The 18th was #PhotoAnHour day in August. I took part, posting most of my day on Instagram.

8am Late to bed, late to rise. After a late night watching Much Ado About Nothing at the Theatre in the Forest, I needed a big coffee, even if it was only decaf.


9am Tried out a solid hair conditioner from Lush for the first time. I keep it (and my solid shampoo) wrapped in @beeswaxwraps_uk reusable wraps. I didn't like it at first, but it seems to be getting easier with each use. It's very different from liquid conditioners so took some getting used to, but I think I'm going to stick with it. I might have to do a weekly olive oil hair mask as well but it saves on plastic packaging.


10am And the cleaning began. The kitchen got a thorough spring clean (in the summer).


11am Tea break, or more accurately, a jasmine green tea break.  


12pm When shuffle knocks you sideways with THE song that is guaranteed to make you cry. Every. Single. Time. Listen to it here, it's beautiful.


1pm Lunch. Omelette with smoked salmon, spring onion, pepper, feta and chives. 


2pm Going for a ride with Andy. He was working in a field within walking distance of home, so I hitched a ride. It's the most time I'd spent (awake) with Andy all week.


3pm Being dropped off as close to home as you can get in this. Andy was off to a field further away, so I headed to the sofa for knitting and a film.


4pm Sewing up and together, my least favourite part of knitting.


5pm In the company of cats. I have a feeling that Socks had a touch of lap envy.


6pm I gave up on the sewing up and knitted ears instead. Two pairs, because ...


7pm ... I can never have just one knitting project on the go at any one time. I have a monkey without arms, a dog without limbs or ears, and several pieces of what will, one day, be a rabbit. None of these projects have progressed any further because I've started knitting an alien.


8pm The one nice thing about Andy working late is that I can go to bed early with a book. I got to read for an hour before Andy came home and dropped into bed.      

Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting.

I can not believe it's nearly Christmas, I really don't know where the time has gone. Some of the things on this list seem like I did them eons ago, and yet I ran out of time to do them all. Still, it's been a lovely season in many ways. Winter maybe upon us but that means spring isn't far away and soon we'll have a whole brand new year in which to marvel at how quickly it is passing.

Here's how I got on with my autumn things-to-do list

Make fat balls for the birds and keep them coming throughout autumn and winter
Making these was messy and rather satisfying. I found a super simple recipe (some seemed necessarily complicated) and got stuck in. I made enough to fill my feeders twice over and have enough ingredients to continue making them well into the new year.

Watch a scary movie on Halloween
I didn't watch a movie but I did start to watch series 6 of The Walking Dead. I don't find this scary as such, however I can't watch it when it's dark outside.

Watch under 16s football from the sidelines (so much better than watching the overpaid 'professionals')
One of my nephews plays, and my brother is team manager. I enjoy watching a game or two and can be found shouting things like 'Go on Wanderers!' or 'Ref, are you blind?!!!!' whenever I grace the sidelines. This is rather uncharacteristic as I detest professional football.

Knit!
I got my sticks out and decided to make some toys, I knitted a lion (Leo) and a monkey (Moo). The monkey has been made several times before. He's really easy to knit, and so is perfect for my limited skills.

Spend Black Friday making handmade gifts
Rolling two goals into one, I was knitting on Black Friday. Leo and Moo are going to a good home in March when a friend's brother's baby boy arrives.

Make your own chai latte
I've long wanted to make my own, but all the different ingredients meant I was always missing one ingredient or another. I found a really simple cheat recipe and ordered myself some teapigs chai tea temples and a milk whisk and I was all set. Accompanied by a mince pie, it was pretty perfect. If you make it, please just remember to put the whisk in the milk and then turn it on. I didn't do that and splatter myself with milk, oh no (I did).

Paint pottery
I daubed a large bauble and a cute Father Christmas face at Crafty Coffee in Felixstowe - a lovely little place if you're ever in the area. And if you don't fancy painting anything, and they're not busy, they don't mind you just having a coffee and munching on a (delicious) cheese scone.

Go on a charity shop search for warm woollens
I did go on a good romp around the charity shops but found only one jumper, a lovely emerald green fine knit, originally from Zara. I'd say it's more of a summer knit but I'm not afraid of a bit of layering. I also found a lovely scarf - super soft and super huge!

Eat a Cadbury's Ghoost Egg, or a box of Mr Kipling's Fiendish Fancies, or both
Both, and some Mr Kipling Toffee Terror Whirls that had been reduced the day after Halloween :)

Get cosy and read
Over Autumn I read much less than I intended. I only read three books and given that I've read 45 books this year, it doesn't seem like much. My favourite of these books was A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart. I read a review over on t*rexes and tiaras in October last year, it came highly recommended so I put it on my to-read list. As luck would have it I found it in a charity shop in the summer and it didn't disappoint!

And the goals that life got in the way of  - prepare a crumble using foraged fruits and serve with piping hot custard, enjoy a homemade soup for lunch with fresh crusty granary rolls, needle felt some acorns, light a bonfire and roast marshmallows, plant spring flowering bulbs, turn off the TV and do a jigsaw puzzle (we got waaaaay to into watching box sets for this).

Maybe I'll get to do all of these things next year instead?

And so on to winter, what are your favourite winter pursuits?