1. The muted blue-grey of the Crown Prince winter squash, the tan scarring on the side.

2. An assortment of deliveries for me arrives in one go – I come home from the plot to find them piled on the table: a book from France, a history magazine, a tunic with geometric cats on it and a lovely new pair of boots.

3. Most of the times when I check my word count, the result is more than I thought. I don’t get quite as far as I’d like but 4,400 words in a day isn’t bad.

3b. Silliness while John drives home.

1. Clearing leaves (or snow) off the wire roof of the chicken run is as pleasurable as it is irritating.

2. I inadvertently draw a little cartoon of my dad.

3. The roll of steam travelling down the kitchen after John opens the oven.

4. The contrast between the flat character design and the textured backgrounds. The RP-accented French-speaking puppet makes us laugh a lot too.

4b. Speaking of puppets: having heard wonderful things about it a few weeks ago, I finally watch the trailer for Anomalisa. Later on, I show it to John and we watch it again and again while trying to identify a little audio problem we’re having with our amp. I don’t mind the repetition – I find it utterly engaging each time. I’ve not been this excited about a film for ages, and I tell John that we should pretend that Kaufman is at least partly named after Charlie. [He’s not, he’s named after Andy.]

1. I spent all of October failing to come up with a #NaNoWriMo idea – it finally comes to me as in my slightly feverish insomnia on the evening of the 1st. By mid-afternoon, I have an almost full synopsis mapped out. (Writing has to wait until tomorrow, when there will hopefully be less feverishness and more sleep.)

2. I usually leave my milk dregs for him but today Kaufman tries to share my breakfast with me while I’m still eating it. It reminds me of when Carbon used to do the same.

3. Surprisingly good ham.

3b. Moreish specks of aubergine in the pasta sauce.

1. I’ve forgotten how much I like chilli jam.

2. The pink mist over Idle.

2b. Friendly black dog runs down the path towards me. As he approaches, his tail helicopters in happiness, then his head joins in too. Finally, when he reaches me, he bends his body into a circle for our mutual love fest.

3. After a day of fighting with powers that are negative fractions, standard forms are a breeze. (I can’t believe how much I’ve forgotten but – to be fair – it’s not like the former come up in my day to day life that often.)

sat

1. I bail on the morning plans and have two more delicious hours of sleep instead.

2. Since it’s Halloween, I go for a subtly witchy outfit – between my black dress and boots, there is a little flicker of purple & black striped tights.

2b. The top of the dress needs some refining (it makes me – *me* – look flat chested!) but the skirt is wonderfully fun. It hangs nicely and floats around as I walk. It makes me feel like a dancer.

2c. The gyoza fire out streams of hot juices but are as delicious as usual. John takes a fork twist of my noodles and we end up having an impromptu Lady and the Tramp moment.

2d. I remembered I’d somehow managed to score us good seats but I forgot quite how good – second row, bang in the middle — and even better, no one sits in front of me. We watch in fascination as they play their many instrumnts – they’re the type of band you want to see in close up.

3. We each win a round of the game.

3b. Lily watches O when he goes to the bathroom with a “where’s he going?” expression. Later, she pads over to him so he’ll protect her from us cruel people who want to put her in the torture box (car). Lily loves her friend.

3c. The rays of the white street light in the mist make the red leafed tree glow.

1. Curling around Lily while we watch a breakfast-time Game of Thrones.

2. I pick up Kaufman for a quick cuddle but then I find I can’t put him down – hugging him is just nice.

3. My maths workbook arrives and I spend a few hours of the afternoon doing exercises. I’m surprised how quickly I run into difficulties but then feel pleased when I (re-)learn how to do things.