almost overnight, I haven't had a chance to take a photo of them. I wonder if they taste better?! Why are they eaten up every single year, while the purple and blue ones stay untouched?

Chez Maximka, spring flowers in the UK

One of the books I read recently for the blog tour was Gordon Square. It is a psychological thriller, with Gothic undertones, quite harrowing. 

Chez Maximka

Pancake day seems like a distant memory now. I made buttermilk pancakes, both bigger size and small blini, and served with different toppings. Eddie is still amused by the face with a whipped cream beard and marshmallows. I bought a bottle of Percy Pig syrup to try, and all my guys loved it. As for me, I prefer either honey or maple syrup with my pancakes.

Chez Maximka

Walking in town, and looking at the reflections in the puddles. After snapping the sun reflection, I realised that the tower looks, ahem, very erect.

Chez Maximka

Eddie is a big fan of Liz Pichon's Tom Gates series. He's been counting the days until the latest book was out, and read it in one day.

Chez Maximka

I bought a book shelf two years ago, and it was sitting in a box all this time in the summerhouse. We finally paid someone to come and assemble it. Eddie and I divided the ownership, top shelf for his books, the lower one for mine.

Chez Maximka

I love this time of the year, when the garden looks pretty. It also looks pretty messy, and I need to start the spring clean very soon, including getting rid of the revolting deposits from the neighbours' cats who use our garden as their private toilet. 

Chez Maximka, spring flowers in the UK

In the last week Eddie's been studing the Maya civilization. One of their home learning tasks was to draw a Maya mask, and this is the result. Rather colourful and ferocious.

Chez Maximka

We walked to the Tower Hill Cemetery, which is a big place with amazing old trees. It feels very peaceful there. As it is on the hill, you can see the town below.

Chez Maximka, Witney cemetery

That's another snap from the same walk.

Chez Maximka

Another series that Eddie loves is Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz. He was a bit disappointed that Alex didn't make an appearance in this book, and it was all a backstory of Yassen Grigorovich (this name gives me the giggles, it's such an obviously invented "Russian" name).

Chez Maximka

One more assembly in the house, this time a desk for Eddie. He's been working, using the dinner table downstairs, but now can do it in his own bedroom. Ordered the desk from Amazon, and booked a technician for assembly. Waited for 4 hours for them to appear, then contacted Amazon, asking what time the technician would be arriving, as the slot was coming to an end, but they said he didn't plan to come. What a waste of time. And they didn't even bother to text me in advance to warn that they couldn't do the job. Thankfully, a friend offered help, when I asked on FB if anyone knew a trustworthy handyman locally. He refused to take any payment, even if took over 2 hours to build the desk.

Chez Maximka, children's room interior

And a new keyboard for the new desk...

How was your week?



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19 comments:

  1. Wow, the desk looks so cool. I think Eddie is over the moon with it. The pancakes look fun, I need to remember to use whipped cream and marshmallows to decorate them, maybe as a flower, that would be nice for Spring, isn't it?

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    1. Thank you, Anca, he is very happy with it, especially that he got a new flashy keyboard as well. :) Do you have any special Romanian recipe for pancakes? I remember they are similar to the French crepes?

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    2. Yes, you are right, in Romania we only had crepes. I used to make them with eggs, but now I make them with vegan milk and flour and works just as good. Pancakes need something to make them rise, not that's complicated to make vegan, but crepes are easier.
      Also, my mother never put sugar in crepes, as we had them with jam or savoury, with fries mushrooms or spinach and cheese. Savoury ones aren't exactly traditional, but I love them.

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    3. Thank you, Anca, In Russia savoury pancakes are as popular as sweet ones, especially when they are stuffed with rice and mince, wrapped as little envelopes and fried again, they are called blinchatye pirozhki (lit. pancake pies). I think many people don't add sugar to the pancake batter either.

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  2. Choo choo train
    Tuckin' down the track
    Gotta travel on it
    Never comin' back
    Ooh yeah yeah yeah
    Ooh got a one way ticket to the blues

    Happy Birthday, I now have ear worm, hope you enjoyed your cake. The pancake looks fab, I like mine with sugar and lemon.
    Glad you got the new furniture assembled and lovely your friend helped out. That sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading, it's been ages since I picked a book up.

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    1. Thank you, Suzanne, the cake was tasty. You know your 1970s hits! :) I'm always happy to post the book to you, if you want.

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  3. Happy belated birthday to you. It sounds like you had a nice day.
    That is a shame about your yellow crocuses. The purple one's are so pretty though.
    What a fun pancake and the bookcase and desk look fab! That is one fancy keyboard x

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    1. Thank you, Kim! I'm annoyed with myself for not taking a snap of yellow crocuses, when I saw them, as I should learn by now that they will be eaten fast. :)

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  4. Ooh Pierre has the same keyboard ! The new furniture looks lovely - glad you managed to find someone to put it all together ! xx

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    1. Thank you, Cheryl! We were lucky that our friend offered to help, or it would have taken a long time for it to get assembled. It's like nobody wants to earn money, it's basically impossible to find a handyman to do a job.

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  5. That desk looks fab, sadly mine is destined always to use the table downstairs as we have no space in his room. Love your bookcase and all the snowdrops #365

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  6. Happy belated birthday. Loving seeing all the pretty flowers bloom!

    The pancake made me smile!

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  7. Happy belated birthday. Beautiful photo of the crocuses. Ours didn’t last long in the garden before Thomas either picked them or trampled them. Love the pancake face with the whipped cream beard. The photo of the tower reflected in the puddle made me giggle. Love Eddie’s Maya mask. #project365

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  8. Your keyboard is gorgeous! I think the flowers near us have been delayed due to the week of snow we had but there are flashes of colour starting to appear now. My eldest is reading Stormbreaker for Guided Reading at school and I'm hoping it will inspire him to read the series. #project365

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  9. Happy belated birthday. I love the new bookcase and the funky keyboard

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  10. Happy belated birthday, it sounds like a good lockdown one getting out and about. I must try the Pokemon for my youngest it may enourage him to walk further. Love the colour of the book case. All our yellow ones have also disappeared they were there one minute and gone the next. I wonder what it is! It the first year of having them so I didn't think much of it. But now I am going to keep an eye out lol!

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  11. The crocuses look lovely, nice having such gorgeous flowers popping up now. Spring is here. Your pancake design is a good one, fab whipped cream beard. I bought the same book for my youngest, he enjoys her books too. Happy belated birthday wishes. The desk and book shelf look amazing. I didn't know you could book people to build them, I just try and do it myself, the results are varied haha.

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  12. That desk and keyboard looks super cool.. haha i should make those fun pancake faces too with my kids... hope your birthday went well.. i loved the book case.. thanks for sharing the book recommendation..
    Shahira

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  13. A late Happy Birthday! I'm not sure how I would feel about Peppa Pig on my pancakes, I'm sure my son would love it lol. I didn't know you could book someone on Amazon to build things for you. They clearly need to sort out that offering! I love the keyboard #365

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