Fall has come on with day after day of gray and rain with the briefest, occasional, glorious gift of an hour of blue skies. I find myself aching to curl up and cocoon but the days are a haze of practice and volunteer and errand obligations opportunities. For the most part I’m soldiering on like a good Midwesterner, but I find it harder and harder to get moving each morning despite getting plenty of sleep. Time to start the Vitamin D and pull my lamp out from its summer storage.
Earlier this month, my sister and I took the ferry over for a visit with family. With gusts over 50 miles an hour and waves in the double digits, it certainly was an adventure (and an hour longer than usual) but once we reached land it was a wonderful time. I love it when the stories and songs start rolling. Plates of my Gram’s food don’t hurt either.
Reading: I’ve read three things since I wrote back in September. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer. If you’re going to read anything, this wouldn’t be the one I’d recommend. Earlier this year, I read What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape by Somalia Abdulali. It isn’t that I think the Krakauer book is bad, I just don’t think it does as good of a job addressing the subject as it could have done. After reading that I stuck with two *really* fluff reads American Royals by Katherine McGee and Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. Both were very cotton candy. I picked The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates as my BOTM pick and then a certain you-get-a-car TV personality went and made it her book club pick and killed any desire to read it. (Tell me I’m not the only one who side eyes celebrity book club picks.)
Listening to: Trey Anastasio and Phish to prepare for a date night concert. Also lots of Imagine Dragons, Twenty One Pilots, and OneRepublic because KIDS. I’ve been trying out a few different podcasts but not finding anything that sticks.
Knitflixing: I’m trying so hard to be good and not binge for hours and hours which is reducing the amount of knitting I’m managing to get done. I’ve done a few dishrags (car knitting) and have completed the cuff of a sweater and almost have one sock. I obviously think my list of Christmas gift knits is going to be finished by elves. As for shows, I’m watching the newest season of Poldark but I’m hoping something happens because while I feel horrible for George Warleggan, I’m mostly just bored. So excited about Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great but haven’t gotten a chance to watch that yet. I need recommendations. Carnival Row and The Politician were both recommended to me and I’ve watched a couple of episodes of both and liked them, but they haven’t stuck. I feel like streaming is going the way of cable television for me – too many choices so it’s easier to just shrug my shoulders and not watch anything.
So that’s me, as promised. How are you doing this week? Reading, watching, listening to, or making anything you’d like to share?
Your kids are getting so grown up! (I know. I shouldn’t even say anything. That picture of Vi, though.) As always, I love your photos.
I am with you on the desire to cocoon. I have such a hard time saying goodbye to my house every morning. Because I do. It’s a good thing, I know, to feel so at home at home, and to love my home. I just wish I could spend more time snuggled in there. Especially this time of year.
I liked the first episode of The Politician, but it didn’t stick with me, either. The trailer you shared last week for the new season of Mrs. Maisel has me feeling how much I’m missing having a series to watch. I do have This Is Us now, but that’s about it. Oh, and The British Baking Show. I think I’m the last person on the planet to watch that. I don’t know that it will hold me for more than a season, though. This weekend I watched You’ve Got Mail for the first time in…years and years and years. The movie didn’t grab me much (nothing really seems to lately), but I loved Kathleen Kelly’s clothes and her apartment and bookstore. Great style is timeless. It really made me want to own my own bookstore, which was a very early dream of mine, back when I was in high school working in the public library. I do not see how anyone who owns a bookstore could afford that apartment and wardrobe, however. Fun fantasy, though. As for fluff reading, I recommend Ruth Ware (listening to The Death of Mrs. Westaway currently) and I also recently finished listening to Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life (which wasn’t really fluff, but also not super challenging). Honestly, I’m having trouble finding books or shows that hold my interest these days. I hope it’s not a permanent condition.
I think that picture of Vi might my favorite. And they ARE growing up. (You don’t have to censor it, I feel less alone when others notice what my heart sees everyday. And I’m lucky – while I miss the days of 4 and 2, I might love these days more, even with some higher stake challenges.)
Yes, to You’ve Got Mail. I loved that movie and her and especially that bookstore. (Would it surprise you at all that I, too, dreamt of having a bookstore?)
I haven’t heard of Ruth Ware but we are heading into a long weekend and I’m going to look her up! I need some reading material. I really enjoyed Life After Life.
Your whole paragraph on home just sounded so lovely and content and made my heart happy. I hope you find time to cocoon soon!!
Hi Kate! You might remember my very long worded book contribution to the conversation back on your August 6, “Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I listened to CD audiobook of Ruth Wares 4th novel The Death of Mrs. Westaway which was a great escape for me and hearing the book read aloud to me gave me company that I much needed. I loved it and mailed it forward to a friend with permission for his Christmas holiday time off work…”
I knew that I would be spending my holiday alone so I escaped into my cozy duvet on the sofa with both my dogs (not absolutely alone) last Thanksgiving. Along with Rita, I do recommend this one!! Although I did the listening on audiobook for four straight days, I suspect reading the book would be good too! Just wanted to give a “I will second that for your long weekend.”
Yay!!! Thank you for reminding me of your comment and recommendation TD!! I just finished Girls Burn Brighter (don’t recommend) as it has been sitting on my kindle but now The Death of Mrs. Westaway is high on the list!!
Overall I feel the same way about streaming. I watch a few episodes of a few shows, always recommended by a friend, then never get back to the shows. I want to get into all the goodness that streaming has to offer, but for the most part it just seems like too much, too often. Not that I’ve given up on TV altogether, but I get your point here.
Before streaming, I really wasn’t a TV watcher and didn’t even have one from the time I moved out of my parents until my (now) husband and I moved in together (18-21). I couldn’t tell you why. I liked movies. I just never found TV compelling. Then I broke my ankle/foot and basically sat on my bum for 12 weeks and had lots of “rest” for another 12. I think I watched more television during that time than I’d watched my whole life up to that point combined.
I agree on the foo much/too often – it’s overwhelming. Some days I think I should just go back to not having a television.
Hi Kate 🙂
Love all your photos, especially moody Lake Michigan and the one of V reading. And I know I’ve said this before, but I LOVE your card catalogue. (Curious minds want to know what you put in those tiny drawers. Do they ALL have something in them? I have a library cart that I picked up from the curb and refinished, and it’s sitting—completely empty—in an out-of-the-way corner of my house!)
That’s a lovely sock you’re knitting. I finished the pair for my daughter’s BF and have started the first of a pair for my son’s GF. Have you ever tried any other heel type? Just this morning I saw a sock pattern called “Vanilla is the new black,” which had a really interesting heel.
On streaming—have you watched Maniac? It’s a Netflix limited series. I may have mentioned it before—it’s completely wacky (and very violent in one or two spots, and definitely not appropriate for children in another few spots) but very thought-provoking. I’m currently re-watching it.
I have no good books to recommend; I’m only reading non-fiction stuff that I hope will help me with my courses. As for listening, I’ve just discovered The Waterboys, a British-Irish folk rock band from the 80s, and (as I usually do) I will have them on repeat for the next several weeks, until the next thing comes along…
Have a good week, Kate!
Hello, Marian!! I’ve tried a couple different patterns for flap/gusset heels and an afterthought heel. I’d like to try a fish lips kiss at some point, but I know a flap/gusset fits better than an afterthought for me. I may have to look up the Vanilla is the new Black.
The card catalog doesn’t have things in every drawer. And the things it does have are random. I’m sure I’d find some LEGO and matchbox cars. Probably a spool of thread with a needle jammed through. I know I have a lint roller in on of those drawers. Maybe even a remote control I’ve hidden from the kids. 😉 But mostly it’s just useless and pretty.
I haven’t watched Maniac, but I may have to look it up. I don’t usually do anything intense because I’m a wimp, but I may give it a try.
I’m going to go look up the Waterboys!!! Have a great weekend!!
Lots of good here, Kate!
Yesterday I went to watch The Adams Family at theatre. It was great!! I laughed the entire time! It wasn’t anything that I anticipated, so cute, clever, and extremely funny. I highly recommend it!
ooooh!! Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been looking for a movie to treat myself to at the theater. That might have to be it!!