Week-in-Review: Fall Break

G has/had his fall break this weekend. We took time off and decided to do a hike one day, a paint night, and a firepit the next. Most of the weekend has been spent chilling and eating and not doing much. It's a much-needed break for all of us!

 

Can you spot the moose and her calf?

We loved seeing the newt crawl from the lake.

Things I'm Grateful For this week:

1. We had a perfect day for a hike! We saw a moose and her calf, a newt, and even a baby snake slithered along our path. It was too quick for a pic, though.

2. My apple cider Bundt cake turned out beautifully. It got eaten up quickly!

 

 3. I finally finished my Halloween blanket.

4. Enjoyed a paint night afternoon with the family. It took forever and G gave up towards the end but overall I think everyone had fun. And I like how they turned out.

 

5. We had a great night for a firepit. Hardly any wind and the fire was mesmerizing.

 

6. Mail-in-voting in my state. It's worked well here for years and am glad there has been no push to get rid of it. I voted and am dropping off my ballot either today or tomorrow!

Reading:

I finished up only one book this week Charlie and the Grandmothers by Katy Towell. I really enjoyed this one. All ends well and it was quite a disturbing ride along the way. I highly recommend it.

I started Where the Woods End by Charlotte Salter, another juvenile YA along the horror lines. G read it before me and really enjoyed it so now it's my turn. I also started Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

I'm still reading about a chapter a week from Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen. And I'll be reading the third section in Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. Our book club will be reading the section on William Lloyd Garrison and discuss in about two weeks. I'm about 100 pages into The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I'm loving her varying perspectives and time jumping. It keeps me interested. I need to finish it this week so I can get it back to the library on time! I'm taking my time with The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud. There's a lot to digest and I don't want to miss anything. But I hope to be finished by the end of October. Fingers crossed.

Classics I'm reading Emma by Jane Austen. Emma just realized she is in love with Mr. Knightley right after she realizes Harriet is in love with him too. What to do?

Philosophy: At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir,  Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Others by Sarah Bakewell. She's goes into some great history on the rise of Nazism in Germany and its effects on these philosophers. 

I have had to put down a couple of books so I can focus on some others. But I recently picked back up the biography on Carl Sagan by Keay Davidson. I bought it at a used book store in Washington last summer and had started it but put it down for one reason or another. I needed something different with everything I've been reading and this is exactly what I needed.

Listening to:

I had to send back Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendell to the library before I finished. But I'm hoping I can get again soon in one form or another.

Podcasts: Unfinished: Short Creek. It's all about the FLDS in Short Creek. It's a fascinating story, also sad and disturbing, but we get to know people and what was good and bad and in-between. I'm loving it so far. 

New Books Acquired: I picked up a few middle grade horror for G on the Kindle this week!

Watching:

Movies:

We did a classic movie night with The 'Burbs. Still hilarious. And Enola Holmes on Netflix was a very fun and cute movie with Millie Bobby Brown of the Stranger Things fame. Loved it and hope they're able and willing to make more. I think it would make a great TV series.

For my horror fest:

Black Box on Amazon Prime was a treat. I didn't go in expecting much but was pleasantly surprised.

Cursed Films on Shudder was a fun documentary detailing some horror films that have bad things happen either on set or to people offset. The Exorcist, The Omen, The Poltergeist, The Crow, and Twilight: The Movie were each discussed.

The Mortuary Collection on Shudder was also very well-done. It played on my preconceived notions and tropes, and fooled me! I loved it.

TV:                           

I'm still watching weekly Lovecraft Country on HBO. Best show on right now. Seriously so good. This is one I'll be rewatching yearly. The Third Day on HBO. I haven't caught up yet but I will soon. Finished off The Haunting of Bly Manor and it was excellent. Also a yearly rewatch. Finished Freakish on Hulu with G. He was soooooo sad that it had been canceled. We are left with quite a cliffhanger. I am loving The Great British Baking Show! It's my happy place. And the Halloween Bake Off on the Food Channel is also a must weekly. 

I'm trying to convince G to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with me too. At least the first three seasons. We started the first episode but got sidetracked and haven't gotten back to it but as it started he said: Mom, this looks really old.

Me: Well, it started when I was in high school...

Him: Like I said...Really old!

Me: Touche. and Ouch!

Making: 

I am done with my blanket so on to my DIY crochet items for family and friends. They don't take long but I have quite a few to make and I want to be done and ready to send them off in a few weeks. So I gotta get cracking!

I am making muffins with G either today or tomorrow...

Looking forward to planning goodies to make for Halloween night. Also to just enjoying these weeks before the election. It feels me with dread whenever I think about the after...

Joining in with Readerbuzz's Sunday Salon