Photo diary: weeks 39 and 40, project 365

If I had to choose a word of the month, it would be "tired". I'm feeling tired, both physically and psychologically. Sasha's college only offers two sessions per week. That meant just six hours per week in September, which left me with hardly any time to do anything. The rest of the time my boy is at home, and he finds it difficult, being used to going to school every day in the past. 

But now that he is 19, there is not much on offer. On top of that, the transport was routinely late every single time, making excuses about traffic and lack of staff. Half an hour of waiting for the transport meant half an hour less in college. 

Thankfully, his hours increased from six per week to ten per week, but that's it. We haven't had any respite for over a year and a half, and I'm not sure if it's going to happen any time soon, certainly not this year.

I find the idea that not much is going to change in the near future quite depressing.

It was such a hot Sunday, we were wearing t-shirts and tops with short sleeves on our walk in town. A few days later, I felt like walking around home, wrapped in a blanket, as it turned so chilly. Our house is over 300 years old, with the flagstones on the ground floor, and could get pretty cold.

I enjoy walking through the flood fields, bordered with hawthorns and blackberries. The branches laden with berries look so pretty and festive. 

When my Mum was visiting us for the last few times, we picked bunches of berries to dry, and she made an infusion with them. The hawthorn berries and leaves are supposed to be good for people who have high blood pressure. 

I wish my Mum were here now, I miss her so much. I call her every day on the phone, but it's not the same. I want to hug her and never let her go.

My elevenses - a toast with Pip & Nut coconut almond butter with berries. Handsome Jake was a bonus.

The reflection of the sun rays on the Windrush river was almost blinding.

I enjoyed Carnovsky jigsaw puzzle the week before so much that I've dug out the puzzle my guys gave me as a present for Christmas - Ravensburger The Greatest Book Shop 1000-piece jigsaw. It's been in the sealed box ever since. It was high time to open it and have a go.

While my guys were in school and college, I switched on Netflix, made myself a cup of coffee and opened a bag of Fazer Lakritsi. I don't even like liquorice as a rule, but this one is so tasty, I can hoover the whole bag in one go. You can find it in Lakeland at £4.99. I'm kind of glad they only sell it on the run to Christmas, or I would keep buying it to the detriment of my waist size and pocket. 

I was recently asked to review a book called The Witch's Feast/ A Kitchen Grimoire by Melissa Jayne Madara. It is a curious book, a mix of information on traditional feasts, witches' rituals and recipes. I have bookmarked a few recipes to try. 

This book will make a lovely gift for anyone who enjoys all things Halloween and witchy.

On Saturday Eddie and I were catching up on the last couple of episodes of What If? on Disney +. We haven't watched the very last one, as our subscription expired, and we decided to stop paying for a while. There is not much we want to see, as we have all the Marvel collection on DVDs. We might go back to it in December when Hawkeye series will be released.

What if? is a bizarre series, some episodes were totally from the WTF-variety. I'm not the biggest fan of all the multiverse-concept, that's why I didn't like the ending of Loki either.

I've read almost eighty books this year. Advent by Jane Fraser is a superb novel set in 1904. It is easily one of my top three choices of the year, if not the most favourite. I loved everything about it: a rural Welsh setting, the slow-paced narrative, the spirited and passionate main character, Ellen. 

It is a modern classic.

I love this little corner of Witney, next to the former blanket factory. It might not have the splendour of canals of Venice, but it's still lovely.

One of the books I reviewed last week - The daughter's choice by S.D. Robertson. It's a modern domestic drama, which deals with themes of love and loss, secrets and lies, personal strength and compassion.

The sky looked like someone above there has taken a big brush and did a few smudges of white on blue, as if checking the colour. 

Every time we walk into town centre, we pass by the lighting shop, which has these quirky lamps in the window. I think I might get one of them for Eddie as a Christmas gift, we just cannot decide which one we like more: a sloth or a koala. There's also a toucan and a kangaroo. Which one would you pick?

Last week I made a batch of Cookies of Joy from The Witch's Feast book. The original recipe is ascribed to Hildegard von Bingen. There is a lot of spices in the cookie dough.

My cookies were quite mishapen, they lost their definition in the oven, but tasted lovely.

You might not recognise the shape of the cookies, but they were supposed to be cups of tea. I got the cup cookie cutter in Lakeland. I think something like gingerbread dough would work better with this cutter.

What else did we do in the last couple of weeks? We watched Thor Ragnarok (again), started watching The Green Knight on Netflix (or is it Amazon) but couldn't get into its very sloooow pace. 

GBBO is OK, but would have been so much better without the puerile humour. I just find the sex-related jokes by Noel and Matt so tedious and not funny at all.

Read Fear Street/Overnight with Eddie and started Eight Pieces of Silva.

Otherwise, just surviving the monotony... 

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