Photo diary: June'22, project 365

We say Good bye to the first month of summer. It whooshed by so fast. I'm still plodding along, rather in limbo, doing things by rota, routinely, crestfallen and sluggish. I am so depressed about the war. The chances are I might never see my Mum again, and that breaks my heart. Her health is not good, and I guess she is not telling me the whole truth, always trying to diminsh any worry. She knows how anxious I am, and tries to spare me. As Mums do.

I make an effort to keep myself busy, with organsing the house, looking after my boys, reading, baking and painting, but at the back of my mind the anxiety never goes away. You think you might have it under control, but it's always there, and can be easily triggered, in a flick of the switch.

This month I continued sketching with inks, using #Penandinkchallenge prompts. 

In this sketch I used a stamp of little Sasha running on the beach. Years ago I took part in the competition ran by one of the papercrafting magazines to design a summer-themed stamp. And they later produced the stamp based on my design (if you fancy seeing the actual stamp, have a look at my Insta post).

We keep watching The Walking Dead, now on season five and counting. We'll probably keep watching it for the rest of the summer. I never thought I would be so engrossed into anything zombie-related, but this series is not about zombies really. It is about the human psychology and behaviour when in extreme situations of the apocalypse, moral dilemmas and life and death choices. It is very gruesome and eerie, and the producers are quite ruthless, disposing of characters you grow to love. The acting is exceptionally good. A fantastic cast.

Earlier this month I reviewed The Only Exception by Claire Huston. It is an entertaining, light-hearted and uplifting modern romance. As the brownie features prominently in the book, I baked a brownie to celebrate the book publication. 

The main character of the book serves her brownie with warm custard. I confess that it's a total No-No from me. I generally find warm custard quite revolting. The warm brownie surely has to be served with a cold cream, custard or even better, ice cream. It's the combination of warm and cold that makes it the winning one for me.

Are you Camp Warm custard on brownie or Camp Ice cream?

Songs by the fire was one of the prompts of #penandinkchallenge, and I have chosen a song called Hold On by Tom Waits, as performed by Beth Greene from The Walking Dead. It resonates with me, as I keep telling myself to Hold on. If you watched it, you might remember Beth singing it, while they are together in prison. 

I cannot say the likeness is amazing, but hope you can still recognise Beth. She is one of my favourite characters (and she dies in season five, sob).

A couple of months ago I saw an online offer for Lee Kum Kee Mystery Box subscription (pay for 2, get the 3rd box free). I often buy LKK Teriyaki sauce (the best one for the Teriyaki tofu and rice), soya sauce and sesame oil, and fancied trying more products from their vast range.

So far my top favourite from the first box was LKK Mushrooms Vegetarian stir fry sauce. It's a vegetarian alternative to the oyster sauce. I just add it to any vegetables, and Pad Thai noodles.

These are the contents of the second box, which I am slowly going through.

Our garden is both a source of joy and despair for me. Joy, for obvious reasons, and despair, as it's a never-ending work. The weeds, the battle with the birds to save some of the berries.

I managed to get some of the red currants, but the blackcurrants were totally demolished by the birds.

And then the blasted neighbours' cats who keep killing the birds. One morning I found four dead fledglings on the path under the hazelnut tree. It's just a game for them, they are not killing for food but for fun. 

My tomato plants are doing very well, and roses and wild roses are a pleasure to look at.

I spotted this little beastie on the wild rose, and named them The Beauty and the Beast.

Another TV series we've been watching this month is Stranger Things. The final two episodes of the last season should be on late tonight (virtual watch party), and Eddie can't wait. He is a big fan, so I had to get him a Stranger Things' hoodie (found on Amazon).

His birthday is coming soon, and I have ordered a couple of ST birthday cards on Moonpig, and just seen a Steve Harrington Funko Pop toy that he would love.

Whenever I spot a new Ritter Sport flavour on Ocado, I am tempted to try it. Ritter Sport Konnichiwa is a combination of cherry and almond, inspired by the Japanese cherry blossom. It's not too bad, but not my favourite Ritter Sport.

Have you tried it?

Eddie and I went to the cinema to see Jurassic World Dominion. Rotten Tomatoes rated it 2/5, and I agree with that rating. It's probably the worst Jurassic film. Time to stop.

There were a couple of exciting episodes, but overall it's lacking in fun, and is rather forgettable. Even my son wasn't impressed.

We have some beautiful old-fashioned roses in the garden. I don't know the name of this variety, but it smells divine.

Stargazing sketch: I drew my older son when he was little and we visited London Aquarium. The original photo was of him standing against the aquarium with fish, which I turned into the star-lit sky.

Beautiful cascading roses over the wall of one of the houses by the river Windrush.

Iceland is one of the countries I've always dreamed of visiting. This is a quick sketch of one of the churches, which I found online. And that's the only kind of travelling I am doing. Online.

My darling niece got married. It was an emotional day. I wish I were there to give her the biggest hug in person, and wish the newly weds my best wishes. She is only twenty years old, a baby really. 

This is one of the snaps my brother took during the ceremony.

I saw a million photos later, and cried. 

Visiting our local library. With all the budget cuts, the book stock is getting less varied. But at least it is still open.

Monday the 20th was another emotional day for me. Our old friends, with whom we lost touch, were visiting Oxford from the States. We haven't seen each other for twenty years. 

The last time we met, we lived in the States, in Williamstown. Sasha was not even one year old. And now my boy is a grown-up man. Saying Time flies is such a cliché, but it is spot on. Where did our youth go? 

We met when both they and we were newly married, and we shared a college house with them, and a couple of boys. 

We had lunch in Nuffield college.

These are the water lilies in the courtyard.

When Sash was a pre-teen and early teen, he used to take lots of photos, including selfies in some psyhedelic colour settings. One of his old selfies was an inspiration for my inky sketch.

For the Waves prompt I painted a small landscape of the Cornish beach, with a solitary figure of my son in the distance. I can't wait to see my beloved Cornwall. 

And the last one of my inky sketches. Promise you, no more drawings in this post. I did a painting of Eddie jumping on the beach, holding his hat in his hand. 

Our current sofa is getting old, and is really uncomfortable if you open it up as a bed. Eddie and I went to the bed shop to look for a new sofa which could be used as a bed and tested a few sofas.

The Sinner by Caroline England is a gripping domestic noir. It's a sinister tale of broken trust, tragic secrets and skeletons in the closet. The main protagonist is married to the vicar, hence the cross.

On the run through the town...

A very boring snap of the kitchen wire baskets, which I bought this week, taken on my Mum's request, as she said she wants to see them.

I had a bunch of bananas going mushy. Rather than bake a banana bread, I made a banana chutney, with sultanas, ginger, garlic, onion, chilli, rum and other ingredients. I haven't made it recently and forgot just how tasty it is, even if it doesn't look pretty.

And a few mismatched jars of strawberry jam, of a runny variety, so I could pour it over ice cream or pancakes.

Hope your June was stress-free and filled with positivity.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo diary: week 10, project 365

 The first week of school passed without a glitch. Sasha was happy to go to school every day of the week, Eddie was excited to see his mates live rather than on a Zoom screen. 

In the last weeks Eddie's been pestering begging me to get a cat. It doesn't help that my brother sends snaps of their cat regularly (see below), and that my Mum and in-laws have cats as well. We've been checking the local Blue Cross site, but there is no choice. Most are reserved, and a few that are left are cat pensioners, in their 10-12s, which is not an option for us. I also looked up if we can buy a kitten, but OMG, the prices for Siberian cats are over £1000, totally crazy. I'd rather have a rescue, hopefully a younger one, not necessarily a kitten, but not a geriatric cat.

It was the 8th of March on Monday, International Women's Day, a big celebration in Russia. My late Dad used to buy bunches of flowers for my Mum and me, tulips or mimosa. I couldn't find any mimosa locally, and didn't like the tulips which I found in the shops, so picked a little posy for myself from the garden. The snowdrops are almost all gone now.

My husband was invited to talk about Le Carré for the forthcoming documentary. He was in the studio for an hour and a half, but they said they would only use a few minutes of footage. The studio was set-up in the Bodleian Library. 

We were very sad to hear that David's wife Jane died on the 27 February, so soon after David. Their son Nick wrote a beautiful piece for the Guardian, if you have time, please read - it's called My father was famous as John Le Carrė. My mother was his crucial, covert collaborator. There is a wonderful photo of them both. Such tenderness and love.

Eddie's school has a new head, and as it often happens with new heads, they like to establish their own rules. On the first day of school all children were told that from that day on they introduce a new system of punishments, something called Fix-it lists, where your misdemeanors are recorded for posterity, and apparently they will be sent to the secondary schools. 

I am all for discipline, but to go on about punishments on the first day of school after the lockdown, and children having anxiety, was it really necessary to hit them with the announcement?! Could they not make going back to school a joyous occasion, something to celebrate?!

I'm running a Thompson & Morgan seeds giveaway - just in case you've missed it. There are not many entries, so if you want to replenish your seeds bank, here is your chance to win a dozen of packets (there are also two options). But hurry up, it ends on Wednesday the 17th at midnight.

I often see this little robin out of the kitchen window. The other day I was just walking in the garden, when I spotted it again. I didn't have time to run to the house for the proper camera, and my iPhone is not the latest model, so the Zoom is not particularly good, but I was still pleased with this photo. What a pretty bird!

The sharp-pointed cloud caught my eye on the way home.

On Saturday I got some mail from Sweden, from a lady who was a friend of my dearest friend Anne. She sent me some old photos which she found recently in her stash, while decluttering.

That's Anne, Sasha and me in our old Woodstock flat. Sasha is still a tot, and what a cutie he was. It will be six years soon, since Anne's gone, and I often think of her. She was such a wonderful caring friend. Dear, dear Anne... I miss you so much.

How was your week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

That's another snap from the same walk.

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).

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.

And a new keyboard for the new desk...

How was your week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo diary: week 6, project 365

 Another week of monotony, when one day is hardly different from another. "There has been an airless quality to the last few weeks. "Family time", once a precious fantasy just out of reach, is now a sweaty weighted blanket under which four of us must live. Like potholers we shuffle our bodies from room to room, looking for escape routes - a chink of light, a foreign sound, anything that means we do not have to stare into each other's beloved faces for another year-long minute", writes Eva Wiseman in the latest Observer Magazine. While it's slightly exaggerated for emphasis, I find myself nodding in agreement with her article. 

I love my guys to bits, and would fight to death for them, then why do I crave solitude and just hide in the toilet for an awkwardly longer spell with my iPhone. I also dread the never-ending circle of meals. What to cook for lunch, dinner, what to offer as snacks in-between? 

I fantasise about winning a lottery and living with a Mrs Patmore equivalent who would cook all our meals, with me only occasionally doing forays in the kitchen to bake a cake as a hobby rather than a duty. Though we would need a bigger house too. With a library, where you can get lost. Keep on dreaming, girl! 

While the amount of books we have can compete (-ish) with the Downton Abbey's collection, the rest of the house definitely lacks in comparison. I love our old house, I truly do, but it's so much work.

Last week we tried to walk as much as possible to get some fresh air, which was quite nippy. We didn't get any proper snow last weekend in the end, as promised in the forecast, but the snowflakes were floating in the air. We walked home with masks on, for warmth.

My Mum has been quite unwell in the last week, and I have been ready to hit the wall to relieve the pressure from feeling so helpless - there is nothing, absolutely nothing I can do from such a distance. 

To de-stress, I find baking helps. I baked a batch of peanut butter slices with Reese's Minis. They were not lookers, but tasted lovely and were gone in an instant. The next day my husband asked if there was a slice left for him to take to work in his lunch box, and I had to say, Sorry, it's all gone. I should bake another batch and ration it.

A battered wall by the Church Green is a reminder of the old glory. It would have seen many generations of Witneans walking around in the finery on the way to the church.

We cannot still go through the fields on the way into town, but we walked in that direction to check what the flood situation is. Unless you have wellies up to your amrpits, it's unpassable. What looks like a stream in the photo, is in fact a path towards the bridge.

A shame we cannot walk there, as it's an area where we can find good Pokemons usually, and there's a good Gym too.

Eddie was checking his Whatsapp (he only uses it with the family), when he said, Mum, just look at the date of this missed video call from you, and I laughed and said that I'm a time traveller, who was calling him from the past. No other explanation.

As the RAF base is not far from our town, the aeroplanes tend to fly very low above Witney. 

Yesterday's mail brought a surprise envelope for Eddie, it was the certificate from school, saying that his name was entered in the Golden Book for a mature approach to his home learning, submitting work that is thoughtful and accurate. Please forgive me for showing off my child's achievemnets, but life is so lacklustre in the last few months, that I need a little boost. I'm truly proud of my child, and he totally deserves it. On top of his school work, he has been reading a lot. I'm so happy to have another generation of readers in our family.

As a special treat for the boys I placed an order with Uber Eats. I haven't ordered with them before, and there is not much of a choice in our town, but they have McDonald's. Boys were very happy.

We found Murder on the Orient Express on Amazon (with David Suchet). I've seen it ten years ago when it was shown on TV, and I think Suchet is the best Poirot ever. No comparison to John Malkovich, Kenneth Brannagh or Peter Ustinov. 

We can't travel in real life, but books can take us anywhere. I have a big collection of books set in Cornwall. Beneath the Fear is a psychological thriller, which begins with a murder in Oxford, and then the action moves to Cornwall. It made me think, if we'd be able to travel there later this summer. We have booked "our" cottage almost a year ago, in between lockdowns, when we were hoping that the situation would be better by now. Sash shows me the pictures of Cornwall every day, it's his way of asking if we're going soon. I have no heart to tell him that we might not be able to go at all.

Hope you all are doing OK.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter