HELLO dear reader, happy Thursday.
How are you? How was your Halloween? Did you get loads of delightful, gorgeously cute little kids knocking at your door?
I DID!!!!!!!!
After last year’s fiasco that I mentioned last week involving me chasing kids down to get them to take the sweets I’d bought, only to be told by a mum later on in the evening that they only knock on houses that have pumpkins outside, I made a vow that 2023 would be THE YEAR where all the kids come to our house.
So I threw up a sticky hanging thing above my door that said “enter if you dare”, gave in to my pumpkin hatred and carved not one but TWO two pumpkins (OK I didn’t carve anything, James did it all because I still LOATHE PUMPKIN SEASON) and got a few spooky images projected on my house, and guess what?! HUNDREDS OF KIDS CAME!
It was so so so so so wholesome. They were the most polite, well-mannered, gorgeously cute kids I’ve ever seen (minus one kid who I heard on the doorstep as I was headed to the door tell his mum that our house looked crap (!!!!) though to be fair, when I opened the door with a gigantic bowl of sweets, him and his mum did look extremely bashful and to be completely fair, the house did look a bit crap compared with others on the estate). They were wonderful.
Here’s my house (I only have my IG story but you can see the “crap” decorations anyway)
I even ran out of sweets! It was partly my fault because at the start of the night, I kept telling them to take more than one sweet, to which some replied “It’s OK, I want to leave enough for everybody” (cue me sobbing). I even had one young lad of about 9 ask me if I wanted help putting the sticky hanging thing back up above my door because it had fallen off (I couldn’t even reach it so there was no way this lovely kid was going to but I was touched that he offered). Honestly, I know I’m an Autumn/pumpkin grinch but I just find Halloween and trick or treaters so wholesome, it was a beautiful evening.
Anyway, it was a nice refreshing break from this ENDLESS RAIN AND DREARINESS.
My god dear reader, are you struggling with it as much as me?
I suppose if you’re reading this from anywhere outside of the North of England, you’ll have no clue what I’m talking about. But it has just been raining endlessly for DAYSSSSSSSSSSS – weeks even – and mixed with the new darker nights, it just feels SO GRIM.
I love summer and I love winter – but I don’t love this shit time of year that isn’t quite winter but is definitely not summer. This time of year where it just rains constantly, and the skies are grey, the ground is filled with sludgy rotten leaves and there is NOTHING FUN ABOUT IT (except I guess that I no longer have to commute in it like I used to – so that’s a plus!) all I keep singing to myself is that line from the James song (Sometimes) – ENDLESS RAINNNNN, ENDLESS RAIN.
Urgh. Anyway, here’s hoping we get some dry days ahead of us and maybe even some blue sky, but I know that’s probably too much to wish for right now. In the meantime, I have some goodies for you to brighten up these rainy days!
Reading
An injured kestrel learned to paint and now leads an art class
You know that meme about real friendship consisting of you and your best friends just taking it in turns to have breakdowns? I feel like that’s very much a real thing, only with my best friend we just have simultaneous meltdowns on the daily and repeat in a neverending cycle into the abyss.
So this week’s read comes directly from her, who at 10.30pm after yet another painful day of work and general life chaos, sent me this story amidst other random articles (one of which included the 300 facial expressions of a cat) in what I can only describe as a fit of exhausted hysteria. Her caption to accompany this article was “Fuck off. I’m outraged by this.” which made me really laugh as I was getting into bed, but upon reading it, I actually felt the same level of outrage!!!!!
The article is about gorgeous little Ferrisburgh, an injured American Kestrel who has been painting amazing artworks. I mean, that summary alone should give away the outrage right? A kestrel – A BIRD – painting art. Something’s clearly not right here is it?
The article describes how the bird had likely been kept illegally in captivity and therefore did not behave like a Kestrel should, and also due to its diet (or lack thereof) its bones were really brittle which had led to it becoming injured. They got him to react to hand signals that he recognised and run across some pieces of paper in return for treats, and as a result created some really unique artwork, leading to the creation of a “Colouring with Kestrels” class.
At first I thought it was really sweet, but I wasn’t all that sure how I felt about him suffering as a result of being kept in illegal captivity by humans. As someone in the article said, “he’s a little bird who think he’s a human.” I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a disturbing thing because nobody should think they are – or act like they are a human except a human. But either way, it did make for an interesting late-night read.
You can find the full article here if you’re interested!
Watching
THIS GORGEOUSLY CUTE BABY GIRL NOT GET MAD AT HER MUM
I feel like there have been a lot of these videos doing the rounds for years, and I am HERE for all of them, but this one seems like it’s maybe new?
Check out the below to see a mum tell her little girl that she’d eaten all her Halloween candy, and watch the precious reaction. I hope that mum gave this baby ALL THE SWEETS!!!!!!!!!
The Gorgeous Teddy Being Naughty
I honestly love videos like this SO MUCH!!!! SO SO MUCH!!!
Blossoms Announcement for Their Gig Next Year
Blossoms ooze coolness and general funness at the best of times, but this was SUCH a delight when I saw it earlier today. Absolutely love it!
Listening
1989 (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor Swift
With 1989 being re-released last week, OF COURSE it has been basically all I’ve listened to since.
Admittedly, 1989 isn’t my favourite of Taylor’s albums, but it DOES have some absolute bangers on it (Welcome to New York, Out of the Woods, Clean and Wildest Dreams) so it’s been delightful listening to it so much again recently.
Before You Go…
I mentioned last week that I was off to see a psychic – and I did!
I learned some VERY interesting stuff, not least that I have a psychic gift myself and should be in the industry of helping people, so stay tuned – I might end up doing what she told me and getting myself some angel cards to one day use on you lot, but for now I’m just going to do the main thing she told me which was slow down, practice a LOT of self-care and start carving out some apparently much-needed time for myself. This was echoed by Robin Arzon on today’s Peloton ride, who reminded me that “self-care isn’t selfish!” – so I think that was a double sign that I need to start prioritising myself. In the words of Alexis Rose – LOVE THAT FOR ME.
I loved that part of what she told me, plus a few other bits, but for now I guess they have to stay secret until I gauge whether they come true!
See you next week y’all!
Reflect and Introspect 