Photo diary: weeks 46 and 47, project 365

 "All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey" - it's just about right, when you look out at the garden. Most of the leaves are on the ground, dried and shrivelled. There is some greenery though, from the evergreens, like the huge cypress, or blasted climbing shrubs, taking over the stone walls. 

We have a big garden, which borders five different gardens, and only one set of neighbours is keeping their wall clear. 

I tried to chop up some of the overgrown shrubs on the stone wall next to the house, which are hanging from the neighbours' side. One big wheelie bin is packed full, and there is still a lot to chop off. I have collected some of the leaves in the bin bags, and they are waiting for their turn to be emptied.

And while I was working in the garden, I kept singing to myself, All the leaves are brown. Which reminds me, that a while ago, when I was singing California Dreamin' to myself, Eddie asked me, Who is Lisa Brown. So from then on, this song is Lisa Brown for me.

I haven't been taking photos for Project 365 every day, as I'm utterly lacking in motivation. Most of the week I am staying at home now that my big boy is going to college only twice a week. When my husband is around, he takes Sash out. Otherwise, we are doing activities at home, and have some fresh air in the garden.

Some of the days I would have several pictures on the go, some - nothing at all.

We had some beautiful sunsets in November, the colours always make me think that Nature is the biggest artist of them all.

And while we had a relatively mild weather, my brother sent me several photos of their wintery landscapes, including this lion who looks frozen amidst all that snow.

I did a few more pen and ink challenge prompts on Insta, including this little drawing of Sasha. The theme was Picnic. I used an old photo of Sasha from when he was around three years old. He loved boxes, and whenever there was a box big enough for him to climb in, he would do it. In the actual photo he's sitting in a toy chest, but I put him in the picnic basket from F&M.

On Tuesday we watched the semi-finals on GBBO, and were left aghast that Jurgen was voted off, as he did so well in the technical challenge, while Chigs made a total mess with his bake. I have a feeling Paul and Prue didn't like the German baker very much, especially Paul. He gave three contestants his shitty handshake, and left Jurgen out. I could never understand this handshake business, to me it feels super patronising, like a king dispensing a largesse, and the peasants tugging their forelocks in excessive deference. I would be mortified if Paul tried to give me a handshake (you can say, I'm not a fan).

More ink and pen/brush sketches from that week... for no particular reason, just trying a new paper pad, which is supposed to be good for inks.

Another cheeseboard picture... with British and Irish cheeses, like Cashel Blue, Cornish Yarg and Ash Goat's cheese. 

We popped into the lighting shop to get a bedside lamp for Eddie's bedroom. It happened that the choice was made for us, as they only had a sloth lamp left (which was my favourite all along). I took it out of the box to check if it works, and in it went back in the box until Christmas.

My husband looked at it, and commented that it was horrid. Well, Eddie and I like it. Are you camp Husband or Camp Eddie and I? I do know it is pretty kitsch, but also unusual and cute.

So far all the Christmas gifts I bought for Eddie, were bought in his presence. I need to get him some surprise gift too. 

A quick visit to Costa on Sunday: I tried a new After Eight muffin. Don't know why I thought it was a good idea, I don't even like the After Eight chocolates. The chocolate muffin would have been lovely, if not for the mint toothpaste inside.

On Monday my friend Jen took me to the Burford Garden Centre. It was packed full. Too crowded for my liking. I did buy a few sweet treats for Christmas, including some of our favourite Italian chocolate.

Talking of chocolate, don't miss my annual 12 days of Chocolate giveaway, starting on 1 December. Some lucky person will get over 1kg 200g of chocolate with other lovely festive treats. I always enjoy choosing different chocolate bars for each day of the giveaway.

I find Instagram an exciting source of discoveries. A post from BeeHype Honey has appeared on my Insta feed, and being a big honey lover, I checked out their site. 

I ordered a Salted honey (utterly delish!) and a lovely Ultimate Honey lover box, which includes Special Acacia single source raw honey, Dreamy Creamy spreadable raw wildflower honey, Lavish Lavender pure raw honey, It's Nuts mixed nuts in honey, Jammin' Strawberries in acacia honey, a cute mug, a candle, lip balm and beeswax food wraps. The box costs £49.95.

So, if you're looking for more unusual Christmas gifts for a foodie in your life, this artisan raw honey would be perfect. Don't forget to subscribe to their newsletter for their 10% off first order. The postage is free for orders over £30. 

It was the GBBO final the day before. The best baker won, I'm delighted that Giuseppe was crowned the winner, though I wish they kept Jurgen 'til the final, as that would have been an even more competitive event.

Were you pleased with the result (or disappointed)?

When they had to bake the Belgian buns without any instructions, I couldn't even remember what they were supposed to look like. I never buy them, and certainly never baked them in my life. The next day I bought two Belgian buns out of curiosity. They were OKish, but not something I would rush to buy again.

Our little Windrush river is very polluted, as Thames Water keeps dumping untreated sewage in the river. It is slowly dying, and you see less and less wildlife, as their habitat is being poisoned. The locals protest, write petitions, appeal to the local authorities, but nothing is being done. 

If anything, our local Conservative MP (I didn't vote for him) voted down an amendment to the Environment Bill which sought to stop Thames Water and other greedy companies who only care about profit from dumping sewage in the local rivers.

I love this old gate in Puck Lane. It feels like the path might take you to some fairytale destination.

Heritage was one of the prompts for the pen and ink challenge on Insta. As we live in a town with the origins in the Anglo-Saxon times, I decided to do a drawing of King Edgar the Peaceful, trying to imitate the illuminated letter, as in the medieval manuscripts. I used several Diamine inks, with a fountain pen and brush, as well as some markers.

On Saturday we finally had a chance to watch Shang Chi. I would watch anything from MCU, but it's not my favourite MCU film. Surprised to see how much praise it received on Twitter, with some people claiming it to be the best MCU film ever. What? Not the Avengers Assemble, or Endgame, or Thor Ragnarok, or any Spidey movie?! 

It's not that I don't enjoy martial arts films, if anything, I love The house of flying daggers which has an astonishing choreography and stunning scenery, and very beautiful actors. But Shang Chi left me unimpressed. Have you seen it? What did you think?

We woke up to see the first snow of the season, it was dancing in the air in big fluffy clusters, but melted on the ground. 

Eddie and I are still reading The Enemy by Charlie Higson, which was recommended to us at the local book shop. It's the first book in the zombie horror series for pre-teens and teens. Very gory, savage and brutal, but also well-written. I can see why it reached the cult status. I'm not even a fan of zombie books or films, but I am hooked.

At bedtime I am reading See Them Run by Marion Todd, the first book in Detective Clare Mackay series. I bought the kindle book quite a while ago. It's a clever police procedural, with an intriguing plot and a gutsy main protagonist.

Hope you are all keeping well.

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