Photo diary: Project 365, week 9, 2026

 Oof and oof, what a stressful week it was...

It was my birthday on the last day of February, and we still had my birthday cake to polish off on Sunday the 1st. Only beautiful memories are left of the delicious red velvet sponge with chocolate cream.

For a whole week I was collaborating with Penandinkchallenge on Insta, with a list of prompts on the theme of Art Journal. I did my own seven drawings, commented on each post done by the inky community and also shared their artwork on stories. That was a full-time job (unpaid, I hasten to add).

My first prompt was Cherished Memory, and I did a sketch of little Eddie and my Mum playing football on the beach in Perranuthnoe all those years ago.

On Tuesday we had to travel to Banbury to see the anesthesist. It was rather a waste of time, as everything could have been perfectly discussed on the phone or online. It's not like Sasha was participating in the conversation. He was anxious and impatient to leave the doctor's office, my husband had to take him out for a walk around the hospital, and I stayed behind to talk it through. As predicted. I did ask them in advance if we could perhaps discuss it over the Zoom, but they insisted to see us in person. Sasha's presence there was purely nominal. They didn't check his weight or anything, and talked to us rather than to him for obvious reasons.

After the hospital visit, we popped into Coffee #1 for a quick drink.

Wednesday was the day I'd rather forget, it was so riddled with anxiety. Sasha was frustrated to travel to the hospital for the second day in a row. He was hungry as he wasn't allowed any food before the operation. He needed a dental procedure under general anesthetics. We waited for over an hour before anyone has seen us, by which time my boy was ready to climb the walls.

Once they started though, I couldn't fault them. The meds worked pretty fast, and soon he was taken away to an operating room for his procedure to be done. My husband and I waited in the separate room, went to have lunch in the hospital canteen. It was clean and had a good choice of hot and cold food. We had an omelette each, and it was delicious. I even went back to the chef to say how tasty it was, in fact better than we had in Paris. 

It took about two hours for everything to be done, and then we had to wait for Sasha to wake up. They let one of us stay with him, when it was clear he might be awake soon. It was quite scary to see my boy, who is always on the move, to be lying so still, with the oxygen mask on. 

We stayed for another couple of hours for him to get a bit more active, and got an Uber to travel back home. I was grateful that the operation went well, and that we had the option of staying in a separate room, without being bothered.

And then it was all about managing the pain relief medication for the next few days.

I took this photo on the way to Banbury, through the windows of the taxi. It was a misty morning. We went through some very pretty villages, though my mind was on the upcoming operation.

As one of Christmas gifts, I have subscribed to SnackVerse box for Eddie. It is supposed to be a selection of snacks from a different country each month. 

I subbed when they advertised the next box to be Japan (before Christmas). What we got though was Czech Republic, and they said Japan box was only for ad purposes. Very sneaky.

January box went awol. Evri claimed they delivered it, but they didn't have any proof photo, and at the time they said they did bring it in, we were all at home. I got a refund.

Then a few days ago I got a notification that February box was arriving, again with Evri. I knew we would be away in the hospital but there was no way to divert it or stop on the app. The box was left with the neighbours. When I picked it up, I realised it was already open, and most of the items except these three snacks were missing. Also the date on the box showed January. 

Where the heck has this box been hidden all this time, and who opened it? I contacted SnackVerse, they were not bothered, saying I got my refund anyway. 

I have cancelled my subscription. So, if you decide to subscribe to SnackVerse, do it at your own peril.

I understand that this is the first world problem, and ultimately totally insignificant. With all the worries we had in the last week, this hardly matters.

To coincide with my week of collaboration on Insta, and to cheer myself up after the hospital, I am running a stationery giveaway, including a set of Stranger Things stamps. There will also be a chocolate bar of the winner's choice.

Rather than post yet another drawing from my art week, here is a photo of the menu which my husband took on my request at the Founders' Feast in his college. I'm always fascinated by menus, and this one looked fabulous. He had a vegetarian meal.

After three Dick Francis' thrillers, I wanted to change to something different. Last week I went to the local library, and took out The Snow Ghost and Other Tales (Classic Japanese Ghost Stories). Supposedly these are the best and the scariest tales, though so far they read more like folk tales and legends, quite old-fashioned and hardly scary. Japanese horror could be quite creepy. This selection is a glimpse in the fascinating world of beliefs.

I was mostly influenced by the book cover design.

I have also finished listening to The Twisted Women's Book Club on Audible. Overall, it was entertaining (and just right for the ironing times), however, all the characters are so unpleasant and unrelatable. My new Audible book is Hart's Ridge by Kay Bratt (it was a free book). I'm only on chapter 3 and enjoying it.

As I usually have several books on the go, I'm still reading Citizens (about the French Revolution), tackling about a dozen pages per day. Hope to finish this educational project by the end of  this month.

How was your week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo diary: Project 365, week 1, 2026

 I've never finished last year's Project 365, having stopped some time in late summer. Will I last as long this year, who knows, but I really want to try again.

Here are the snaps for the first ten days of January.

The first of January was all about Stranger Things, which we watched as soon as we got up. We had guests until 1am, celebrating a new year's eve with us, and I was pretty knackered from all the cooking. I enjoy cooking but it was a bit of a marathon, trying to prepare a spread for people with different preferences and diets.

Once we got up, I told my guys they could prepare their own breakfast and eat the leftovers for lunch, as I was not cooking anything else that day.

It feels strange indeed that there would be no more Stranger Things, and that after all these years, there is no new season to look forward to (they did mention a possible Spin-off with a new cast, but it's not the same). 

The finale left me a bit underwhelmed. I've been reading all the discussions on social media about the division between the GenX and younger audience. Well, I am GenX, and though I loved all the 1980s background, clothes and music, I am still not entirely convinced the finale was a masterpiece, as some say. It was just a tad soppy.

Leaving us in suspence re: Eleven's fate was the right thing. It has to be ambiguous.

And the first season is my favourite season of all.

The photo below was taken by my husband, and later in the week, but I thought it relates better to the day than my own photo of a box of watercolours.

I bought this box of Cotman watercolours during the Black Friday week, but haven't had a chance to open all paints until the start of this year. 

And this is the first sketch of 2026, made with watercolours and black pen, Pigma Micron 02. It's a portrait of Eddie when he was little. He adored that Batman hat. 

Cornish Horrors/ Tales from the Land's End from British Library Tales of the Weird was my last book of 2025. 

I bought The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves on the new year's eve (and was rather peeved to see it at half price just a few days later). This is the first book I started reading this year. 

For some reason my husband hasn't watched the BBC Shetland series before, so I have re-watched all the episodes from series 1 with him. It is really good. I enjoyed Douglas Henshaw as Jimmy Perez and was worried about the Shetland series after his departure, but the ladies who took over in the last few seasons are equally convincing.

The characters of Jimmy Perez and his close family in the books are quite different from the TV series. 

My silly potted lime decided it was a good time to start blooming in the middle of winter. For some reason it rarely blooms in summer.

A sketch of a baby bison made with inks on toned paper.

Tuesday was a frosty day, with a smattering of snow. Eddie took this photo on the way to school. By the time I went out in the afternoon, most of the snow was gone.

7th of January was the Orthodox Christmas. I fancied something familiar from my young days, and prepared a Salad Olivier (pronounced Oliv-Eh), the staple of the Soviet celebrations, basically a potato salad, with ham, pickles, carrots, peas and lots of mayo. 

Thursday started with a foggy morning.

I asked my husband to buy a Galette de Rois on the way home from France. It is a French institution, a seasonal treat of a flaky puff pastry with an almond cream filling. There are so many versions, each shop tries to outdo the competitors.

Ours was a plain version from Monoprix. It was actually pretty good.

We're back to watching classics with Eddie, and our latest choice was Forrest Gump. I love this film. Tom Hanks is exceptionally convincing, and so so good. 

Shopping in town later in the afternoon, I passed by the Buttercross.

How was your start of the year?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo Diary: Project 365, weeks 29 and 30

A tricky week with our darling Sash meant I didn't manage to take daily photos, and also wasn't able to do a post for the previous week.

To compensate for the lack of photos for week 29, there are several extras for week 30.

A pink tart, with ricotta and remains of the berry compote I made the day before. I added the berries to ricotta and eggs, and poured over the shortcrust pastry case.

It might not be a GBBO material, but it was tasty, and colourful.

Since Boots have changed their points system, it takes ages now to acquire a decent amount. It took me a couple of years to get enough points for a new scent.

As it was Eddie's birthday coming, I have ordered a Lacoste Original perfume with a free gift of a sports bag. The perfume itself was also on offer. All paid in points, so I'm super pleased.

An exciting day for the Varese household. My husband received one of the signal copies of the forthcoming book Tradecraft/Writers on le Carrė. 

The book will be out in October, to coincide with the exhibition at the Bodleian library in Oxford. The book creates a portrait of the great writer and gives insights into his writing technique. My husband edited the book and wrote one of the chapters.

I read it when it was still a draft, and inside there are a couple of photos that I took many years ago.

If you're interested in le Carrė's life and work, visit the exhibition and read the book.

You buy expensive plants and bulbs for the garden, and they die. Yet so many wild flowers appear, that I haven't planted, and in spots where they shouldn't be growing, like this silly mallow, nestled among the flagstones. These flowers are really in the wrong place, and I should get rid of them, but I have no heart to do so.

The same with hollyhocks, there are some varieties that noone planted on purpose, the seeds must have arrived with the winds or perhaps in a bird poop.

One of my sketches for the ongoing Penandinkchallenge. Prompt: popsicle. I did a quick sketch in a vintage style palette, using Karin Realbrush Pro and Stabilo pens.

The fig tree has lots of fruit, still rock-hard, despite plenty of sunshine and heat. I was hoping to get at least another ripe fruit, and to my chagrin, the birds got to it before me, the other side was pecked to bits.

Monday school day was totally nuts. Eddie arrived home, covered in red paint, as they played games in different teams, representing their houses. They might have had a blast, but I wasn't amused. 

It was supposedly a water-based paint, yet the soap and water didn't help much. After Eddie had a bath, we had to clean it, as it was stained pink. And then I spent ages, trying to clean his face and arms with cotton wool and face lotion. 

On Tuesday morning I met up with one of my friends, who I haven't seen in months. I realised we haven't seen each other since before spring school break, as I still had a little gift for her which I bought in Paris (and that was in April). We went to the Middle Eastern cafe for a coffee. I also had a maamoul cookie with pistachios.

The last day of school... and freedom until September, when Eddie will need to think about his GCSEs. We met in town to buy a new wetsuit, as the last year's one is too short now (took it to the charity shop), and had some drinks in the bar. Sasha was out with his PAs, and enjoyed his trip to the cafe and the book shop.

My Pentire Coastal Spritz...

There are plenty of hazelnuts on the trees in the garden. The problem is: do I pick them up now while they are still green, or wait longer, and then they will most likely be bitten off and thrown on the ground by the thuggish squirrels. If they ate them, it would have been less aggravating, but they just throw them around.

On Thursday I managed to meet up with another friend. It's pure luxury to be able to see two of my friends in one week. It basically never-ever happens.

OK, now I have tried the overhyped M&S limited edition strawberry and cream sandwich. So much online furore over nothing, it being called a social media sensation. It is a bit bland, and while inoffensive, it was just about OK, nothing special, and I won't be buying it again.

Have you tried it? What's your verdict?

We don't usually have a cake for breakfast but as my husband was going away to Vienna to teach in a summer school, we decided to have a slice first thing in the morning and sing a Happy Birthday to Eddie. 

This is the Neapolitan cake that I buy for all my guys' birthdays, as it's their favourite. Sasha was very happy with the cake. 

One of Eddie's photos popped up on Facebook, from the day he turned one year old. And now my baby is taller than me, and is going to do his GCSEs next year.

It's not easy to get the right gifts for a teenager. One of the presents I bought for Eddie is The Last of Us game. We recently watched two seasons of The Last of Us, and I knew he would enjoy comparing the original game and the series.

You can also spot the Squid Game Funko Pop figurine under the screen, which was another of his presents. 

How was your week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo diary: Project 365, week 12

It was a week of dichotomy, with tears and smiles in bunches.

Monday didn't start well, as Sasha got up in a bout of angst and temper. He was so stressed and kept hitting the wall in his room so hard that he actually hurt himself, and there was blood on the wall from his hand.

It's been over a year since Sasha's anxiety has peaked. Overall, the meds help, but still there are days like this, when his depression and anxiety rule. 

It's very hard to see my boy so distressed and unhappy, and I can only imagine how hard it must be for him, not being able to express his pain in words.

Later he was in a much better mood, going out with his PAs, and having a birthday cake in the evening. My guys love the Neapolitan cake from Waitrose, it's a tasty three-layer sponge cake, very pretty.

Eddie and I are big fans of the Hunger Games series of books and films, and were looking forward to the latest release, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I pre-booked it a long time ago on Waterstones. The site doesn't give you an option of pre-booking for collection in store (as they used to), and insist on sending it to your home address, using the services of Royal Mail. 

Sorry to say, but Royal Mail is a pain in the posterior. They allocate the time slot by email, and never ever stick to it. Last week they were supposed to deliver a small parcel from the Sates on Saturday, instead it was delivered on Sunday. I detest waiting and waiting for them all day long.

I was super annoyed that the book hasn't been delivered on the publication day at all. Never again will I place a pre-order with Waterstones, and will just buy in the actual store itself, especially that we have a brilliant team at the local store, very friendly and knowledgeable.

The latest Tokyo Treat box arrived this week. This is the third, and most likely, final, box for us. As much as we enjoyed trying all the new foods and discovering new flavours, it's just too pricey to continue. It's a cool gift idea for a birthday or whatever occasion you celebrate.

The weather kept changing its mind from day to day, we had some very hot days followed by rather chilly ones. I keep pottering in the garden, as there is so much to do there. Love seeing life in the garden, already spotted a few butterflies, bumblebees and ladybirds.

On Friday Eddie was invited by one of his class mates for a sleepover, and I walked with him across the town centre, helping to carry his things. The evening sun was casting its rays on the cloak at Buttercross (clock turret).

The sakura blossom in town is so pretty. This tree is just outside the Nuffield clinic.

In the last week I was reading Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates, a psychological/survival thriller, set in a remote cabin in the winter snowstorm. Eight strangers go by bus on a trip to the Rocky mountains. On the way to the resort where they were heading, they are stranded by a fallen tree. While waiting for the road to be cleared, Christa (the main character who narrates the story) and her boyfriend go for a quick walk and get lost in the storm.

The group is forced to ditch the original destination and take shelter in a seemingly abandoned hunting cabin. The atmosphere is claustrophobic enough, and then the tour guide goes missing. His mutilated body is found the next morning. Is there is a murderer on the loose, playing sadistic games, or is someone from the group killing their tour mates for sport. Who, if anyone, can Christa trust, as the number of survivors goes smaller and smaller... Who is the culprit, and what's their agenda? 

The story is very graphic, so if you're squeamish, don't read it. I usually enjoy this kind of isolated setting, but the plot was rather convoluted and the reasoning behind the murder spree isn't convincing.

This is the first book by Darcy Coates that I've read. I must be reading way too many thrillers, because I somehow guessed the twist quite early. 

How did your week go?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo diary: week 15, project 365

 Easter holidays seemed longer than usual, but it's back to school today. The morning passed in a blur, nobody was enthusiastic about getting up earlier. Sash was quite excited, as he missed his school, and he kept showing me pictures and PECs of school - his way of asking when he would be going back.

Looking back at the week, we didn't do much. We finished watching all four Hunger Games films, which I absolutely loved, and will be happy to watch again in the future. For some reason it resonated with me. We even started reading the first book together. 

I posted several book reviews, including for The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, which I found fascinating and beautifully written. It is a ghsot story, set in Cornwall, but it's also much more than that. It's an exploration of grief, and mental anguish. 

Our friends invited us for an hour of tennis at the Leys. I wasn't sure if we would be able to go, as we woke up to a layer of snow on the ground. Not exactly a tennis weather.

We walked to the tennis courts past the church: the daffodils were poking out like yellow rebels from the snow. I didn't realise my iphone touched the drops on the flowers, so the snap appears slightly ghostly, with the flower's stem almost invisible and the flower "floating" in the air.

An hour later it got so hot at the courts, that we had to take off the coats. Utterly crazy weather. On the way home we visited the book shop, where we bought Hunger Games book 1. This was the first and only non-food shop we've visited in a while. 

Eddie spent quite a lot of time, playing in the garden. He loves climbing on the apple tree. This is a snap taken by my husband. 

The red car in the background is an old bed which we bought for Eddie several years ago. It was the worst purchase of my life. He hated it so much, he probably slept only one night through in it. It is made of hard plastic, and when he moved around, it made loud banging noises, and was also super uncomfortable. It's been in the shed for some time, and I am thinking of turning it into a bedding frame for flowers.

This week has seen a caterpillar cake war on social media. M&S is claiming Colin the Caterpillar cake and suing Aldi for the copyright. Except that all the other supermarkets have the same style cakes. Every single store. There are some amusing tweets on the topic.

On Friday Eddie had a friend over for a day. And again, it was one of the firsts in a long while. I didn't mean them to spend just so many hours together, but they had so much fun.

On Saturday the Brits said Farewell to the Duke of Edinburgh. We didn't watch the whole ceremony, as we were out, and only caught the very end. We did observe the minute of silence at 3pm. 

I've read that thousands of people lodged complaints to the BBC about the non-stop coverage of the Duke's life on the day when his death was announced. Could they not have found a different channel among hundreds? With so many good causes to fight for they choose this occasion to complain? 

I'm not a Royalist at all, but reading about these complaints truly irked me. Where is the so called national tolerance? "...send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee".

And how was your week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Photo diary: week 14, project 365

 The weather can't decide, what it's going to be. On Easter Sunday we had sunshine before lunch, and snowflakes melting mid-air in the afternoon. I had to cover up the potted tulips, as I was worried they might not endure the frost well, then uncover, then cover again. It was as if the weather was playing silly games with us.

I cooked most of the Easter lunch apart from the dessert, which was a winter berries meringue wreath from M&S. It was tasty but a pain to slice, even after it was completely defrosted, so after I took the pretty photo and started to cut, the cake was a big mess of broken meringues, cream and berries. Though nobody complained. 

On Monday morning we had a long walk around town, catching Pokemons. I saw this funny-shaped cloud, and thought it looked like an angry bear trying to swallow the small cloud.

I've been feeling stressed recently, and when I am, I turn to retail therapy and buy books. Whenever I read an interesting review, either online or in the newspaper, I add the books to my TBR list, and regularly go through it, checking if the price has gone down. Truly bad habit. This is the stash I bought in the last few weeks.

I follow quite a few authors seen below on Twitter, like Robin Morgan-Bentley, Matt Haig, Maisie Thomas, Amanda James etc. 

I started reading Sisters by Daisy Johnson. It had great reviews which must have influenced my choice. I'm half-way through, and so far not impressed. The author tries very hard to be edgy-intellectual. The style of writing is convoluted, and there are big passages with hardly any punctuation. I want to finish it, and hope my first impressions are wrong. Have you read Sisters?

More cloud shapes - this one made me think of an angel flying horizontally over the trees, with his beautifully shaped wing.

The sight of chickens roaming around always makes me think of my grandma who kept chickens. She lived at the end of the village, with the forest blending into the garden, and steppes all around. 

This lovely view is of the Cogges Manor Farm. We didn't venture inside the compound, as the air was nippy. Hopefully once the weather makes up its mind and gets warm properly, we can visit Cogges and look at the beautiful garden.

After the Mother's day was over, our local Waitrose had lots of potted plants at reduced price. I bought a pot with white hyacinths. They are in full bloom now, and the scent is so delicate and beautiful. The hyacinths in the garden are almost all wilted now, and I'm still waiting for the pricey tulips from the garden centre to start to bloom. 

I have quite a lot of red tulips along the garden path, which grow "in the wild", i.e. I never feed them or do anything, they just reappear every year, strong and intensely red.

My Mum was looking through her boxes of old photos, and have dug out this picture of me, when I was in my early 20s. She asked my brother to scan it and send to me. I think I was in my 1980s modern romantics' stage, wearing floaty long dresses and lacy tops. I loved that vintage top, it belonged to a friend of my Mum's who's found it in her closet from her younger days. It was knitted from white cotton thread, and I have added tiny little pearly beads along the edges. 

When I look at the photo now, I think I was very pretty, but I was so insecure about my appearance.  And gosh, my head was so full of romantic nonsense. It didn't help that the boy I fancied didn't even notice me. I wish I could tell my younger self not to fret, and that the boy I was pining for, was just not right for me. 

On a different topic, we watched Hunger Games (first two films) for two evenings in a row. I didn't expect that I would be so involved emotionally. 

And how was your week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter