Tales of the Peculiar

Autumn arrived in the beginning of October, and since then it´s been awfully cold.

In my world that means only one thing: it is time to fill my already stuffed tea cupboard, take the soft blankets out of the wardrobe and curl up with a good book. I love books all year long, but somehow the cold months are my favourites for endless reading sessions. 

Consequently, this might be the period when I buy the most of my paper editions (the rest of the year I tend to download on my ebook, but when Winter comes I prefer the company of a good old paper specimen), as I take advantage from all the seasonal releases. One of the titles on my last book haul was Tales of the Peculiar by Ranssom Riggs.

Budapest in October

Hello everyone! 

 

As you probably know if you´re following me via Twitter or Instagram, I am not dead.

However, it´s been a couple, of crazy months during which The Gentle One and I managed to move to another city, find a brand new apartment and job positions, all in a row.  Those periods are quite usual in our lives, due to our professional choices and careers, and although they can be very exciting, they can also drag all the energy out of us. In my case, that usually means a drastic reduction of my spare time, and most consequently, less time for blogging. But fortunately, I am starting to get used to my new routine, so blogging can be finally back for good! 

Now, in October we had a short city break in Hungary, as my husband had some professional affairs to attend in there.  

 

Reasons why October is my favourite month

A few days ago someone sent me a non-very kind message through social media.

To sum up, this person implied I don´t really like Autumn and, by following its logics, nobody does, because the season is just gloomy, ugly and cold. Also, the only reason I told so is to look "trendy", because well, now Fall is...

Whatever the reason this person had to send me this message (which I suposse it was a moody day, a bad digestion or a mixture of both things, only Heaven knows...) the point is, some people can´t see the world from a different perspective than theirs. If they don´t enjoy Autumn/Winter/wearing black colour on a glorious July day (whatever basically) nobody can.

Isn´t that sad?

So I thought I could explain why October is my favourite month of the year.

I don´t really mean to make this person to change its mind, and obviously I need no justification, but I believe it is beautiful to share personal impressions and opinions so as this is my blog:

here you have mine.

Seasonal auburn nails tutorial

At the very beginning of the Autumnal season, I posted a picture of my auburn manicure on my Instagram account. 

A follower asked me to make a tutorial of it, as it was a bit more elaborated than a simple coat of nail polish. I didn´t think think too seriously about it, as I have little experience on the tutorial-art-land. However, I have been asked repetedly since then, so I finally decided to give it a chance.

I hope you will find it helpful!

November in the park

Do you know that type of day, when you feel lazy but you think it´s not healthy to stay indoors the whole time, so you basically force yourself to put some cozy clothes onand go outside?
Well, that was my Saturday.

The Gentle One and I went to a concert on Friday night and yesterday´s morning we were quite reluctant to make anything but procrastitating on the couch.
Nevertheless, we started a funny conversation about pros and cons of our current lack of exercise:

Autumn in Bucharest

Ey, darlings! It´s so good to be finally back! I did miss you.

It looks like we arrived to Bucharest yesterday, but tomorrow is the two month anniversary of the day we moved to our new home. 

Can you believe it?

However, reporting my adventures has taken me much more time than I expected.

When we released our shimmering apartment I was foolishly convinced that we would get an internet connection soon.
 I assumed I would simply jump into the first internet provider office I could find, get a good deal and happily walk back home to make a couple of posts or whatever.

Silly Violette (I can hear you saying), she will never learn.

And you´re totally right. I am a chronic optimistic...

 The first time I visited an internet provider they smiled a lot (I really mean it, people. The kind of smile that makes you think about The Jocker), but as soon as I started talking in English the smile vanished from their lips. They (and from this point I will refer to them as The Inexplicable People from the Internez) sent someone who could "speak" English to me and explained that I couldn´t be able to register with their company as a foreigner.

 "Really?" I thought. "Ok, I´ll look somewhere else".

 

So merrily off I went, searching for the next internet shop.

And against all expectations, I heard the same words again. In fact, I tried three different companies that evening. 

"What´s wrong with The Inexplicable People from the Internez?" I asked The Gentle One. "Don´t they want our money?"

And then I started thinking they wanted something else in exchange.

 Something like children to eat.

 Because if they are able to transform a simple internet contract on a nightmare, well, they must come from hell or something.

 So, after a week of stupidity and confusion, one of those demons employees told us that we needed to get a national identity number in order to hire any service.

Yeah, like a foreigner you don´t have that kind of right.

As you might deduct, we finally got it but it took a long, long time.

Nevertheless, I am back and I´ll be able to tell you about my Romanian experience, which despite the crazy internet issue is being really amazing. ♥

The Autumn is a lovely season here, as you can see in my pictures from Herastrau park.

Oh! And I don´t forget about the whole Give Away thing.

 I kept receiving questions through the blog mail (you can see the address on the right column). 
So nice to see I have many lovely readers out there! 
I will answer them all on a post very soon and then I will claim the winner and the secret prize.

Good luck everyone.

Stay stunned! ♥

And Wrought Upon the Clothes in Patterns of the Most Jetty Black

We suffered the terrible hot weather during the whole month, but the temperatures went down on the weekend. The only inconvenience is that, unfortunately, my obligations are not leaving me too much spare time to enjoy. We´re in the last week of the month and the term exams are far, nevertheless academic tasks pile up on a essay´s ocean.

Happily, not everything is bad.

Among all these obligations some attractive loads are hidden.
My north American literature seminars has been dedicated, almost exclusively, to the life and work of E.A. Poe. The author is always a delightful pleasure in which I adore to fall once and again. And there´s not such a big thing as reading it in this season.

There´s nothing spookiest than Poe in a dark October night.

Leaves have begun to fall, rain hits the windows and I ( lucky me) read Poe´s stories with a warm tea for my classes. This drove me to a wonderful mood disposition. I can just ponder about candles and pumpkins!

I don´t know if I mentioned it, but this party is special for two reasons: on the one hand, I enjoy the spirit´s night like one more kid and, on the other hand, this year I am celebrating my seventh anniversary with The Gentle One, ( a gothic couple celebrating their anniversary in Halloween, what a cliché we are). However, unlike it can be interpreted, the date was not chosen on purpose. Destiny linked us that night, which is pretty romantic if you think about masks and red wine every year.

This time I intended to celebrate it with something special, so I started to look for new ideas and accidentally stumbled upon Neil Gaiman´s blog. He proposes to give away horror books in Halloween and turn the party into a literary event. Personally, I think it is a brilliant idea.
What do you think about it?

She Spoke and Winter Left

My friend Elisa and I on a semi-melted mood.

As my readers know, I mentioned the early coming of fall a couple of times.
It could be thought that my words played as a hocus-pocus, as long as the season magically dissapeared. Literally. One day we woke up and Father Autumn had just vanished! Its grey beard made of wind and mist was replaced by the burning sun and its lovely golden leaves cloack is not here anymore.
Usually, I smile when people say climatic change is just politic maneuvre. I had never have so strong impression about this truth. October is here but cold is not coming! Many of you can think this is a regular thing in such a warm place like Spain but not in the north. Galicia isn´t a well-known region out form our boundaries, so try to imagine a fairy-tale kingdom full of green woods and gardens, the most similar landscapes across Europe can just be found in Ireland. Evidently, the situation is uncanny.
On a personal level, one may consider the obvious consequences of unusual weather for an academic gothic-victorian lady: on first place, attending classes is a nightmare in the stuffy rooms inside the faculty building. I heave a sigh every morning while choosing an outfit and look with dreamy eyes at the vast variety of wooden shawls, soft knit jumpers and dresses. Of course, they´re not an option these days, unless you wish passing out.

My dear friend Iago getting annoyed by weather and pics.
But he stills so cute!

I am concious that many people would be glad about it, however the little spooky girl inside me is praying for her favourite season: Halloween. And honestly, I cannot conceive it without a former period of dead leaves and misty grounds for getting me ready. There are so many details to inspire me!

• A good cup of cinnamon tea or hot mint chocolate.
• Silky cashemere shawls.
• Tartan blankets.
• Sacher cake.
• Victorian tea rooms.
• Reading by the fireplace.
• Flaper hats.
• Synthetic furs.
• Twilight walks across haunted woods.

My beloved sister (who, by the way, can be read here) want me to upload some pics inspired by the romantic beauty of autumn, but I am just in the position of posting these summery impressions at the moment (sorry, darling). However, inspiration is in the air and I´ll be making my best as soon as cold comes back. One of the new projects in my mind include a wintery Victorian picnic. Just imagine a bunch of ladies and gentlemen sharing hot drinks served from silvery teapots in a magnificent park, surrounded by golden trees... I just need the proper background.

So, please, please, send the season back to me!

Last Summer Days in the House of Despair

There are few things to do these days.

Summer is almost over and evenings are becoming shorter, chilly and windy. Human beings (poor little things) must leave their delightful walks under the sunshine and going back indoors. One can easily presage the winter coming.
When September arrives I do not feel Spanish anymore, the rest of the country will have one more month of shinning existence but in this small northern corner the warm season is gone. My homeland is a vission composed by wild landscapes, merciless wind, stone cities and deadly coasts dreamt by a Pre-raphaelite painter or some ancient storyteller, and we - the inhabitants - behave as sleepers.

Mornings are not usually different.
Three days ago I woke up just for finding an insidious grey daylight slipping through the curtains. Then, a sudden thunder sounded somewhere and rain began falling. With so little options and the majority of my books miles away on my apartment (I am spending the last holidays at my parent´s) I decided to sanctify this unexpected captivity to good films.
The winner was The Call of Cthulhu, a 2005´s production.

For being honest I did not expect too much from it. Normally, Lovecraft´s adaptations are poorly based on texts and too much focused on special effects. However, this one was the opposite. The project, distributed by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, recreates the misterious universe in a terrific movie. The Call of Cthulhu was recorded by using many of the most popular techniques from the 20´s. As a consequence, the final product it´s a exquisite silent film with a strong artistic design. It is the best adaptation I´ve watched the last month by far.
So if you find yourself imprisoned by a storm at home as I did, don´t waver to give it a chance.