Photo diary: week 48, project 366

 Melancholy seems to be a predominant mood of the last week. The weather is turning definitely wintery bleak, of course, not to the same extent, as for example, in Russia. I was talking to my Mum on the phone yesterday, and she said the local temperature was minus 16C. I forgot just how cold it can be in the parts where I grew up and spent half of my life. Soon it will get colder and colder, down to - 40Cs and even below.

There is a ray of sunshine in my life, who loves cracking jokes and who makes me smile. Of course, I share smiles and laughs with my elder boy too, but with his special needs, I'm often walking on the eggshells, not knowing which mood he is going to be in. He can smile happily one minute, the next get upset for some reason, known only to him. I love him to bits, but life could be very challenging.

Eddie and I were catching Pokemons on Sunday, giggling like conspirators on the way.

Frosty morning on Monday - the grass in the fields was silver white. It was beautiful, but cold.

Tuesday was the day of the finals at GBBO. Do we think the right person has won? I'm not sure. Perfect Peter is a decent baker, but I won't be rushing to buy his book when it comes out. I think the format of the show is getting tired and dated. The comic duo is highly annoying. And what was that super nonsense with the spoon that Noel insisted everyone should kiss? Total cringe, as my son says. 

Another frosty morning, and how beautiful the frozen grasses are in the fields. Such a pity my camera cannot give credit to the ethereal wonder of the zillions of ice sparkles. It was like walking in a fairy tale.

I don't have any photos for Wednesday, so here are two snaps taken in Friday. More of the nature and my child, my constant sources of inspiration. And those who tolerate me taking photos of them, as Sash refuses to stand still, or would even turn away if I try to take his photo.

It was a non-uniform day at school, hence the jeans and red sneakers.

We were running to school and admiring frozen spider webs on the way. The webs always fascinate me, so intricate, such craftsmanship and patience.

On Saturday Eddie and I were at the playground again, when I had a very short message from my friend. It said that her Mum died. I immediately burst into tears. I knew my friend's Mum was in the hospital with double pneumonia, and was praying she would get better. My friend is also Russian, who lives here. Like me, she hasn't seen her Mum for over a year. I'm heartbroken for her, she cannot even go to the funeral. It's so tragic. Bloody covid, when will we get rid of it?! Will we ever?!

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Photo diary: week 47, project 366

Christmas is creeping up stealthily upon us, in just over a month we'll be celebrating it. It will most likely be a subdued event, like everything else this year. I haven't properly started shopping for Christmas gifts, with an exception of one tin of cookies and a Star Wars jumper for Eddie, with Darth Vader in a Santa hat. 

I have, however, bought twelve chocolate bars for my now traditional annual chocolate giveaway, which will start on 1 December.  Don't forget to join in!

Who doesn't love swings? 

Our garden has hardly any blooms now, with the exception of some cyclamens and a few fragile white roses. Last week I was surprised to see a bright calendula in one of the flower tubs. It must have self-seeded, as I've never planted it, the seed brought by the wind or perhaps the bird pooped it in the tub.

I've been binge-watching The Crown season 4. As with the previous seasons, it's better not to study history, relying on Peter Morgan's version of events, but it's very entertaining. 

It's uneven too, the episode with Fagan was pretty boring. The episode with the cousins hidden in the asylum and registered as dead, is truly heart-breaking. Having a child with special needs, I found this part of the story hard to watch, though I knew about the cousins before. 

Diana appears as very needy and quite manipulative, and don't even start me on the self-centred Charles.

Did you watch it? What did you think? Does it ring true to you, do you recollect events as different? I arrived to the UK as a student in the last year of Diana's life, and remember watching the infamous TV interview, together with my elderly Irish landlady. At that time I didn't really follow the antics of the Royal family, and it was quite a revelation.

Our local Shake shop is a busy place. There is a long queue outside the shop most days, so when we passed by the other day and saw that there was nobody outside, we quickly popped in to get a strawberry shake with cream for Eddie. 

We pass by The Teddy Bears of Witney every day on the way into town centre. And every time I see this grinning doggy, I smile. I'm not sure if it is supposed to be cute or ugly, but it will surely scare any baby.

We bought the art print of the Cornish coastline back in summer 2019 for Eddie's birthday, he has chosen it from a big selection in the small art gallery in Perranuthnoe, where we usually stay for a week. 

He's been asking me for ages, when I would be buying a frame for it. I wanted to have the job done by the master framer who sells his wares at the market, but last year I haven't seen him at all (in fact, he later told me he was unwell and didn't come to Witney for many months), then Covid began and all that. Finally I decided to buy a frame online.

We picked the colour of the frame, and placed an order, it was made in Germany. When it arrived, the colour is completely different from the one we wanted, it was supposed to be grey blue-ish to match the waves. But it's too much faff to send it back, so it will have to do.

The picture is now hanging in our sitting room, next to Eddie's portrait.

We are still catching Pokemons. If anyone wants to become our friend, do tag me on Twitter (@maximka25). This Saturday it was a Magmar day, and he photobombed our snap.

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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.

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Photo diary: week 43, project 366

It was quite a productive week, we had a big meeting at Sasha's school, and also submitted the application for secondary school for Eddie.

We're only two years behind with Pokémon Go, but last week Eddie asked me if I would download the app to my iPhone for him to play. If anyone is late to the party, like we are, and would like to become friends on Pokémon Go, please let us know. 

Here is Eddie, with his buddy in the café.

On Tuesday we had an Annual Review meeting to discuss Sasha's future. It was a beautiful autumnal morning, when we travelled to Oxford. This church is on the way to the school.

The meeting went well. I'm in awe of the school staff. It's heart-warming to know that there are other people in Sasha's life who are fond of him and care about his future. We were very lucky with his previous school which he attended until 16, and we are very lucky with the current school. I just hope that Sasha will find a transition to college not too upsetting in the next year.

The school are also helping us with sorting out the respite. Up until he turned 18, Sasha was staying overnight at the respite place in Banbury twice a month, but since early March, nothing has been done because of Covid. He enjoyed going to the respite, as they spoilt him rotten there, cooking his favourite meals and taking him out for walks in the late afternoon. We used this opportunity to recharge the batteries and have a good night's sleep too. 

I have entered the Bonne Maman/Waitrose competition on the last day of promotion back in September, submitting the code from the receipt online, and a few days later was delighted to get an email that I've won a Bonne Maman hamper. It has finally arrived, and I love the woven basket. It would do nicely for all my recipe clippings and book reviews. The madeleines and little tarts are delicious too.

I was chatting to a Twitter friend who lives in the States. She wanted to see some of my Mum's artwork, so I posted two portraits that my Mum painted of my sons. This is Eddie, as he was five years old, by the sea in Cornwall. She captured him perfectly. I love this work. The technique is hot enamel. It is similar to porcelain paints, and the artwork is fired in the kiln up to 800C many times, with the paints layered over and over. The surface is quite textured, and there are fine crackles over it, which are not seen in the photo.

Not a photo but a screenshot of one of Memories on Facebook, which made me smile. I don't remember this conversation, but my son still doesn't rate my singing highly.

On Friday my child ran out of his class, clutching a trophy to his heart. He's been selected a Pupil of the week. One very proud Mum here. He totally deserves it. We walked home, and showed the trophy to our acquaintances on the way. 

I have been playing around with props, trying to do a photo for the forthcoming book review of Inside Voices. It is a YA fiction, set in Alaska. It's an unusual story of a young girl who brings up an orphaned polar bear. She witnessed a mass shooting at high school a few years previously, and has a PSTD. It's a beautiful poignant story, and if you want to read my full review, drop by on the 29th.

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Photo diary: week 42, project 366

The week began with an anxious email from Eddie's school to say that one of the younger classes has been closed for two weeks due to Covid. The remaining classes are expected to attend, though I don't see the logic of that, as the siblings of kids who go to the affected class, still go to school, but then I suppose it's tricky to decide where to stop the chain.

I haven't published a single blog post since the last Photo diary, even if I had good intentions. I have started a few blog posts, they just need to be edited.

My blog turned 10 years old last week.

From other non-news, I've watched the whole season of The haunting of Bly Manor. It wasn't as jump-scary as The haunting of Hill House, and rather touching. It's based loosely on The turn of the screw. Creepy children, a vulnerable governess and plenty of ghosts. It was rather uneven. One of the episodes, with the back story of the original ghost of the lady in the lake, was a self-indulgent drivel, going on and on (if you watched it, you know what I mean, that incessant: She slept, she woke, she walked...).

We've spotted this egg on the ground outside the clinic, it must have fallen from the tree. The next day it was gone.

For three weeks in a row I'm posting a flower in a bottle from The Blue Boar, sorry, I know it's a lazy snapping, but I'm usually so knackered after the weekend, that I have no energy or enthusiasm to find any new subjects. And I do treat myself to a latte first thing in the morning, after I accompany Eddie to school.

Last week my husband has found out that one of the secondary schools in town is offering tours (not just the virtual tour), he booked an only available session left for Eddie and me to visit on Tuesday after school. We had an hour to kill, but rather than go home, went to the book shop and Costa for a little snack. While talking to his father on WhatsApp, Eddie did a screenshot of our heads.

Visiting the school and talking to the teacher who took us around was very helpful. We couldn't go inside the school, but it's a pretty big campus, with many buildings, sports and art facilities, and a great library. The original school dates back to 1660. We were able to have a peek through the windows and ask questions about the school. 

I wish the other school also offered the similar tour, to help make up our minds.

The last episode of GBBO saw the contestants baking brownies. I believe that brownies don't need one zillion fancy ingredients. If anything, too many ingredients in the brownie dough spoil the texture and flavour. Eddie and I watched the episode together, and the next day I baked a batch of salted caramel brownies. They are so lovely, still warm, with a bit of whipped cream and some fresh berries.

It was a chilly morning, when I walked with my ninja to school.

If my shopping bag is not too heavy, I like to walk back home through the flood fields and cross the bridge over the Windrush. It is so peaceful there, with lots of birds and other wild life.

Photos from 5 years before have popped up among my Facebook memories, including a series of images from taking part in Grana Padano Top Chef blogger competition. 

I can't believe it's being five years. I was crowned the winner. I remember how reluctant I was to go to London in the first place, as I am not confident travelling on my own. My family and friends had to push me to go. It was such a fabulous event, we had to cook three dishes in a set amount of time, and our food was judged by the celebrity Italian chef Francesco Mazzei.

It was a huge surprise for me to be chosen a winner, as I'm not Masterchefy at all.

I still keep in touch with Federica from Pasta Bites, who posts mouth-watering photos on Instagram.

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Photo diary: week 41, project 366

I'm feeling deflated, like an old balloon, which is still holding its shape but is not exactly flying enthusiastically. There are no particular triggers, just the uncertainty of it all.

Sasha's annual review is looming by the end of this month, and we haven't had much of a progress since the last meeting. We don't have a respite sorted out for him, as none of the places we inquired into operate at the moment, so we can't even go and visit them. We visited a couple of places back in January, but then everything has stopped working. We need to find a place for him to attend next year, as it's the last year at the current school.

And we urgently need to apply for the secondary school's place for Eddie, and of course, with only the virtual tours available it's not easy to decide which school would be best for our son. 

One school has a good academic rating, but on the parents' grapevine it is known as having had big issues with bullying in the past years. The other school (my preference) is less academic. Both are about the same distance from our house.

All these decisions which will affect my boys' future really unsettle me.

My photos from the last week are rather lacklustre, I was snapping without any zeal.

Last Sunday Eddie has spotted the big poster for Star Wars Pandora across the street. I don't have a Pandora bracelet, but we still went to look at the latest beads closer. 

My Monday treat, a cup of latte in the morning after I accompanied Eddie to school.

We had rain on and off most days in the last week. It was sunny and raining at the same time, when we walked home from school on Tuesday. 

We watched the GBBO in the evening, and that was all the excitement for the day. The right person was voted off, even if he was amusing. I don't know if we keep watching until the end, I don't find this year's crew particularly inspiring. I suppose, once you watched one season, it's pretty much the same, with the same stale jokes and innuendoes.

The mornings are getting chillier and chillier, and the bright berries of holly make you think of Christmas ahead. 

I met up with my friend for a good old chinwag at Costa, and I had my first gingerbread latte of the season. I did ask for half of the amount of syrup, as it's often way too sweet.

Red and blue are an inspiring combination of colours. The leaves are carpeting the lawns and roads.

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree... (Emily Brontë)

It was the 50th anniversary of Jean Giono's death on the 9th of October, and my husband suggested that we should watch The Horseman on the Roof. I watched this film when it was first out in 1995, and loved it then. It's set in the times of the cholera epidemic of 1832. Juliette Binoche is simply stunning in this film, and Olivier Martinez is an eye candy. You can find the whole film on YouTube.

I've read the book many years ago, and watching the film made me want to re-read it. It also made me think just how beautiful the French language is, and what a shame I don't read or speak it any longer. I studied French at the University, and was able to read quite fluently, albeit abridged books, but now, I am like Mr Bean, only capable of saying Oui.

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