Category Archives: season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

friday five – early october edition

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  1. I had a good old -fashioned sick day on Tuesday. Having a home office means that even when I feel less than 100%, I usually end up logging on and working for the day, simply because the commute is manageable – if I can make it down the hall, I usually feel like I should get to work. But Tuesday I had a migraine of the sort that I haven’t had in a few months, with dizziness and difficulty focusing. I slept all morning, woke up and ate some lunch, and then went back to sleep. By evening, I was feeling a bit better, and by bedtime I felt the relief of impending normalcy. I felt a little guilty for taking the day off but it was the right thing to do.
  2. We’ve officially started our month-long “21 Days of Halloween” horror movie marathon. This concept was born a few years ago when I felt disgust over the “25 Days of Christmas” schlock on some Hallmark or Lifetime channel and decided to spend the month of October swimming in the macabre. I quickly realized that 31 days of horror movies – and then 25 days of horror movies – were unsustainable for a healthy mental outlook. 21 days is a sweet spot of reveling in the morbid and decayed whilst still maintaining a productive and optimistic energy level for day to day social adjustment. I’ve decided not to do the periodic posts of detailed reviews of our viewing and will instead post a list of our full viewing for the month on Halloween, along with a few starred reviews. So far, I’ll tip you off that we seem to be favoring the 1970’s horror genre which means heavy on the moody and atmospheric (albeit slow-moving) narratives.

3. We decorated the lawn – Miss L did a nice graveyard of styrofoam tombstones yet I could not bring myself to take down the Biden sign so perhaps sending the wrong message? The same day this photo was taken, the wind picked up and blew most of the tombstones over so I have to go back to the drawing board with embedding them more firmly – any tips?

4. The hummingbird feeder is finally down, washed, and stored for the winter. I have fallen in the the rhythm of refilling the feeders and birdbath every morning (after nightly deer and raccoon raids). I can usually hear the chickadees in the trees waiting for me to finish up, flitting with delicate and inquisitive flutters and sawlike calls, but the other morning it was an entirely different sound in the neighbor’s tree – a restless, shifting organism made up of a hundred birds. I was barely inside when the dark cloud descended on the feeders like a gang of rowdy drunks at a free bar. European starlings – probably 150 of them, and it only took them a few minutes of tussling and gorging to clean my feeders out. There were a few more the following day, but I think they’ve finally moved on, to the relief of my typical crowd of sparrows, cardinals, titmice, jays and finches and cardinals.

there were at least another fifty at my other feeders, further back.

5. I’m still working on my Halloween socks but had a setback this week. I’d turned the heel and was working on the gusset and feeling not happy with the heel flap, which was done in-pattern (the Minecraft sock pattern by Heather Cox, available on Ravelry). In addition, by time I started on the gusset, I had somehow forgotten that the pattern was written for circulars and I was using double-pointed needles. This resulted in mistakes and so I had to rip back anyway, so I decided spontaneously to rip the flap all the way back and instead of doing it in-pattern, replace it with a simple slip-stitch heel flap. I think I’m going to like this better but I did lose a couple of days on it.

Obligatory Pot Roast picture in my home office

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be busting on my socks, taking lots of naps, and reinforcing my tombstones against gusty autumn breezes.

Obligatory reminder to vote blue: it’s good for the economy, according to Moody’s and Goldman Sachs, and reduces the likelihood that your governor will be the target of a domestic terrorist extremist kidnapping plot!

friday five

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What a week. I almost didn’t show up in this space today but I do have five things and I’m enjoying this little weekly exercise, so without further ado, let’s jump right in.

  1. So did we need ANY MORE PROOF that Trump is a criminal, a liar, a bully and a racist who defends, protects, and promotes white supremacy? I didn’t. He’s been showing those things via his actions for years. The minute he appointed a poster boy for the Breitbart alt-right to his administration, that was all I needed to know, and by the time he defended white supremacists in Charlottesville (“very fine people”), the horse was waaay out of the barn for me. The fact that he could not wrap his fat mouth around the simple words condemning a fascist, alt-right, Holocaust-denying organization is no surprise to me – but when people tell you who they are, believe them. The sad thing is that his base doesn’t care. His time in the White House has given credence and a voice to a segment of the US population that should be living under rocks, in the boondocks, being generally scorned by the civilized public and allowed to die a toothless death on a sagging couch under a stained Confederate flag wall-hanging. Instead, our President, our Commander in Chief, has them on standby when he refuses to accept a peaceful transfer of power. What the ever-loving FUCK, people. (Although I did love the suggestion from one Tweeter that said that if he were Biden, he’d open the debate by putting a tin cup in front of Trump and flipping a quarter into it.)
I will always be here for the Biden / Barack bro memes. 🙂

2. If you are on IG and NOT following Quentin Tarantino’s account @quentin.quarantino, you are missing out on some extremely funny shit from someone who hates MAGA and the right-wing and has an amazing sense of the bizarre, the incisive, and the hilarious. Also some great merch in his shop, and I think he donates some portion of the profits to charities although I can’t find any verification of that (I think I remember him posting a Story about it?).

3. On a complete 180, I’ll move into television entertainment and say that we were excited to see a new ep of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. It is more subdued than previous seasons, but Noel, Paul, and Prue were a breath of fresh air and although we miss Sandi, Matt Lucas seems like he’ll be a fine addition. It’s such a nice show to have for family viewing times with Miss L and when she’s with her dad, Brandon & I have been dipping into Season 2 of The Boys which is just as totally off the hook as Season 1 with just as many crazy “WHOA” moments.

4. I am making hay while the sun shines. Working from home has given me no excuse to get my shit together so this week I made dentist appointments and flu shot reservations for me & Miss L, went to the doctor for a physical and a prescription refill, had the chimney swept, and bought firewood. My car is completely up to date with service, and I am going into the winter with a new furnace and water heater. And yes we broke down and turned the heat on yesterday. Bring on the winter.

5. I’m hoping to get my Halloween socks finished to wear for Halloween but although my progress has been steady so far, I know that my sock-knitting productivity can take mysterious hits at any given time, so I am really trying to (see above) make hay while the sun shines. These are Ravelled, but just as an FYI I”m using Less Travelled 757 sock yarn in the Slutty Pumpkin colorway and using the Minecraft pattern by Heather Cox, which is also on Ravelry. This is resulting in a very satisfying knitting project and the Less Travelled yarn is lovely to work with.

I hope you’re all getting ready for a lovely weekend full of fall fun – pumpkins, woodsmoke, yummy treats, warm blankies and leaf piles. I’m going to be decorating the yard for Halloween with a variety of tombstones and a scary pumpkin-headed ghoul (that Miss L, in withering 12-year old fashion, thought was “a little tacky”). DON’T CARE – BRING ON THE GHOULS. xoxo

a chilling tale for halloween

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My folks live in an old farmhouse in a very small town in a county with just one stoplight. We frequently kid them that it MUST be haunted and my mom doesn’t dispute this but my dad just rolls his eyes.

Last weekend, we had a bit of a chilling night in that old farmhouse; presented for your Halloween pleasure…

L and I usually sleep in the same room, which has a double bed and a small twin bed. The house is heavy and solid and comforting, and I always sleep well. However, that night, several hours into my REM cycle, I was jolted awake when Miss L sat bolt upright in bed, saying repeatedly and insistently, “What? What? What?” Not panicked, but urgently. I was sleep-muddled and mumbled, “Who are you talking to? Go back to sleep,” to which she responded, at a somewhat louder volume, “WHAT?”

And, undeniably, a small, somewhat curious, mild voice whispered back, from somewhere in the room, “What?”

Miss L immediately lay back down and went back to sleep. I, however, was rigid in my bed with my hair standing on end. My heart was pounding. I must be half asleep, I told myself. She said it, just very quietly, it was L, not anyone else…or anything. I didn’t really believe this, but I managed to rationalize myself back to sleep.

Until a few hours later, when I was roused – gradually, not all at once – from slumber by Miss L’s quiet murmuring from the bed across the room.

“What are you doing?” I groggily hissed.

“Asking a question,” L replied.

“I’m sleeping! To whom are you asking this question??” I said.

“Not you,” L said, and in the chilly silence that followed, in which my hair stood up again, L subsided back into sleep.

The next morning, she remembered nothing of the conversations, and because my mind can’t actually grasp that I heard something else whisper that one single word, I’ve convinced myself that it was her, or my own sleep-befuddled brain. Or that my 20 Days of Horror, or Marianne on Netflix have caught up with me and are playing tricks.

Did my sleep-talking daughter commune with a ghost? We’ll never know. But I also don’t know that my sleep in that old farmhouse will be as blissfully untroubled as it has been.

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leaf peepers

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Miss L and I blew this downstate pop stand and headed up north on Thursday night. My folks live up there and we love visiting them at any time of year, but fall is especially magical. On Friday, while my mom worked her gig at a local historical museum, my dad took us into Traverse City for an emergency yarn run (mitts for Miss L) and shopping at one of our favorite bookstores, Horizon Books on Front Street. I picked up the new Philip Pullman (wait for it – Show Us Your Books!). It felt very conspiratorial as the streets were still bustling with folks in Friday work mode while we played hooky; but there was the indisputable growing excitement of TGIF and the inevitable WEEKEND right around the corner.

Saturday was one of those spectacular autumn days with a cerulean blue sky, and you don’t know how to dress because it’s so warm in the sun, but chilly in the shade, or on the lakeshore with the wind. We went to Arcadia and walked the new marsh boardwalk, and then up the Baldy Dune overlook, with Lake Michigan turquoise below and the Frankfort Light in the distance. The weather is syrupy and golden-honey now but very soon will show its teeth, with the gales of November and the immense black winter laying heavily down along the shore.

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Miss L and I made my dad stop for pumpkins at a roadside stand; it was full of bushels of apples and squash and the scent of cider. I wanted one of every kind of squash – acorn, butternut, spaghetti , delicata – but we just left with two four-dollar pumpkins. Miss L and I sat on the back deck in that rare sunshine and carved them into jack o’lanterns to leave with my folks to scare all the evil Halloween spirits from their old farmhouse.

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We drove downstate on Sunday, in lines of leaf peeper traffic, and took a few short detours for some color touring of our own. Highway 115 between Thompsonville and Cadillac was at or slightly past peak. Hurry if you want to see color, as the rain is coming in again and will likely take all those bits of sunshine with it.

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irons in the fire

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I feel like I have a lot of irons in the fire right now and I’m not really sure where to start with updates. (Or whether any of it is even remotely interesting to anyone except me.)

We went to see the Red Wings at home against the Maple Leafs last weekend…and sat right next to the Fox Sports broadcasting booth, which pleased Miss L to no end.

I’m knitting a lot and have finished objects!

I’ve turned out a few of these little pumpkins as harvest gifts for near and dear. Raveled and you can find me there at sixtenpine – it’s a quick and satisfying little pattern by Jan Lewis, Autumn Pumpkins. Meanwhile, knitting on my sweater has ground to a halt, and doesn’t look like it will resume in the short term, as my daughter has requested a new hat and fingerless mitts to match. For some reason she became deeply attached to the pink flat hat I knitted for the Women’s March a couple of years ago – I don’t think she wears it as a political statement, more because she likes the fit and the feel – but I have a vague feeling that at some point someone is going to say something to her about it and while I’d love to go nine rounds with anyone who would dare, the responsible parenting choice is probably a new flat hat for her in a less political color.

In running news, I’m slogging towards the November 2 half marathon in Savannah and have one 10-miler and one 11.5-miler into the bank. I have one more 10 or 11-miler planned for this week, and then what will be will be. I will be glad when the half and the Drumstick Double are done and I will no longer have to schedule 2-3 hour runs every weekend (and the corresponding exhaustion and soreness).

I’m reading lots and have some good reads to share at next month’s Show Us Your Books linkup…

And we’re continuing our inexorable march through the 20 Days of Halloween, with some pretty cool recent watches. Update to come in a separate post. (Lots of Margot Kidder, oddly enough.)

This weekend we’re headed “Up North” to do some leaf peeping, pie eating, hiking, and sleeping. Hopefully the fall colors are making a more brilliant display than they are down here right now!

Hope your October thus far is chilly, spooky, pumpkin-scented, and cozy!

overly ambitious

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Saturday it rained, but we miraculously managed to find two windows free of torrential downpours, so Brandon and I ran 10 miles and then took Miss L to the Renaissance Festival. First the run – which went well. It was overcast, cool and damp, perfect weather temps for me, and the 10 miles, while naturally slower, felt a lot better than the 10 miles of the Crim. I’ve swapped for a bigger hand-held, a new Flip Belt, and am experimenting with Clif shot blocks instead of gels, all with good results. My only complaint was the inevitable shock of getting into the shower afterwards, wherein every inch of chafed skin made itself known with bolts of pain. We’re almost a month out from the Rock & Roll Half in Savannah!

After running 10 miles, it may have been overly ambitious to tackle the Ren Fest. An hour in the car to feel my muscles stiffen up and then a ton of walking around a model Renaissance Village in the middle of the country…but Miss L has been looking forward to this for weeks and it was the only time we could go. She’s been collecting bits and pieces for her elfin warrior costume and her stepmom made a cool leather belt for her with all sorts of jars and pouches and a dagger. She looked like a prettier, smaller, redheaded Legolas.

I’m not sure if Ren Fest is a uniquely Michigan thing, or if they have them all over, but ours is in an actual small village with tiny themed buildings, a jousting field (where they actually joust)…and if you don’t go in costume, you are definitely in the minority. Brandon had never been and he went out of curiosity, but will go back for the gigantic smoked turkey legs.

All in all, I got almost 26,000 steps for Saturday, and then made up for it on Sunday by doing not much at all except shuttling Miss L to a birthday party and an appointment, and doing small yet satisfying things like knitting a pumpkin and putting badges on Miss L’s Girl Scout vest.

i know, sarge

I’m a knitting and reading fiend these days and will hopefully have a finished object to show soon, and on October 8 I’ll be participating in a Show Us Your Books virtual meet-up, so I’ll wait to review all my recent reads then. Until then, stay dry and let’s all cheer the beginning of my favorite month of the year!

lunchtime knitting at the botanical gardens

regardless, there are always highlights

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No one really wants to hear about the weather in a blog post, unless it’s raining grasshoppers or something else unusual, but it’s stupidly hot in Michigan. I always forget that September really is still summer, despite my dreams of frost on the pumpkin.

I’m grumpy because of the heat and what felt like a short weekend mostly spent, it seemed, preparing for another work week. Nobody tells you that once you’re a grownup, a 40 hour work week is just the tip of the iceberg. You also need to count hours spent commuting and doing laundry and grocery shopping and food prepping and all that other stuff just so you have your shit together just to spend all those hours at work.

Regardless, there are always highlights. Brandon and his cousin got his shelves installed, and Emmett promptly had to crawl all over them to investigate.

Saturday night we walked down to our local 1920’s-era movie theater, which is a thriving contributor to our little Main Street, offering live music out front on summer weekend evenings and $5 shows for not-quite-second run films. We saw “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, Quentin Tarantino’s reimagining of the Manson Family murders. It was a bit bloated, but I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a movie more in the past year or so. I’ve done a lot of reading about that timeframe and being able to see the Spahn Ranch, Cielo Drive, etc – or at least reasonable facsimiles thereof – was fascinating. I loved both Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in their roles, and seeing faces like Timothy Olyphant and Bruce Dern in cameos was fun, too. Sharon Tate was miscast, and although Tarantino admirably restrains himself from his usual penchant for gratuitous violence during 98% of the film, the 2% in which he lets loose and indulges himself is pretty stomach-churning. Despite that, a very fun film, and we stopped off at our local corner bar to have a drink and decompress before walking home. I love that about our little village- Main Street’s bars, restaurants, movie theater and library are just a short walk away.

We went for a run that was supposed to be 10 miles but only ended up being 8, just due to our schedule, and Miss L and I hit up the season’s first vintage toy & collectible show. I love these things. The people are awesomely geeky and there are always treasures. I snagged a couple of vintage horror comics and a print of the Creature from the Black Lagoon for my retro horror mantelpiece display.

Pot Roast had another visit to our neighborhood vet last week and after a vitamin shot and another mega dose of probiotics, and another round of antibiotics (“time to pill the Roast” is a common evening statement in our house), she’s on the mend. Pooping in the litterbox is a vastly underrated skill in a cat that you don’t admire as much as you should until they don’t.

Hope you’re all enjoying your early week thus far.

xo

dow gardens

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Brandon’s parents are retired and relocating to warmer climes soon, and, as always seems to be the case before one leaves a homeplace, they have a short list of Michigan things to do and see before they go. We helped them cross one of their items off their list this weekend, with a day jaunt to Dow Gardens and the newish Whiting Forest canopy walk. I still have a bit of PTSD from living there after graduating from college, when I worked for the Evil Conservative Chemical Company empire that rules the roost up there, but for Brandon I suppressed my shudder of distaste.

We loved the gardens, and they had an origami sculpture event going on, too, so the whole afternoon was really enjoyable. The canopy walk was a little less than I expected, but Miss L really enjoyed it and so did Brandon’s folks. There isn’t any significant color change in the trees  to notice yet, but it can’t be far off.

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I’ve been knitting baby mitts for the asylum seekers in Maine, and watching “Outlander”, and listening to a great book on Audible, “The Stranger Diaries” by Elly Griffiths. It’s perfectly gothic and creepy for early autumn. Miss L is collecting bits and pieces for her costume to visit the Renaissance Festival in a couple of weeks – an Elfin warrior queen – and we had a supremely enjoyable girls’ day on Saturday, shopping for shoes and new outfits for middle school, and a sushi lunch. Pot Roast is still periodically afflicted, but seems improved and we’ll ALL be glad when the nightly “pilling” sessions of antibiotics are over – she has a follow up visit on Wednesday and hopefully all will be well.

The next six to eight weeks are my favorite time of year. We have Ren Fest for Miss L to look forward to, and vintage toy show season is starting up, too – I’m hoping to find some good Halloween collectibles. We have long runs at Kensington to prep for the November Rock & Roll half marathon in Savannah and we just signed up for the Detroit Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day before the big parade (we’re doing the Drumstick Double event, both the 5k and the 10k). Lots to look forward to, life is good.

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weekending

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After our short week, we really needed another long weekend, but what we got was a normal sized weekend which felt insufficient. Regardless, it was what we had to work with so we went with it.

Miss L was with her dad, so Brandon and I took our long run out to Kensington and did the 8.5 mile loop around the lake. The weather was ideal – bright and clear, but cool, and we had the added bonus of seeing a cross-country meet in action. The antelope-like high school runners gave me a bit of motivation as I slogged my weary way up and down the rolling hills. I felt good for the first 3 miles, bad for the next 3, and good for the last 2.5. Sadly, in the middle 3 we ran past a horrific biking accident on the paved trail. We’re not sure what happened, as by the time we ran past there was a small knot of onlookers calling for emergency services and administering aid to a fallen biker. She was unconscious and there was blood, but she was wearing a helmet, so my prayers are with her that she received medical attention quickly and won’t suffer any lasting repercussions. WEAR YOUR HELMETS,  BIKERS!!

I took a blissful nap and then Brandon & I drove down to Detroit for dinner at Flowers of Vietnam. This is a lauded restaurant in an old refurbished Coney Island in the middle of Mexican Village – you can tell it was a Coney, but the former pop-up has given it some more polished touches. They’re known for their caramel chicken wings and dear Lord they were to die for. Sweet, sticky, crunchy, chili-hot. Brandon ordered the enormous broken rice dish (with a full pork chop, prawns, and a full sausage) and I had a cold noodle dish with rosewood grilled tofu and Vietnamese-style egg roll. My mouth is watering just writing this. I enjoyed a cold glass of rose and afterwards, we wandered down to Motor City Wine, a cool little shop / sipping bar in Corktown. The patio is supposedly fun, but we just sat at the bar – I had glass of dry Austrian red and Brandon had a delicious cold, sweet Italian red. It was so good that we’ll be back to buy bottles for Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations.

The weekend ended with more worrying about Pot Roast, whose tummy is still afflicted, and grocery shopping / dinner planning / food prep (maybe those two things shouldn’t be joined in the same sentence?) I did a vegan Pad Thai recipe that will be 2 lunches, I have some leftover quinoa / white bean skillet for 1 lunch, and a Buddha bowl of sweet potato, sauteed kale & black bean, corn and edamame with cilantro and some Bolthouse Farms avocado / yogurt dressing. Brandon’s movers are bringing over all of his belongings from storage at his parent’s house this week, so our full integration will be complete; and the week ended quietly with herbal tea, WRCJ jazz on the radio, Emmett on the chair next to me, incense and a brand new 1,000 piece seasonal puzzle from my mom. We may still be working on it at Christmas…

Be well and have a lovely week, friends.

the short week

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Why do short weeks always seem the longest? I think because everyone has to fit 5 days of work into 4. Plus, although Labor Day is a sort of secondary holiday in the pantheon of US holidays, it marks a big seasonal change for those of us far enough north to experience it, and it’s also sort of the unofficial “New Year” for everyone in school or with school age children. So in my house, the short week after Labor Day is summer end; it’s back to school, back to a different schedule, more routine. Which translates into getting up earlier – Miss L’s school starts an hour earlier, she is riding the bus, so her mornings are early and now mine are too. I actually really enjoy this – I’m most productive in the morning hours and getting to work at an earlier hour means I just get more done, I feel better, etc.

So last week’s short week was also stressful because as a mom, I was full of trepidation and anxiety about Miss L’s transition to middle school. I remember middle school as an absolute horror show. I was miserable to the point of feeling sick every day when I had to walk into what felt like an absolutely chaotic zoo full of mean kids, the horrors of gym class and lockers with combinations, and teachers who didn’t care about me because I was just one of many. This of course was not true, but it took me a solid year to find my footing and feel even a little bit comfortable there, and I was terrified that Miss L would have the same experience. However, she is a different kid than I was, more confident, independent, and resilient, and although I know it won’t all be smooth sailing (understatement of the year), her first week was better than I could have hoped for.

Pot Roast’s tummy troubles continued and necessitated a vet visit. She did not enjoy this one bit and was so grateful to be home with us when it was over, even forgiving me for sprinkling her food with probiotics and forcing antibiotic pills down her throat once a day.

Anyway, it’s Monday again and let’s hope this normal-sized week feels better than the abbreviated one, for us all! I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick update on our weekend dining adventure in Detroit.