Metatalktail Hour: Fall Follies/Spring Sillies September 16, 2017 5:24 PM Subscribe
The seasons are changing, which means I want to talk about what you're up to for the next few months for fall/spring/wet season/dry season/eternal paradise of your tropical island where the seasons don't change!
I am under self-imposed house arrest (except for basic necessities and Sundays off) until I finish my goddamn thesis. And then after I defend I might (might! please please please) get to go to Hawaii for a week. And then after that I might (might! pleeease) have a job lined up. OK, back to writing!!
posted by btfreek at 5:40 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by btfreek at 5:40 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
I am the lead mentor for my kids middle school FIRST FTC robotics team. So, I will be wrangling volatile youth and trying to help build a working robot. Fun but exhausting, especially since I am a graphic designer, not a roboticist engineering type. I already now know more about gearbox ratios and drivetrain design than any self-respecting liberal arts major would ever admit...
posted by Chrischris at 5:43 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Chrischris at 5:43 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
Fall is my favorite season--the brisk weather always makes me feel so energized. And the cooler weather gives me an excuse to spend time in my kitchen on weekends making tons of homemade soups. I make huge batches and then freeze them so I have a big supply of comfort foods available during the week when I'm often too tired to cook but still crave a nice meal. Plus, I find all the chopping, dicing, etc to be quite relaxing. Some of my favorites to make are minestrone, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken with wild rice, cheddar veggie chowder, Italian sausage and vegetable, beef barley with vegetables... I love cool weather cooking!
posted by bookmammal at 6:04 PM on September 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by bookmammal at 6:04 PM on September 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
So after reading the Officer Edith thread I thought it would be prudent to get the cat an id tag in addition to his microchip. Not for wearing all the time, but perhaps on those days when my landlord needs to let himself into my apartment when I am not home, for example. My city does not require cats to be licensed, so I went out and got a little tag engraved with the cat's name and my phone number.
I am going on vacation in a few weeks and so I had to dig out the package that the vet gave me when the cat got vaccinated for rabies. I hadn't opened the little envelope because I thought it was just the "i am vaccinated!" tag and didn't need it until now (when I have to provide proof of immunization to the cat hotel).
Yeah. It's a rabies tag, but it is also a registration number for a local free "find my pet" service that partners with my vet's office. I felt exceptionally silly when I realized that I've had this for almost a year, and that I could have skipped getting my very special fur baby a personalized name tag.
So hey my cat is like, totally covered.
posted by janepanic at 6:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
I am going on vacation in a few weeks and so I had to dig out the package that the vet gave me when the cat got vaccinated for rabies. I hadn't opened the little envelope because I thought it was just the "i am vaccinated!" tag and didn't need it until now (when I have to provide proof of immunization to the cat hotel).
Yeah. It's a rabies tag, but it is also a registration number for a local free "find my pet" service that partners with my vet's office. I felt exceptionally silly when I realized that I've had this for almost a year, and that I could have skipped getting my very special fur baby a personalized name tag.
So hey my cat is like, totally covered.
posted by janepanic at 6:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
Septembers always feel like new beginnings to me from many years of indoctrination in the American school system. I finished unpacking the last few boxes we're unpacking (we're storing a bunch until we're in a permanent house), I got storage bins to fit the closet and I LOVE getting new organizing things!, so I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit this weekend already. I guess I don't have a whole lot planned for the fall other than all the stuff you do in a new place -- find doctors, dentists, vets, etc. -- and volunteering at my new, ultra-intense PTA. (We have clearly moved to a competitive-parenting environment, which is not really my scene.) I kept just a few small craft projects out of storage so I'm going to see if Nano McGee is big enough to let me embroider without "helping" and knock off a couple of those this fall.
Meanwhile, Halloween looms, and my children are being buttheads about it. They want to be a theme, but they can't agree on a theme, and I am at a loss. If you have any cute Halloween ideas for 8 and 6 year old boys and a 1 year old girl, hit me up. Last year the boys were constellations and the baby was an alien and it was AWESOME. This year I cannot talk them into anything and the 6-year-old is mad that I won't build a fully-functioning 1829 train for him from scratch, like I'm a friggin' blacksmith or something. I suggested he could dress as the train's INVENTOR and I would buy him a model of the train and he could carry it around and tell everyone about it, and he burst into tears and refused to talk to me for an hour because that was such a terrible idea. He also will not accept a cardboard box version of the train, it has to be LIFE SIZE and WORKING. So we are at an extreme impasse in my house.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [22 favorites]
Meanwhile, Halloween looms, and my children are being buttheads about it. They want to be a theme, but they can't agree on a theme, and I am at a loss. If you have any cute Halloween ideas for 8 and 6 year old boys and a 1 year old girl, hit me up. Last year the boys were constellations and the baby was an alien and it was AWESOME. This year I cannot talk them into anything and the 6-year-old is mad that I won't build a fully-functioning 1829 train for him from scratch, like I'm a friggin' blacksmith or something. I suggested he could dress as the train's INVENTOR and I would buy him a model of the train and he could carry it around and tell everyone about it, and he burst into tears and refused to talk to me for an hour because that was such a terrible idea. He also will not accept a cardboard box version of the train, it has to be LIFE SIZE and WORKING. So we are at an extreme impasse in my house.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [22 favorites]
Give him a really tall black hat and tell him he's the smokestack.
posted by ardgedee at 6:12 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 6:12 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
For the first time in a long time I have no real big plans. Our 20th anniversary is October 4th so we're going up to Vermont for a weekend in a couple weeks and then we're going to Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving (Columbus Day weekend in the US). Other than that, no big plans.
I'm almost done with my current project, the bass I've been working on since May, and I'm contemplating what to do next. I would like to build a workbench (like, a real solid woodworker's bench with vices and whatnot) but I tend to get intimidated and afraid to start big projects like that. I also have a couple ideas for guitars I want to build. We'll see. Fall is a good time to work in my shop, once I no longer have Red Sox games to watch every night and before it gets too cold down there. I should probably make something for my wife at some point since she's seen me make a few things for anonymous internet people but I have yet to build something for her.
In other news, I went to a Metafilter meetup today! We ate lots of dim sum and had a grand ol' time. Amy came with me and got to meet some of my internet friends. Tomorrow I am going to another Metafilter meetup, a hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and it will be nice to just show up and go rather than to actually have to plan anything. So this is the weekend of Mefites for me, I guess. I have been swapping hiking-related MeMails and Instagram comments with Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival for, well, a couple of years now, and it will be nice to finally meet the dude and hike with him.
There was just a big re-org at work and I was thrown into a new team, though my job will remain largely the same. It's both terrifying and exciting. Terrifying because we suddenly have a lot more to do, and exciting because it's a new opportunity to work with people I know but haven't really worked with much. I did see the cube I'm moving to though and there were three mouse traps under it. The woman whose cube I'm taking was laid off (one of about ten that were let go) and she's a friend of my wife's so there will probably be an awkward conversation about this in my future. Also my new boss seems sort of human when my last, say, five bosses have not been very human. I'm told they actually have cake once a month. CAKE! I try to always see change as an opportunity and if it ends up sucking then it's my job to fix it, I guess. Trying to be open-minded about it. Cake.
My son is 15 and goes from being super amazing and awesome to a shitty, insufferable teenager every ten minutes. Here's a secret you should know: Sometimes I give him the finger behind his back. It makes me chortle with glee. If you're a parent you should try it, it's kind of healing. Seriously, though, he's great but he's a teenager and teenagers are complete assholes. He's great though. I love him dearly. I know his occasional grunts means he loves me back. He's great. Really. Really.
I don't know what else there is. This is the time of year when I begin to dread the holiday season and the long New England winter but we have fall between now and then and fall means apple season and foliage and fires in the fireplace and cool nights under blankets.
posted by bondcliff at 6:13 PM on September 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
I'm almost done with my current project, the bass I've been working on since May, and I'm contemplating what to do next. I would like to build a workbench (like, a real solid woodworker's bench with vices and whatnot) but I tend to get intimidated and afraid to start big projects like that. I also have a couple ideas for guitars I want to build. We'll see. Fall is a good time to work in my shop, once I no longer have Red Sox games to watch every night and before it gets too cold down there. I should probably make something for my wife at some point since she's seen me make a few things for anonymous internet people but I have yet to build something for her.
In other news, I went to a Metafilter meetup today! We ate lots of dim sum and had a grand ol' time. Amy came with me and got to meet some of my internet friends. Tomorrow I am going to another Metafilter meetup, a hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and it will be nice to just show up and go rather than to actually have to plan anything. So this is the weekend of Mefites for me, I guess. I have been swapping hiking-related MeMails and Instagram comments with Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival for, well, a couple of years now, and it will be nice to finally meet the dude and hike with him.
There was just a big re-org at work and I was thrown into a new team, though my job will remain largely the same. It's both terrifying and exciting. Terrifying because we suddenly have a lot more to do, and exciting because it's a new opportunity to work with people I know but haven't really worked with much. I did see the cube I'm moving to though and there were three mouse traps under it. The woman whose cube I'm taking was laid off (one of about ten that were let go) and she's a friend of my wife's so there will probably be an awkward conversation about this in my future. Also my new boss seems sort of human when my last, say, five bosses have not been very human. I'm told they actually have cake once a month. CAKE! I try to always see change as an opportunity and if it ends up sucking then it's my job to fix it, I guess. Trying to be open-minded about it. Cake.
My son is 15 and goes from being super amazing and awesome to a shitty, insufferable teenager every ten minutes. Here's a secret you should know: Sometimes I give him the finger behind his back. It makes me chortle with glee. If you're a parent you should try it, it's kind of healing. Seriously, though, he's great but he's a teenager and teenagers are complete assholes. He's great though. I love him dearly. I know his occasional grunts means he loves me back. He's great. Really. Really.
I don't know what else there is. This is the time of year when I begin to dread the holiday season and the long New England winter but we have fall between now and then and fall means apple season and foliage and fires in the fireplace and cool nights under blankets.
posted by bondcliff at 6:13 PM on September 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
I've just submitted my tenure packet, so I will be: holding my breath, all fall at the least.
posted by Dashy at 6:20 PM on September 16, 2017 [22 favorites]
posted by Dashy at 6:20 PM on September 16, 2017 [22 favorites]
In a fit of insanity I ordered more than 11,000 bulbs for work. This will be in addition to the 9,000 tulips we usually plant. They'll be arriving in late fall and the three of us will be scurrying around planting them at the same time as we install our holiday lighting display. So there will be confusion when we talk about bulbs: light or flower?
posted by sciencegeek at 6:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [13 favorites]
posted by sciencegeek at 6:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [13 favorites]
I am happily munching my way through two banh mi (sieu mai and pork belly, if you must know) in celebration of the half marathon I completed this morning (a new PB by ten seconds!).
My buns, are tightening up like steel cable, and I'm dreading heading out to the inlaws to pick up the kids later as all that braking and accelerating is gonna be murder!
I'm ready for spring here in Australia; spring means I can cook more fritters and salads and other cool foods. Also, the days are getting longer again, and I'm not picking up the kids in the dark any more. Of course, the temperature if still delightful, but winter was incredibly mild, I fear what summer holds.
posted by smoke at 6:30 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
My buns, are tightening up like steel cable, and I'm dreading heading out to the inlaws to pick up the kids later as all that braking and accelerating is gonna be murder!
I'm ready for spring here in Australia; spring means I can cook more fritters and salads and other cool foods. Also, the days are getting longer again, and I'm not picking up the kids in the dark any more. Of course, the temperature if still delightful, but winter was incredibly mild, I fear what summer holds.
posted by smoke at 6:30 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
Cleaning up the yard after Irma and hoping that no further hurricanes come our way this year. Also starting a kitchen renovation.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:48 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 6:48 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
My show The Solid Gold Lamé Cabaret runs at the end of September/beginning of October, then I'm making a short film for Gothtober.com, and I'm in rehearsals for a children's show written by a friend for her theater company, which opens in November maybe? Scheduling is not their strong suit. I'm playing an aggrieved father, a king and a cat.
I'm also working on my first Haloween costumein... well over a decade (wow!). It's inspired by Zardoz, but no, it's not a red speedo and bandoliers. I'm going to make a mask that looks like the giant floating head, and then put some astroturf on my shoulders with little plastic people I'll paint to look like the "savages", and then figure out how to have little plastic rifles come flying out of the mouth.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 6:51 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm also working on my first Haloween costumein... well over a decade (wow!). It's inspired by Zardoz, but no, it's not a red speedo and bandoliers. I'm going to make a mask that looks like the giant floating head, and then put some astroturf on my shoulders with little plastic people I'll paint to look like the "savages", and then figure out how to have little plastic rifles come flying out of the mouth.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 6:51 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
We're getting our house re-wired! It's good, we've needed to do it. But it's super disruptive -- we're normally night owls but the electricians start early in the morning; we're reluctant deciders but the electricians need actionable decisions made now; we're cluttery but they need the space cleared out, etc. So it's making me take on this responsible-normal-adult persona, getting up early, keeping things clean, which is ...a good thing. It's almost like going on a retreat where you have to be disciplined and do healthy habits and stuff. It feels very appropriate to September.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
We're in the depths of college application season at our house. We've done it once before (eldest is currently a junior at the University of Rochester) and it's breaking my heart all over again. I really like my kids and it's great that they're moving on and out but it also really really sucks and I wish they had been typical teenagers because my theory was always that teens are assholes so their parent are kind of happy when they leave for college but NO, my kids have to go being all nice and interesting and not at all teenagery so it just SUCKS when they're not here.
Anyway, she's buckling down and making decisions. We went homecoming dress shopping last night and today and I always wish I knew how to really sew whenever we venture into the world of fancy dress for teens. The dress she picked is nice, though.
Husband is at Riot Fest in Chicago with the guys and I miss him terribly but tomorrow I'm Oktoberfesting with one of my girlfriends so that's gonna be fun.
Super busy at work, doing the college visits we couldn't squeeze in last year or over the summer, the house is livable but I wouldn't want my mom to come over right now...just busy.
And this time next year I won't have any offspring in the house for the first time in almost 21 years. Jesus this sucks so fucking hard.
posted by cooker girl at 6:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [9 favorites]
Anyway, she's buckling down and making decisions. We went homecoming dress shopping last night and today and I always wish I knew how to really sew whenever we venture into the world of fancy dress for teens. The dress she picked is nice, though.
Husband is at Riot Fest in Chicago with the guys and I miss him terribly but tomorrow I'm Oktoberfesting with one of my girlfriends so that's gonna be fun.
Super busy at work, doing the college visits we couldn't squeeze in last year or over the summer, the house is livable but I wouldn't want my mom to come over right now...just busy.
And this time next year I won't have any offspring in the house for the first time in almost 21 years. Jesus this sucks so fucking hard.
posted by cooker girl at 6:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [9 favorites]
My wife and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary, and it was lovely and pretty low-key, but we're planning a trip up to NYC next month with the baby... my aunt and uncle live on Central Park North and are eagerly extending an offer of childcare while we go out and catch a Broadway show. And of course, we plan on walking through Central Park with the kiddo amidst all the lovely autumnal foliage!
posted by duffell at 7:21 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by duffell at 7:21 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
I got an honest to God grown-up job in my field, with a salary and good insurance and vacation days and everything! I'll be working with a team of people who seem like lovely human beings who will value my input! I get to leave my current trash fire of an employer, which is in danger of being shut down by the state anyway!
Seriously though, I'm one of those millennials straight from the thinkpieces who bounced from precarious job to precarious job, still lives with roommates in my 30s, and never thought I'd ever know stability of any sort. And then this job actively recruited me. What a change.
(Caveat; my employment is contingent on getting my driver's license within three months of my start date. I've somehow never managed to do this at age 30 and I am scared. Send good driving vibes.)
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [19 favorites]
Seriously though, I'm one of those millennials straight from the thinkpieces who bounced from precarious job to precarious job, still lives with roommates in my 30s, and never thought I'd ever know stability of any sort. And then this job actively recruited me. What a change.
(Caveat; my employment is contingent on getting my driver's license within three months of my start date. I've somehow never managed to do this at age 30 and I am scared. Send good driving vibes.)
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [19 favorites]
It snowed today! Happy September!
posted by Grandysaur at 7:58 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Grandysaur at 7:58 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Vowing to Prove Thomas Wolfe Wrong by Going Home Again; or, Giving Up on Colorado Like Colorado Gave Up on Me Ages Ago and Going Back to New York.
I may request an electronic ankle monitor to prevent myself from leaving ever again.
posted by scratch at 7:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
I may request an electronic ankle monitor to prevent myself from leaving ever again.
posted by scratch at 7:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
my wife (whom I continue to adore) and i are settling into small college town minnesota life, hopefully making some friends (we're both kinda shy), baking bread, still transitioning into our new place. Just finished my first week of teaching. Have to figure out how to have a conversation with That Kid in my class and figure out how to communicate that I appreciate his enthusiasm he needs to chill and stop interrupting me because it's driving his classmates insane.
posted by dismas at 8:03 PM on September 16, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by dismas at 8:03 PM on September 16, 2017 [8 favorites]
This is my favorite season in the Northern hemisphere; not just because of the colors, but because there's still plenty of daylight, it's not boiling hot (mostly) and not painfully cold (mostly), and there's harvesting of all kinds going on.
Over the next few weeks it'll be a collection of harvest festivals, autumn farmers markets and the tail-end of village show season, plus a few Druid and Pagan events on various hilltops and in various woods. The end of October marks of course Halloween, the Samhain, All Saints' Day, and a bundle of other events which means people do interesting things. After that it'll be a short gallop to the shortest day, then Christmas, New Year, and Easter is thankfully earlier this year - it's Sunday here in Ye Olde Englande which means that Easter Sunday (easy to remember for 2018 as it is April 1st) is just 28 weeks from today.
But for now it'll be those harvest-oriented things. I'm also seriously contemplating getting an owl, but don't know much about this so there may be an AskMe. I managed to previously do the hawk thing without incident or panic on either my part or the hawks, and an owl is (probably) smaller, so I'm cautiously optimistic.
(I have already decided to name the owl - "Sir Tarquin Fitzroy-Higgingbottom The Third" - or "Cecil" for short - so there won't be an AskMe for that.)
When I'm not outside with a camera, or in a church or yurt or abandoned ruin or sacred site, also with a camera and an assortment of interesting people, I'll be back at base continuing to learn Norwegian (slow but steady), hopefully lose the last of the excess weight (a multi-year project: 86 pounds gone, 14 to go), and pick up and do some more work to pay for the next flight tickets...
...next years travels will hopefully be some combination of the USA, Norway, Sweden and Finland, depending on a multitude of factors and currently unknowns. But in the much more immediate future, guess it will be doing the aforementioned events and "gathering winter fuel" (in other words, buying mince pies from Tesco). And something for Cecil.
Glad høst! (Happy fall/autumn!)
posted by Wordshore at 8:14 PM on September 16, 2017 [10 favorites]
Over the next few weeks it'll be a collection of harvest festivals, autumn farmers markets and the tail-end of village show season, plus a few Druid and Pagan events on various hilltops and in various woods. The end of October marks of course Halloween, the Samhain, All Saints' Day, and a bundle of other events which means people do interesting things. After that it'll be a short gallop to the shortest day, then Christmas, New Year, and Easter is thankfully earlier this year - it's Sunday here in Ye Olde Englande which means that Easter Sunday (easy to remember for 2018 as it is April 1st) is just 28 weeks from today.
But for now it'll be those harvest-oriented things. I'm also seriously contemplating getting an owl, but don't know much about this so there may be an AskMe. I managed to previously do the hawk thing without incident or panic on either my part or the hawks, and an owl is (probably) smaller, so I'm cautiously optimistic.
(I have already decided to name the owl - "Sir Tarquin Fitzroy-Higgingbottom The Third" - or "Cecil" for short - so there won't be an AskMe for that.)
When I'm not outside with a camera, or in a church or yurt or abandoned ruin or sacred site, also with a camera and an assortment of interesting people, I'll be back at base continuing to learn Norwegian (slow but steady), hopefully lose the last of the excess weight (a multi-year project: 86 pounds gone, 14 to go), and pick up and do some more work to pay for the next flight tickets...
...next years travels will hopefully be some combination of the USA, Norway, Sweden and Finland, depending on a multitude of factors and currently unknowns. But in the much more immediate future, guess it will be doing the aforementioned events and "gathering winter fuel" (in other words, buying mince pies from Tesco). And something for Cecil.
Glad høst! (Happy fall/autumn!)
posted by Wordshore at 8:14 PM on September 16, 2017 [10 favorites]
Good King Wenceslas is one of my favorite holiday songs to bellow. The thought of him joining the throng at Tesco to buy mince pies if delightful. Thanks. Wordshore, from Austin Texas, where we have no autumnl and barely any winter. It's just fucking hot or not.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:27 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:27 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
The fall is the start of the new school year and I traditionally came up with a theme for my kids and family for the school year. They are either in college now or post college but I still come up with a theme out of habit and so this year's school year theme is #NewBeginnings. Fresh start. The start of something big and good. All the promise of a new year. I guess I could do it on Jan 1st now that the kids are slowly moving on.
For me, sorry Bondcliff, but I am loving this time of year because the Yankees are charging and will pass the Red Sox for first in the east. But even if they don't, baseball is reaching its climax after 145 or so games so far. Cannot wait for the playoffs. And, if the Yankees don't win it all, I am rooting for team from Cleveland. Now that the Red Sox and Cubbies have broken their long futility streaks it is time Cleveland does as well.
And, it is football season, high school, college and pro. I love going to local HS football games. The games on the field are exciting, but so are the band, the cheerleaders, the student section in the stands and just the celebration of youth.
I am in three Fantasy Football leagues and a FanDuel league so I spend a few minutes eachweek, day hour researching and planning and tracking. The three leagues are with different groups of people in my life, one is with my HS friends from **ahem** 35+ years ago, one is with my fraternity brothers that I just joined this year after not being in touch with many of them for years and the other one is my local old man friends except that we also have several of our college aged kids in the league too.
I have found that there is something great about every season and every season change. Even winter. I hate the cold, but love the snow, love the challenge of defeating the cold, the darkness and the less contact with other humans that winter normally brings. Summer is great. Hot and humid like I like it.
posted by AugustWest at 8:32 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
For me, sorry Bondcliff, but I am loving this time of year because the Yankees are charging and will pass the Red Sox for first in the east. But even if they don't, baseball is reaching its climax after 145 or so games so far. Cannot wait for the playoffs. And, if the Yankees don't win it all, I am rooting for team from Cleveland. Now that the Red Sox and Cubbies have broken their long futility streaks it is time Cleveland does as well.
And, it is football season, high school, college and pro. I love going to local HS football games. The games on the field are exciting, but so are the band, the cheerleaders, the student section in the stands and just the celebration of youth.
I am in three Fantasy Football leagues and a FanDuel league so I spend a few minutes each
I have found that there is something great about every season and every season change. Even winter. I hate the cold, but love the snow, love the challenge of defeating the cold, the darkness and the less contact with other humans that winter normally brings. Summer is great. Hot and humid like I like it.
posted by AugustWest at 8:32 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I was looking forward to spring, but then we went straight from highs of 18 C (lows of 5C) to highs of 33C overnight, so I guess we don't get to have spring this year.
My plans for spring/summer/inferno season are to go surfing more often, learn to make hard cheeses, and maybe finally buy an electric bicycle.
I also have a trip to Canada planned for January, so that should be a nice snowy break in the middle of summer.
posted by lollusc at 9:07 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
My plans for spring/summer/inferno season are to go surfing more often, learn to make hard cheeses, and maybe finally buy an electric bicycle.
I also have a trip to Canada planned for January, so that should be a nice snowy break in the middle of summer.
posted by lollusc at 9:07 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I feel like I'm kind of having a fresh start with fall coming. I'm still working on processing a breakup that needed to happen but was still pretty traumatic--like, at some point, love isn't enough if the other person's mental health has them completely checking out. Went through a couple weeks of just kind of laying around feeling awful, but this weekend I'm finally starting to feel like I can human again. Went to a concert last night--with Metafilter's help!--and had a great time, and I'm starting to eat and sleep like a normal human again, which is a big deal for me. It feels really right and proper that the weather's changing as I'm coming out of this. I still feel really sad, but I don't feel depressed--I'm feeling pretty energized, actually, about working out where my life is going next.
Also, I finally found the garage door opener that I lost in, like, March, today. So that was great. I realize that at some point I probably should have thought to have checked the pockets of my winter coat before I put it away. I was going through clothes trying to figure out what kind of shopping I need to do for fall, and then realized the coat had stuff in its pockets still. I'm so organized, guys. So organized.
posted by Sequence at 9:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
Also, I finally found the garage door opener that I lost in, like, March, today. So that was great. I realize that at some point I probably should have thought to have checked the pockets of my winter coat before I put it away. I was going through clothes trying to figure out what kind of shopping I need to do for fall, and then realized the coat had stuff in its pockets still. I'm so organized, guys. So organized.
posted by Sequence at 9:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
sciencegeek: In a fit of insanity I ordered more than 11,000 bulbs for work. This will be in addition to the 9,000 tulips we usually plant.
Ha, I was going to say that I bought too many salvias for my crowded front yard last week, but this comment is making me feel like I bought way too few.
It is I, Queen of Restraint (And Deadheading, always Deadheading).
posted by purpleclover at 9:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
Ha, I was going to say that I bought too many salvias for my crowded front yard last week, but this comment is making me feel like I bought way too few.
It is I, Queen of Restraint (And Deadheading, always Deadheading).
posted by purpleclover at 9:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
Today: waiting for the typhoon to decide whether it actually wants to hit us or not. Sometimes I think weather forecasting is sort of the inverse of Clark's Law or whatever it is: fortune-telling so advanced it's indistinguishable from science... with respects to any meteorologists present.
In general for the fall: finally completing the move out of my old apartment! (I was SO ORGANIZED yesterday. Put out the "large garbage" at the old place, came back and did the laundry, signed the contract and picked up the key for my little storage unit (and got laughed at, kindly, by the elderly gentleman in charge by writing "boyfriend" for the emergency contact's relationship to me), had fried chicken for lunch (and got a really vicious static electricity zap from their meal ticket machine, ow, that was not cool, but the chicken was good), bought plane tickets for a trip with my mother in November, went back to the old apt. so the modem guy could do his disconnection thing, went to two supermarkets, cooked dinner....)
Also, maybe finally working on a plan to get married, because a) we want to and b) then I can work on a plan to get a spousal visa and start working freelance and doing other cool stuff instead of being in the same office doing the same corporate thing all day (although I love my colleagues).
(Also possibly I should work on a plan to use fewer parentheses.)
Also bookmammal, please consider yourself invited to post some of your soup recipes!
posted by huimangm at 9:31 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
In general for the fall: finally completing the move out of my old apartment! (I was SO ORGANIZED yesterday. Put out the "large garbage" at the old place, came back and did the laundry, signed the contract and picked up the key for my little storage unit (and got laughed at, kindly, by the elderly gentleman in charge by writing "boyfriend" for the emergency contact's relationship to me), had fried chicken for lunch (and got a really vicious static electricity zap from their meal ticket machine, ow, that was not cool, but the chicken was good), bought plane tickets for a trip with my mother in November, went back to the old apt. so the modem guy could do his disconnection thing, went to two supermarkets, cooked dinner....)
Also, maybe finally working on a plan to get married, because a) we want to and b) then I can work on a plan to get a spousal visa and start working freelance and doing other cool stuff instead of being in the same office doing the same corporate thing all day (although I love my colleagues).
(Also possibly I should work on a plan to use fewer parentheses.)
Also bookmammal, please consider yourself invited to post some of your soup recipes!
posted by huimangm at 9:31 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
6 more weeks of work in the emergency department, 8 weeks til my masters of public health thesis is due, 12 weeks til baby is due. I will be spending spring in a fugue state working, writing, and eating pizza. But at the end - bonus! Baby! And the promise of more pizza to come 🍕
posted by supercrayon at 10:11 PM on September 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by supercrayon at 10:11 PM on September 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
I'm in my final project week of my full stack JavaScript immersion course and my teammates and I worked together for ten hours today. On Friday we have our presentations and many employers will be there - I've invited a couple people from companies I interviewed with before but didn't have the tech skills to seal the deal and am feeling way more optimistic this time around.
After the 22nd I have another week to submit labs and assignments I didn't finish earlier in the course - a damn lot of them - so I'll still be working hard.
Finally at the end of catch-up week I'm going camping with MeFites which will be a perfect turning point into October when the job hunt starts again in earnest.
Fingers crossed I'll be employed again within a month or two and can start paying off the debt I've racked up in the last few years of unemployment. I'm feeling super optimistic and so excited to be getting a paycheck again! 🍻💰
posted by bendy at 10:35 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
After the 22nd I have another week to submit labs and assignments I didn't finish earlier in the course - a damn lot of them - so I'll still be working hard.
Finally at the end of catch-up week I'm going camping with MeFites which will be a perfect turning point into October when the job hunt starts again in earnest.
Fingers crossed I'll be employed again within a month or two and can start paying off the debt I've racked up in the last few years of unemployment. I'm feeling super optimistic and so excited to be getting a paycheck again! 🍻💰
posted by bendy at 10:35 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
i have to attend a conference in Orlando in 2 weeks, so we are taking advantage of this fact and enjoying a vacation in Disney World next week. We have been keeping a *very* close eye on Irma and it's behaviour, but it looks like everything (in WDW) is back to "normal". it will be great to have a vaction now that DK is getting chilly and also because the summer has been crappy (but typical) weather-wise. After the vacation week it's a week of conference attending sessions, networking, talking to vendors,etc.etc. it can be fun but also very tireing. But this conference is the best place to get in touch with all levels involving this technology. I work in the IT division of a large global conglomerate and we have had some challenges during this year, including being affected by the last global malware attack. About 3 weeks ago a colleague left for another job, and this means that I am the *only* admin/service owner of a very large, very widespread, globally used IT tool. It's frustrating because the leadership doesn't really get the risk of only having me and a consultant team for IT support to cover 50,000+ users. I guess the next 2 weeks of being gone will reinforce that... then I get to come back and continue a huge migration project of my entire platform while at the same time carving out some divested companies and carving in a new acquisition.
at the very least this will prepare the leadership for when I take my yearly winter holiday and disappear for a solid month to a beach in South America - this time with another small stop in WDW where my SO will be running the Princess Half Marathon. SO PROUD!!!!
posted by alchemist at 11:33 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
at the very least this will prepare the leadership for when I take my yearly winter holiday and disappear for a solid month to a beach in South America - this time with another small stop in WDW where my SO will be running the Princess Half Marathon. SO PROUD!!!!
posted by alchemist at 11:33 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
I've no specific plans beyond keeping on doing more of the same sort of thing as before, but I felt like announcing that today is my fifteenth MeFiversary!
posted by misteraitch at 12:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 12:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [11 favorites]
Incidentally, I'm writing a poem for a friend with the theme of seasonal change.
posted by runcifex at 12:35 AM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by runcifex at 12:35 AM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
Writing words every day.
posted by pracowity at 1:37 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 1:37 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I like the autumn. But I'm not particularly liking my life at the moment. Been freelance for a couple of years now and it looks like it's probably going to have to end soon as we aren't getting enough work. I'm making a lot of telephone calls saying "Hello! We sent you an email about our services! Would you like to talk about what we can offer?!" which is monstrously soul-destroying and so far has a success rate of zero.
In more positive news, I have a couple of local history-related events coming up, one of which involves a vintage 'bus. And I'm slowly building up a tableau of miniature items (deckchair, hat, cat, fish and chips etc) on my sister's porch to see how long before they notice.
posted by paduasoy at 2:38 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
In more positive news, I have a couple of local history-related events coming up, one of which involves a vintage 'bus. And I'm slowly building up a tableau of miniature items (deckchair, hat, cat, fish and chips etc) on my sister's porch to see how long before they notice.
posted by paduasoy at 2:38 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
I am trying to consolidate all the data from three laptops which all have their screens broken onto my desktop which does not.
It's like having a rompy German shepherd is hard on floor-laptops or something.
posted by corb at 3:27 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
It's like having a rompy German shepherd is hard on floor-laptops or something.
posted by corb at 3:27 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Rambling assembly of associations here:
We found a few worm-free boletus mushrooms in the woods the other day...there are moose tracks all over the yard; they're eating the hedges, and apples, scrambling for safety whenever I go out to fetch firewood late at night...big pile of almost-still-steaming moose poo on the front lawn yesterday morning...it's been raining a LOT last week...my car passed inspection...I want more coffee...need to fire up the central heating, it's getting chilly...
posted by Namlit at 3:34 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
We found a few worm-free boletus mushrooms in the woods the other day...there are moose tracks all over the yard; they're eating the hedges, and apples, scrambling for safety whenever I go out to fetch firewood late at night...big pile of almost-still-steaming moose poo on the front lawn yesterday morning...it's been raining a LOT last week...my car passed inspection...I want more coffee...need to fire up the central heating, it's getting chilly...
posted by Namlit at 3:34 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was visiting with a friend at his garden the other day and he has more than 30 KINDS of salvias. Some of which are quite nice. I'm going to try to get a bit of one hardy kind in the spring.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:42 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by sciencegeek at 3:42 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
My hibernation instinct kicked in during the second week of September so I bought a king size super soft turquoise blanket and it is WONDERFUL. We moved to a much bigger place about a month ago and now I am spoiled for large comfy couches on which to recline with said blanket.
posted by terretu at 4:03 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by terretu at 4:03 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also, the previously mentioned chocolate fairy has visited in the night yet again, so I woke up to another pile on my doorstep. I know a local foodbank that doesn't mind distributing out of date okay foods, so some of that will be heading their way tomorrow.
posted by Wordshore at 4:04 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 4:04 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
Wordshore, didn't you have a rather annoying owl experience previously?
posted by paduasoy at 4:07 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by paduasoy at 4:07 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
(Also, is it possible you are in fact a character from The Sword in the Stone?)
posted by paduasoy at 4:09 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 4:09 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Osaka declared a storm warning around 10 this morning, which completely screwed up my museum day plans - a friend and I wanted to see the Tower of Babel exhibit but the museum delayed opening and then would only let us inside for an hour despite the sunny blue skies above us. At least they gave us a comp ticket so we can come back and look at everything properly. You really can't speedrun a Bruegel/Bosch exhibit.
The typhoon still hasn't hit us.
At work we're gearing up for Christmas Concert season. My teaching partners and I will be coaching 24 toddlers (2-3 year olds) into memorizing lines, dances, and songs to be performed on stage in early December. It is as challenging as it sounds.
posted by emmling at 4:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
The typhoon still hasn't hit us.
At work we're gearing up for Christmas Concert season. My teaching partners and I will be coaching 24 toddlers (2-3 year olds) into memorizing lines, dances, and songs to be performed on stage in early December. It is as challenging as it sounds.
posted by emmling at 4:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
But great fun to watch.
posted by pracowity at 4:18 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 4:18 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was visiting with a friend at his garden the other day and he has more than 30 KINDS of salvias.
Being next to a busy sidewalk, we get more like 30 kinds of saliva. How would you even recognize that many salvia varieties? He studies it? Sells it? Smokes a lot of it?
posted by pracowity at 4:27 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Being next to a busy sidewalk, we get more like 30 kinds of saliva. How would you even recognize that many salvia varieties? He studies it? Sells it? Smokes a lot of it?
posted by pracowity at 4:27 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I just returned from a tip to Quebec City. Went with the family, mum & dad, and my little sister. Lots of walking around and looking at beautiful architectural history and eating fancy foods at expensive restaurants.
My once a year planned meet up with a friend from across the country was just cancelled and rescheduled for the Spring due to a family emergency. Disappointed but I also understand that shit happens. So I have an extra 5 vacation days and I'm trying to decide if I want to do anything special, autumn is my favourite time of the year, so I'm thinking within the next few weeks I'll find some kind of festival and make a solo adventuring trip around that.
posted by Fizz at 4:44 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
My once a year planned meet up with a friend from across the country was just cancelled and rescheduled for the Spring due to a family emergency. Disappointed but I also understand that shit happens. So I have an extra 5 vacation days and I'm trying to decide if I want to do anything special, autumn is my favourite time of the year, so I'm thinking within the next few weeks I'll find some kind of festival and make a solo adventuring trip around that.
posted by Fizz at 4:44 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
oh hi emmling and other unexpectedly near at hand people! The typhoon seems to have finally arrived, at least I can hear the rain hitting the windows. About time.
posted by huimangm at 5:46 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by huimangm at 5:46 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Tomorrow my husband and I are going on vacation to celebrate our tenth anniversary. This is the first time off I've taken since February and the first time he's taken off since January, and we are both desperately in need of it. We're going to Vegas, which we've been to a bunch of times already, but this time we're staying wayyyyy off the Strip, overlooking Red Rock Canyon. We're going to get massages, lie around at the pool and read until our eyes bleed, see a Circque show, take some easy drives to see Red Rock and Valley of Fire and possibly Zion if we're feeling ambitious, and eat tons of good food. Originally we were thinking the Florida Keys or the Caribbean or something just a bit more tropical and beach-y, but my OB nixed that idea due to Zika (I'm 33 weeks pregnant) and that turned out to be good in the end because...hurricanes.
When we come back, our almost four-year-old is having a tonsillectomy and will be home convalescing for several days, I'm monstrously busy and stressed at work trying to hand off all my stuff for mat leave, and then we'll be finishing prep for baby #2. And then...just baby for the rest of fall and first part of winter. Yay!
posted by anderjen at 5:53 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
When we come back, our almost four-year-old is having a tonsillectomy and will be home convalescing for several days, I'm monstrously busy and stressed at work trying to hand off all my stuff for mat leave, and then we'll be finishing prep for baby #2. And then...just baby for the rest of fall and first part of winter. Yay!
posted by anderjen at 5:53 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
it is definitely starting to become hand knit season, so I've been doing some repairs and look forward to getting my drawer of hand knit socks back into heavy rotation. See also, the construction of crochet blanket nests, hot chocolate on the seafront (in a thermos, with added brandy), being able to dig out the slow cooker and very brisk countryside walks with pubs.
Students descend next week - so glad to not be a front line librarian - and I have various trips to look forward too, inc. a weekend with knitting friends in a cottage and a trip to Glasgow on the sleeper train.
posted by halcyonday at 6:23 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Students descend next week - so glad to not be a front line librarian - and I have various trips to look forward too, inc. a weekend with knitting friends in a cottage and a trip to Glasgow on the sleeper train.
posted by halcyonday at 6:23 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Well, the Jewish holidays are about to descend on us, so this weekend was the last time I baked long challahs - it's all round ones from here on in. Debating making a few today and freezing - we'll need 24 of them before the end of the holidays in mid-October (though some meals - especially if we're not having guests - we cheat and use rolls). Plus menu planning and working out invitations for meals, shopping for all the ingredients, pre-cooking anything we can get away with (since it's basically making a full Thanksgiving dinner 4-6 times a week, with only one week off in between for Yom Kippur) - and figuring out how to do it all and still be employed at the end of it all. Plus my husband's still in Florida because my father needed to be evacuated from his nursing home after the hurricane and my mom can't take care of him by herself. And apparently my son just broke his glasses.
In other words, I'm already exhausted and it hasn't even started yet. Shana Tova y'all.
posted by Mchelly at 6:31 AM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
In other words, I'm already exhausted and it hasn't even started yet. Shana Tova y'all.
posted by Mchelly at 6:31 AM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
Fall is great, and here's my favorite thing in it. I may go two days this year!
Other fall things include going to a Harvard football game (note to self: bring cushions this year), taking a train trip to Virginia (where I grew up), and watching the World Series (which my team as of today still has a hope of being in). Also bulb planting! I've got a new flower bed, it needs bulbs!!
posted by JanetLand at 6:33 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Other fall things include going to a Harvard football game (note to self: bring cushions this year), taking a train trip to Virginia (where I grew up), and watching the World Series (which my team as of today still has a hope of being in). Also bulb planting! I've got a new flower bed, it needs bulbs!!
posted by JanetLand at 6:33 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Autumn is my least favorite season because everything dies. The autumn-lovers around me are all "cable-knit sweaters and pumpkins and foliage and crispiness yay!" but ... I live on the NJ side of Philadelphia and our autumns are usually gray and damp with a nor'easter that knocks all of the leaves off of the trees in a weekend. And the local rabbits have eaten my mums down to the ground.
Some of you may remember my mom's tale of woe from June. In July, the damned knee immobilizer got caught on the chair she was sitting in as she was getting up and she fell again. In order to prevent re-injuring her knee or elbow she tried to fall on an uninjured area and ... broke her hip. Yup. Total hip replacement, followed by 2 weeks in an acute rehab hospital. Then a walker with a platform for the broken non-weight-bearing elbow, then just a walker, now just a cane for a few more weeks. Six weeks of in-home PT, now she's driving herself to outpatient PT. Last night we (carefully) danced at a cousin's wedding. :)
We usually go to Virginia Beach for a week every August. That didn't happen this year so on the day she was discharged from the rehab hospital I booked a cruise for us in October. Kind of a "hey, here's something to work toward" for her and "omg I need a vacation" for me. Mom's my buddy and we have a good relationship (other than the usual squabbles) and I'm really looking forward to this trip.
This summer I learned a lot about Medicare and Supplemental Insurance and acute vs SNF rehab facilities and how to fold a walker to fit into a car. This autumn I'd like to go back to learning things just by reading MeFi and blogs, tyvm.
posted by kimberussell at 7:28 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
Some of you may remember my mom's tale of woe from June. In July, the damned knee immobilizer got caught on the chair she was sitting in as she was getting up and she fell again. In order to prevent re-injuring her knee or elbow she tried to fall on an uninjured area and ... broke her hip. Yup. Total hip replacement, followed by 2 weeks in an acute rehab hospital. Then a walker with a platform for the broken non-weight-bearing elbow, then just a walker, now just a cane for a few more weeks. Six weeks of in-home PT, now she's driving herself to outpatient PT. Last night we (carefully) danced at a cousin's wedding. :)
We usually go to Virginia Beach for a week every August. That didn't happen this year so on the day she was discharged from the rehab hospital I booked a cruise for us in October. Kind of a "hey, here's something to work toward" for her and "omg I need a vacation" for me. Mom's my buddy and we have a good relationship (other than the usual squabbles) and I'm really looking forward to this trip.
This summer I learned a lot about Medicare and Supplemental Insurance and acute vs SNF rehab facilities and how to fold a walker to fit into a car. This autumn I'd like to go back to learning things just by reading MeFi and blogs, tyvm.
posted by kimberussell at 7:28 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
This fall promises more time exploring Boston - hopefully more time with Boston mefites with whom I stuffed myself full of dim sum, and who I haven't yet met - and more time with my new guy. He came along to the meetup yesterday with me and I introduced him as "This is my - wait, are you my boyfriend?" and he rolled his eyes and said "yes of course" and so that was nice. It's been a trying summer in a lot of ways, but this is a lovely bright spot.
The other things this fall promises include Indonesian classes, ballet classes, and eventually, orangutans! And, of course, absurd amounts of apple crisp.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:50 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
The other things this fall promises include Indonesian classes, ballet classes, and eventually, orangutans! And, of course, absurd amounts of apple crisp.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:50 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
AND HALLOWEEN! I'm going to be postdoc Wonder Woman. I got the first bits of my costume in the mail on Friday and I feel so epic and awesome already.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:52 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 7:52 AM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
This summer I traveled soooo much - to Denmark, rural Washington State, rural Maine, Amsterdam - all for exciting and artistically fulfilling projects that don't pay the rent. I'm looking forward to spending all of fall and winter at home in bed, and also winning a lottery or something.
posted by moonmilk at 7:56 AM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 7:56 AM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Some of you may remember my mom's tale of woe from June. In July, the damned knee immobilizer got caught on the chair she was sitting in as she was getting up and she fell again. In order to prevent re-injuring her knee or elbow she tried to fall on an uninjured area and ... broke her hip. Yup. Total hip replacement, followed by 2 weeks in an acute rehab hospital. Then a walker with a platform for the broken non-weight-bearing elbow, then just a walker, now just a cane for a few more weeks. Six weeks of in-home PT, now she's driving herself to outpatient PT. Last night we (carefully) danced at a cousin's wedding. :)Oh my God! My mom had a very similar accident with her knee, and she hated the knee immobilizer so much that she basically refused to wear it. (She wore it very sporadically. Extremely sporadically.) I was like "Mom, you have to do what the doctor says or you'll never be able to walk properly again," and she was like "if I wear that thing I will fall and break something else, and then I'll have a bad knee and a bad something else." Mom wins this one, I guess, because she seems to be walking fine, and she hasn't broken anything else.
This will be my first Halloween in my new house, and I plan to go all out with the decorating. One drawback is that kids Trick or Treat in the daylight these days, and all of my best ideas assume darkness. I think that I'm still going to put up some creepy backlit silhouettes in my picture windows, even if the kids can't see them on the actual day. I can put them up for the week or two before. I want to do a pumpkin like this, but I worry that it's too scary, and I'll get a reputation for being weird and inappropriate. However, having met the neighbors, I don't think I'm likely to be the weird and/or inappropriate person on my block, which is a relief.
I have decided that my house decor is too serious, and I need to inject some whimsy by putting a cardboard animal head on the wall in my living room. Trying to choose which one.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:28 AM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
I love the pumpkin--I say go for it! And I adore those cardboard animal heads.
posted by bookmammal at 8:33 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bookmammal at 8:33 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
My hibernation instinct kicked in during the second week of September so I bought a king size super soft turquoise blanket and it is WONDERFUL.
terretu, if you're not gonna let us under the blanket then we'll need some links to buy our own ;P I recently bought a gray blanket on Amazon, but it's neither soft nor the color is as nice as I was hoping for.
I spent the last week in Denmark for work, where it was cool and rainy, and I got all into the fall spirit, sweaters and boots and hot coffee, so coming back to the summery Boston weather kinda throws me off and I don't know what to do with myself. Wearing shorts feels SO WRONG. PSL season became PSF season. (Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino)
ChuraChura, check out the Middlesex Fells Reservation just up in Medford/Stoneham - it's a fantastic place for hiking, and I bet the colors will be lovely in the fall. I'm already planning my second visit there.
posted by Ender's Friend at 8:45 AM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
terretu, if you're not gonna let us under the blanket then we'll need some links to buy our own ;P I recently bought a gray blanket on Amazon, but it's neither soft nor the color is as nice as I was hoping for.
I spent the last week in Denmark for work, where it was cool and rainy, and I got all into the fall spirit, sweaters and boots and hot coffee, so coming back to the summery Boston weather kinda throws me off and I don't know what to do with myself. Wearing shorts feels SO WRONG. PSL season became PSF season. (Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino)
ChuraChura, check out the Middlesex Fells Reservation just up in Medford/Stoneham - it's a fantastic place for hiking, and I bet the colors will be lovely in the fall. I'm already planning my second visit there.
posted by Ender's Friend at 8:45 AM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm feeling a little aimless, truthfully, and not quite sure what to do about it. I spent the last year or so frantically trying to get up to speed as a new supervisor, and I've felt for the last couple months like, "Yep, I'm pretty good at this now" -- not perfect, of course, and there's always more to learn -- and I think the lack of frantic steep-learning-curve growth is starting to feel like boredom, and I'm hovering at the place of trying to figure out if I need to issue myself a new challenge or recalibrate my internal sense of what normal stress levels should be.
I am starting as a new co-facilitator for my UU church's Chalice Circles (small-group ministry, basically, as much as that applies to a group of mostly atheists). Which will be interesting, as I've never attended one as a participant, but I'm pretty solid in my group facilitation skills, so I'm interested to see how that goes. It'll at least be a chance to get to know a handful of church members a bit better, in more of a deep-conversation way (which I like!) rather than the social-hour chitchat way (which I'm not good at!).
I am going to take a week off in October because I want to do fall hiking. I keep pushing back the week due to work obligations, so I should probably just go ahead and make a formal request and stop being so accommodating.
Also it is now officially cats-on-laps weather. At least according to the cat currently on my lap.
posted by lazuli at 8:55 AM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
I am starting as a new co-facilitator for my UU church's Chalice Circles (small-group ministry, basically, as much as that applies to a group of mostly atheists). Which will be interesting, as I've never attended one as a participant, but I'm pretty solid in my group facilitation skills, so I'm interested to see how that goes. It'll at least be a chance to get to know a handful of church members a bit better, in more of a deep-conversation way (which I like!) rather than the social-hour chitchat way (which I'm not good at!).
I am going to take a week off in October because I want to do fall hiking. I keep pushing back the week due to work obligations, so I should probably just go ahead and make a formal request and stop being so accommodating.
Also it is now officially cats-on-laps weather. At least according to the cat currently on my lap.
posted by lazuli at 8:55 AM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
Soccer. More soccer. So much soccer. (We have 2 elementary age kids).
Also, I gave up alcohol for reasons. So I expect to be stepping up my marijuana habit.
My wife and I were at her brother's house recently and The Fast and Furious 7 was on in the background and I got sucked in by the scene of Rally Cars! Parachuting out of planes! Then chasing bad guys with guns! So with nothing better to do on Friday, my wife and I sat down for a proper viewing (see: marijuana, above). And oh, my god it's brilliantly bad. The perfect combination of dazzling stunts and equally horrific writing. The film has changed us and all weekend we've been discussing our new revelations about life. How true family is defined by street racing and fighting crime. When Roman shakes his head and says "I can't go to anymore funerals, man" you can feel the world weary sacrifice of a punk kid who only wanted to drive fast but was driven by loyalty and the obligation of brotherhood to endure as a vigilante crime fighter. We just have to know the back story now and have committed to watching all 9 (?) episodes.
So that's my fall. Soccer, no alcohol, and Vin Diesel.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:55 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Also, I gave up alcohol for reasons. So I expect to be stepping up my marijuana habit.
My wife and I were at her brother's house recently and The Fast and Furious 7 was on in the background and I got sucked in by the scene of Rally Cars! Parachuting out of planes! Then chasing bad guys with guns! So with nothing better to do on Friday, my wife and I sat down for a proper viewing (see: marijuana, above). And oh, my god it's brilliantly bad. The perfect combination of dazzling stunts and equally horrific writing. The film has changed us and all weekend we've been discussing our new revelations about life. How true family is defined by street racing and fighting crime. When Roman shakes his head and says "I can't go to anymore funerals, man" you can feel the world weary sacrifice of a punk kid who only wanted to drive fast but was driven by loyalty and the obligation of brotherhood to endure as a vigilante crime fighter. We just have to know the back story now and have committed to watching all 9 (?) episodes.
So that's my fall. Soccer, no alcohol, and Vin Diesel.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:55 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Yesterday, I helped out with our farmer friend's chicken slaughter. We did just over fifty birds; it was tiring and lot messier than doing the pigs, but overall a rewarding experience. I'll probably do another write up about the experience. We're looking forward to the pigs come December, and then that's it! Farmer is moving to California and we no longer have a source for direct from the farm meats. Might have to see if some of his farmer buddies would raise some pigs for us. I would like to try to make my own cured ham this year, so I'll need to put together a curing chamber before butchering day.
Also this week, I met up with an instructor and fired a shotgun for the first time ever. At first I missed... a lot... but then something clicked and I was hitting the easier simultaneous clays pretty regularly. I'm taking a hunter education course in a few weeks, and then maybe I'll try to shoot some birds before the season ends. Will need to see if tweed hunting jackets can be made in blaze orange.
Not meat related, I joined a local community chorus in the spring and we started up again the other week. The fall season is all holiday music, and it's a little weird singing Messiah when it's 80 degrees out, but it's a good time.
posted by backseatpilot at 10:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also this week, I met up with an instructor and fired a shotgun for the first time ever. At first I missed... a lot... but then something clicked and I was hitting the easier simultaneous clays pretty regularly. I'm taking a hunter education course in a few weeks, and then maybe I'll try to shoot some birds before the season ends. Will need to see if tweed hunting jackets can be made in blaze orange.
Not meat related, I joined a local community chorus in the spring and we started up again the other week. The fall season is all holiday music, and it's a little weird singing Messiah when it's 80 degrees out, but it's a good time.
posted by backseatpilot at 10:12 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Reason for multitudes of salvia: I work in a public garden. My friend works in a public garden. Sometimes one just gets carried away with things. My garden has more than 35 different hydrangeas.
posted by sciencegeek at 10:13 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by sciencegeek at 10:13 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
All the freshers arrived in town this weekend, which is the definite start of autumn for me. I know they frustrate loads of people (rightly) but I find it adorable seeing all the parents help their kids go out into the world.
As for my own kid, he met Paw Patrol the other day and it blew his mind. And at first he was super nervous and wouldn't go forward to high-five/hug them, and then it was like a switch went and he did this awesome little confident strut towards them and it was the best thing.
posted by threetwentytwo at 10:35 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
As for my own kid, he met Paw Patrol the other day and it blew his mind. And at first he was super nervous and wouldn't go forward to high-five/hug them, and then it was like a switch went and he did this awesome little confident strut towards them and it was the best thing.
posted by threetwentytwo at 10:35 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I just counted 14 kinds of salvia in my (obvs temperate) home garden. You too can be an amateur horticultural zookeeper!
(At 14, I have quite a bit of repetition to try to stem my one-of-everything tendencies, plus I've got a bunch of other yarrow and lavender and milkweed and penstemon stashed in there. I could do WAY more salvias if I were more focused.)
posted by purpleclover at 10:43 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
(At 14, I have quite a bit of repetition to try to stem my one-of-everything tendencies, plus I've got a bunch of other yarrow and lavender and milkweed and penstemon stashed in there. I could do WAY more salvias if I were more focused.)
posted by purpleclover at 10:43 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
None smokeable, one suitable for Thanksgiving stuffing, one good for making smudge sticks.
posted by purpleclover at 10:43 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by purpleclover at 10:43 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
When I was younger fall was my favorite time of the year. I loved the cooler temperatures and the colors. The smell of burning leaves and cinnamon sticks in hot cider. Getting out my thick wool sweaters. Hearing the sound of leaves crunch beneath my boots. Watching the wildlife migrate or prepare for the coming winter. I was oddly oblivious to its more somber signals, the killing frosts, the decay, nature’s growing anxiety over who among us will still be here on the other side of winter. Back then, fall meant a new school year, and meeting new people, learning new things. Maybe finding someone to share a blanket with under September stars, or hold hands with while exploring a creek along a wooded path. Fall seemed so romantic.
As I got older spring began to reveal its own unique qualities. I had always loved the budding of the world with its sudden profusion of new babies and sprouts, but it wasn’t until I began a late adolescence that I myself began to feel its more erotic pushing and pulling. More than just the shedding of clothes in warmer temperatures, the air took on a fecund funk and it muddied my thinking. Lustful feelings pulsed inside my young body in ways I didn’t initially understand or know how to respond to. When I learned about how the Greeks and Romans felt about spring, it finally made a bit more sense. It wasn’t just me waking up after winter, half the world was caught in this same pall.
As I got older that pull of the spring began to fade. I still like to watch it happen, but I think its effect on my body will continue to be muted. Just as my dread of the fall might continue to grow. In the autumn of my own life, I’m more acutely aware of my own impending mortality. The distance to the winter I don’t come out of is growing shorter. Maybe it’s for this reason that spring is still my favorite. If I’ve reached a new spring, I’ve notched off one more year. And even if I’m immune to its electric erotic pull, I’m still able to appreciate its subtle trumpet of birth. How can you not be affected by all the flowers and babies.
As for the fall, now that there’s more behind than ahead, while it does fill me with a bit of dread, I’m finding it helpful. It’s not a horrible thing, this death. It’s natural. It’s supposed to happen. I have seen it now over and over. If the leaves didn’t fall and return to the soil, with what would the tree make its seeds? How would the world renew itself? It helps to see that. It helps know it all has a role. In that I find comfort.
posted by Stanczyk at 10:46 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
As I got older spring began to reveal its own unique qualities. I had always loved the budding of the world with its sudden profusion of new babies and sprouts, but it wasn’t until I began a late adolescence that I myself began to feel its more erotic pushing and pulling. More than just the shedding of clothes in warmer temperatures, the air took on a fecund funk and it muddied my thinking. Lustful feelings pulsed inside my young body in ways I didn’t initially understand or know how to respond to. When I learned about how the Greeks and Romans felt about spring, it finally made a bit more sense. It wasn’t just me waking up after winter, half the world was caught in this same pall.
As I got older that pull of the spring began to fade. I still like to watch it happen, but I think its effect on my body will continue to be muted. Just as my dread of the fall might continue to grow. In the autumn of my own life, I’m more acutely aware of my own impending mortality. The distance to the winter I don’t come out of is growing shorter. Maybe it’s for this reason that spring is still my favorite. If I’ve reached a new spring, I’ve notched off one more year. And even if I’m immune to its electric erotic pull, I’m still able to appreciate its subtle trumpet of birth. How can you not be affected by all the flowers and babies.
As for the fall, now that there’s more behind than ahead, while it does fill me with a bit of dread, I’m finding it helpful. It’s not a horrible thing, this death. It’s natural. It’s supposed to happen. I have seen it now over and over. If the leaves didn’t fall and return to the soil, with what would the tree make its seeds? How would the world renew itself? It helps to see that. It helps know it all has a role. In that I find comfort.
posted by Stanczyk at 10:46 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
I have been studying Spanish in preparation for doing the Santiago pilgrimage next year, for my 50 birthday. I am very excited!!!
posted by supermedusa at 11:30 AM on September 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 11:30 AM on September 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
i am going to celebrate the end of disgusting horrible vile summer by launching a giant disco ball into the sky to block out the rays of the accursed daystar foREVER
posted by poffin boffin at 11:58 AM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 11:58 AM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
real talk tho i never expected to be secretly jewish enough to absolutely 100% consider autumn to be the beginning of a new year but here we are, menacingly waving honey cake at all who disagree
posted by poffin boffin at 11:59 AM on September 17, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 11:59 AM on September 17, 2017 [10 favorites]
I love fall and am not sure why. It doesn't really matter. I just love the cooler temps, the slanted light, the cozy nights, the excuse to wear pajamas and robes, to make up a batch of Alton Brown's recipe for hot chocolate mix. On the more prosaic side, I have to figure out a clever way to seal up my single-pane windows with the thin plastic. Last year I just threw up heavy-duty plastic, which did the job but I couldn't see out and that bothered me. I'm giving thought to creating a frame of pvc pipe w/elbows, wrapping the plastic around it, and putting foam tubing (like you put on hoses) around the whole thing and wedge it into the window opening/sill. Procrastination is not my friend but is my companion.
posted by MovableBookLady at 12:12 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by MovableBookLady at 12:12 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Fall here.
I'm kind of done with heat, and wanting to get out on the weekends and try hiking. I also tend to be a little more intellectual with hobbies/leisure time; I've already signed up for a cheese tasting, a tour of a distillery, and a one-day class in photography, and I'm toying with a museum visit today.
In late October I go to Berlin and most likely Prague as well, and then after that I have an out-of-town guest who wants to hit up the Tibetan art museum and the Museum of Chinese americans, neither of which I've been to.
I just spent the whole day yesterday canning tomatoes, so there's a harvest element as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:23 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm kind of done with heat, and wanting to get out on the weekends and try hiking. I also tend to be a little more intellectual with hobbies/leisure time; I've already signed up for a cheese tasting, a tour of a distillery, and a one-day class in photography, and I'm toying with a museum visit today.
In late October I go to Berlin and most likely Prague as well, and then after that I have an out-of-town guest who wants to hit up the Tibetan art museum and the Museum of Chinese americans, neither of which I've been to.
I just spent the whole day yesterday canning tomatoes, so there's a harvest element as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:23 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
We are in the middle of making the move from the UK to Amsterdam.
We've decided to take this chance and do a big house-cleaning. This means getting rid of lots of old stuff that is over-used or barely-used. Keeping only the good stuff, the lasting stuff and many but not all of the sentimental favorites. Honestly, most of what we are keeping is books.
I'm typing this with my laptop on top of my partner desk that I bought at Harrison's in San Francisco in 1994. I took this desk with me to Manhattan where it stood in the middle of a Soho loft. It then went back with me to San Francisco where I used it for many years. Later a friend took it with her in a shipment to the Netherlands where I retreived it and had it brought to London and then out here to the countryside. Anyways, its time to say goodbye. I sold this desk to a furniture dealer who is comng to pick it up next week. Everything has to move.
Autumn is already arriving here in England. Next month we are off to Lisbon which is less about seasons than about year-round pleasant weather. Thanksgiving will be at my parents in San Diego - another seasonless town. Finally, by December we should be settling down to spend our first winter in Amsterdam.
We're ready, I think. We have our warm clothes. After having lived in a place where we wake to the sound of Dippers singing in the nearby stream, we are ready to make a move into urbanity. Or at least Amsterdam, which, with its canals and pretty buildings may not make for an abrupt return to urbanity after all.
posted by vacapinta at 12:25 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
We've decided to take this chance and do a big house-cleaning. This means getting rid of lots of old stuff that is over-used or barely-used. Keeping only the good stuff, the lasting stuff and many but not all of the sentimental favorites. Honestly, most of what we are keeping is books.
I'm typing this with my laptop on top of my partner desk that I bought at Harrison's in San Francisco in 1994. I took this desk with me to Manhattan where it stood in the middle of a Soho loft. It then went back with me to San Francisco where I used it for many years. Later a friend took it with her in a shipment to the Netherlands where I retreived it and had it brought to London and then out here to the countryside. Anyways, its time to say goodbye. I sold this desk to a furniture dealer who is comng to pick it up next week. Everything has to move.
Autumn is already arriving here in England. Next month we are off to Lisbon which is less about seasons than about year-round pleasant weather. Thanksgiving will be at my parents in San Diego - another seasonless town. Finally, by December we should be settling down to spend our first winter in Amsterdam.
We're ready, I think. We have our warm clothes. After having lived in a place where we wake to the sound of Dippers singing in the nearby stream, we are ready to make a move into urbanity. Or at least Amsterdam, which, with its canals and pretty buildings may not make for an abrupt return to urbanity after all.
posted by vacapinta at 12:25 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Reading news much less and ending an awful bout of unemployment. The former didn't cause the latter, but the latter sure affects the former. I also hope to set my habits to keep riding my bike through the winter, which I usually wimp out of.
posted by rhizome at 12:31 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 12:31 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
We're recovering from the disruption of Hurricane Harvey; dealing with survivor's guilt, and trying to handle a sudden uptick of nightmares in our household. Everyone is still having trouble sleeping.
Other than that, life goes on. I'm still having trouble seeing myself as a community college instructor forever, but this is year eight, so I guess if I can do it for eight I can probably do it for 28, if it comes to that. I'm still casually in the market for ministry jobs, but I'm kind of an odd duck, so I'm not counting on anything coming through anytime soon. I did get an email from one of the most liberal congregations in my denomination asking if I would be interested in talking to them about their open pastor position. It looks like it could be a really great fit, but it's also a loooooooong way from home in Texas (Boston), and it would have to be truly un-turn-down-able to get me to drag my kids that far across the country. The last time we did a cross country move for a church job it wound up being the worst experience imaginable, and I don't think my family is up to trying it again. Not when everything is going fine except that I'm a bit bored and a lot underpaid. I suspect that what I'll do is have a nice talk with Cool Liberal Church, wish I were in a position to move there, and then give them some other names to consider. There's also "maybe okay moderate church not far from here" and "long shot director of spiritual formation at a midsize university job" that's I've thrown applications toward, but it's all in early stages.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:42 PM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
Other than that, life goes on. I'm still having trouble seeing myself as a community college instructor forever, but this is year eight, so I guess if I can do it for eight I can probably do it for 28, if it comes to that. I'm still casually in the market for ministry jobs, but I'm kind of an odd duck, so I'm not counting on anything coming through anytime soon. I did get an email from one of the most liberal congregations in my denomination asking if I would be interested in talking to them about their open pastor position. It looks like it could be a really great fit, but it's also a loooooooong way from home in Texas (Boston), and it would have to be truly un-turn-down-able to get me to drag my kids that far across the country. The last time we did a cross country move for a church job it wound up being the worst experience imaginable, and I don't think my family is up to trying it again. Not when everything is going fine except that I'm a bit bored and a lot underpaid. I suspect that what I'll do is have a nice talk with Cool Liberal Church, wish I were in a position to move there, and then give them some other names to consider. There's also "maybe okay moderate church not far from here" and "long shot director of spiritual formation at a midsize university job" that's I've thrown applications toward, but it's all in early stages.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:42 PM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]
After a hideously hot and dry summer here in the Pacific NW, we've been having a glorious weekend of cool overcast, and just now the first drops of what's forecast to be the first serious rain since May started to fall. I am aglow with Homeowner Virtue, having forehandedly gotten up on the ladder yesterday and cleaned out ALL the gutters, as well as put away various garden tools that had been lying strewn about the backyard for months. (The garden shed is full of giant spiders this time of year, so I sort of flung them in and slammed the door, but at least they're out of the rain.)
The new academic year is about to begin, a time when those of us in student services should be well-rested after a quiet summer of catching up on desk work, and full of vim for welcoming the new students. The summer was, actually, total hell, and I am exhausted and bleak, but at least one major ongoing fucked-up workplace situation has been resolved, and I am having fewer daydreams about just running away and changing my name and getting a job at a 7-11 in Winnemucca or something.
Fall is here, the rains are coming, the new students are coming, and everything is going to be more or less OK.
posted by Kat Allison at 1:42 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
The new academic year is about to begin, a time when those of us in student services should be well-rested after a quiet summer of catching up on desk work, and full of vim for welcoming the new students. The summer was, actually, total hell, and I am exhausted and bleak, but at least one major ongoing fucked-up workplace situation has been resolved, and I am having fewer daydreams about just running away and changing my name and getting a job at a 7-11 in Winnemucca or something.
Fall is here, the rains are coming, the new students are coming, and everything is going to be more or less OK.
posted by Kat Allison at 1:42 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
My son started kindergarten a two weeks ago. Last week a cold virus paraded through the family, starting with my girlfriend, moving over into our son, and ending with me. So I missed the last few glorious days of nice weather. Now fall has hit, with gray skies and leaves turning red and yellow and brown. I caught myself today thinking that it was already nine o'clock when it was only eight, because it was starting to get dark already.
Workwise I'm in a weird bit of limbo right now. I published a novel last March but as the main bookbuying season in Iceland is November and December. So I'll be doing some promotional thingies during the fall. Mostly it'll be short little readings here and there. However, the big event that I had organized myself is set for November 2nd. It'll feature me and four other writers, three of whom released books in the spring. I had reserved the venue, gotten everything lined up and then the Icelandic government collapsed and there will be a snap election. There are two dates being discussed for voting day, October 28th and November 4th. If the former is chosen, everything is hunky dory and the event can go on as planned. However, if the politicians opt for November 4th, that'll mean that our literary event will probably vanish beneath the drifts of a political snowstorm. So, either next week will be relatively calm and I can just knuckle down and continue writing, or I'll be frantically trying to reschedule our event, along with everyone else who's got cultural events planned in the last week before the election.
As for the rest of the autumn, I'll be working on my novel manuscript. My girlfriend is also working on hers. From our apartment in Reykjavík we can see the playground of our son's kindergarten. We've discovered that while she is perfectly capable of working in our apartment while the kids are outside playing, I'm constantly drawn to the window to see if I can catch a glimpse of our son. So I'll start going to a café or library in the morning to work. I like the idea of walking somewhere every weekday morning as fall sets in. It'll be a little bit like being in school again, but in a nice way.
posted by Kattullus at 1:46 PM on September 17, 2017 [11 favorites]
Workwise I'm in a weird bit of limbo right now. I published a novel last March but as the main bookbuying season in Iceland is November and December. So I'll be doing some promotional thingies during the fall. Mostly it'll be short little readings here and there. However, the big event that I had organized myself is set for November 2nd. It'll feature me and four other writers, three of whom released books in the spring. I had reserved the venue, gotten everything lined up and then the Icelandic government collapsed and there will be a snap election. There are two dates being discussed for voting day, October 28th and November 4th. If the former is chosen, everything is hunky dory and the event can go on as planned. However, if the politicians opt for November 4th, that'll mean that our literary event will probably vanish beneath the drifts of a political snowstorm. So, either next week will be relatively calm and I can just knuckle down and continue writing, or I'll be frantically trying to reschedule our event, along with everyone else who's got cultural events planned in the last week before the election.
As for the rest of the autumn, I'll be working on my novel manuscript. My girlfriend is also working on hers. From our apartment in Reykjavík we can see the playground of our son's kindergarten. We've discovered that while she is perfectly capable of working in our apartment while the kids are outside playing, I'm constantly drawn to the window to see if I can catch a glimpse of our son. So I'll start going to a café or library in the morning to work. I like the idea of walking somewhere every weekday morning as fall sets in. It'll be a little bit like being in school again, but in a nice way.
posted by Kattullus at 1:46 PM on September 17, 2017 [11 favorites]
At the end of September, I'm singing with my trio at our local porchfest. (It's exactly what it sounds like; they close the streets on one end of town and different act perform on porches for a strolling audience.)
Then, on the last weekend in October, we're doing strolling music for the Wizarding Weekend. That's also what it sounds like: a Harry Potter Festival that takes up the other end of town. The extent of my Potter fandom is falling asleep halfway through one of the movies, but I still enjoy it because there's a lot of crossover with General fantasy, and because everyone just has a wonderful time. And we get paid!
My sister and I may be going to Orlando for her birthday treat and to use up some of her kajillion and one Hilton Rewards points. We can't afford to do the theme parks in any meaningful way, but we maybe could spring for one night at the Disney Halloween or Christmas party, depending on when we go.
My birthday treat last week what's the Drive-in Super Monster Rama Festival of vintage horror/sci-fi B-day at the Riverside Drive-In in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh). We saw The Tingler, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman; camped out right in the drive-in; ate funnel cakes and pierogi pizza; and hung out with other shivering weirdos. It was great!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:46 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Then, on the last weekend in October, we're doing strolling music for the Wizarding Weekend. That's also what it sounds like: a Harry Potter Festival that takes up the other end of town. The extent of my Potter fandom is falling asleep halfway through one of the movies, but I still enjoy it because there's a lot of crossover with General fantasy, and because everyone just has a wonderful time. And we get paid!
My sister and I may be going to Orlando for her birthday treat and to use up some of her kajillion and one Hilton Rewards points. We can't afford to do the theme parks in any meaningful way, but we maybe could spring for one night at the Disney Halloween or Christmas party, depending on when we go.
My birthday treat last week what's the Drive-in Super Monster Rama Festival of vintage horror/sci-fi B-day at the Riverside Drive-In in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh). We saw The Tingler, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman; camped out right in the drive-in; ate funnel cakes and pierogi pizza; and hung out with other shivering weirdos. It was great!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:46 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Summer is a comin in. First we will have torrential spring rains and then the intense heat.
Hopefully the newly repared roof will keep it out.
The city ~ Rio de Janeiro ~ gets slightly more crazier than usual with the heat as it all builds slowly to three days of baccanal.
Last weekend we had the first arrastão; a band of youth charging down the street stealing everything they can, bags, cell phones goods at the front of open shops.
The gang wars rage in the suburbs and some of the favelas and with luck doesn't spread to the asphalt. As usual Music is everywhere. I put my ceiling fan on last night for the first time since April.
Life in the city can be edgy but it's good.
posted by adamvasco at 3:00 PM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
Hopefully the newly repared roof will keep it out.
The city ~ Rio de Janeiro ~ gets slightly more crazier than usual with the heat as it all builds slowly to three days of baccanal.
Last weekend we had the first arrastão; a band of youth charging down the street stealing everything they can, bags, cell phones goods at the front of open shops.
The gang wars rage in the suburbs and some of the favelas and with luck doesn't spread to the asphalt. As usual Music is everywhere. I put my ceiling fan on last night for the first time since April.
Life in the city can be edgy but it's good.
posted by adamvasco at 3:00 PM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
We're adding horse number 4 to our herd tonight and I'm pretty sure that officially tips me over into the category of Crazy Horse Lady although I will unconvincingly try to defend myself by saying that it's my daughter's horse and not mine. My plans for the fall include doing some work on the fencing, getting a round pen (small round arena) set up, talking to arena contractors about doing an actual arena, and running power and water out to the barn. The weather's been beautiful and once I get caught up on weeding out my gardens and pastures I think I may actually be in shape to hike up Maryland Heights and Weverton Cliffs. Really looking forward to my first fall on Bee n' Rose farm and the End of Weeding Season.
posted by drlith at 4:00 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by drlith at 4:00 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
Fall chores, get shovels and salt from out of the back of the shed, varnish all the wooden garden tool handles, put planting tools away. Fire up the snowblower, see if it works. Put down mulch. Off to the orchard to get some apples and cider. Cleaning out the basement (I'm not at hoarder level... yet.) Mulch!
posted by Marky at 4:07 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Marky at 4:07 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh autumn. I want to like this season. I hauled all my clothes out and used a crappy remote shutter button to take photos of nearly every garment. A few so obviously are terrible that they've gone straight into a bag for donating. Years and years of chronic pain have subtly fucked my posture, which doesn't help the way things look. My body is still uncomfortable all the time and often in pain, and it seems that it's not really reconcilable at this point, though I am to take an anti-inflammatory on a regular basis. I have a good supply of fleece lined tights left from last winter, and of course a stack of hand knitted socks and very good warm boots.
I made an amazing plum cake this afternoon. This one, from Food52. My best friend is putting her apartment on the market and might be moving to NH, upstate NY or VT. I'm bummed about that, but we'll see what happens. I've been small batch canning all summer as a result of some shared CSA bounty, and that has me feeling very productive. The applesauce is amazing, and so are the pickles. I've got a stack of library books for inspiration and research.
Job search (again) is awful and hard. I'm working on learning LISP and Selenium, in case anyone needs a very junior tech/QA newb. I've made a commitment to myself to get outside for some amount of time every day, at least for a walk. I've been taking Vitamin D. My crotchety eight year old computer has been replaced by something newer and flashier and much less heavy. So while I'm more terrified than ever of breaking it, things could be way worse.
posted by bilabial at 4:11 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
I made an amazing plum cake this afternoon. This one, from Food52. My best friend is putting her apartment on the market and might be moving to NH, upstate NY or VT. I'm bummed about that, but we'll see what happens. I've been small batch canning all summer as a result of some shared CSA bounty, and that has me feeling very productive. The applesauce is amazing, and so are the pickles. I've got a stack of library books for inspiration and research.
Job search (again) is awful and hard. I'm working on learning LISP and Selenium, in case anyone needs a very junior tech/QA newb. I've made a commitment to myself to get outside for some amount of time every day, at least for a walk. I've been taking Vitamin D. My crotchety eight year old computer has been replaced by something newer and flashier and much less heavy. So while I'm more terrified than ever of breaking it, things could be way worse.
posted by bilabial at 4:11 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
I've been busy harvesting the ripening muscadine and scuppernon grapes before fall arrives. I made chicken salad tonight with my dried summer tarragon, pecans and whole grapes (yup, seeds, thick hulls and all) buttermilk and mayo. It was yum but the grapes tried to a avoid the eating utinsile (they aren't the large supermarket grapes.)
I harvested the herbs early September (oregano, basil, tarragon and sage) the garlic chives still need harvesting but I'm waiting for some drying space and it'll take the cooler temps whenever they blissfully arrive. The rosemary, my favourite, will grow all year so no harvesting necessary.
I treated myself to a few new flowering perennials this year and have been rewarded with a yard full of sulfer butterflies heralding the approach if fall. They live these plants more than butterfly bushes!
The tourist season is drawing to a close. We love them, then we tolerate them, then we're glad to see them go. It's a good part of the economy here and I really am afraid for thise hit by recent hurricanes.
Friday evening I attended a local community play. I try and do one social thing per month and supporting their usuall good efforts is mutually beneficial. It is the first time I've abandoned a performance at intermission. But overall the plays have been enjoyable efforts for a tiny place (The area population is about 9k and many of those are young marine families who just don't have time to get involved locally.)
Tomorrow is another workday and also is Mom's 87th birthday. We will go out to an expensive delicious unpretentious meal. It may be our last birthday dinner out since her health has been declining these last couple of months. Last night we went to the Wilmington Symphony and were awed by the 14 y.o. guest soloist (cello player Ifetayo Ali from Illinois) I'm doing much more mom-support these days and am holding off moving into her home until totally necessary. Tis a fluid balancing act.
The kitties have mostly behaved this week after the previous week's chaos. I've been purging clothing that is too small and will never fit again. I hope to keep up with the divesting of stuff all winter so that by springtime the remaining things are only the essentials of what makes my life more pleasant. (If I don't have to move in with mom.)
I actually love my little place where I can be me uncensored but am the one who's willing to look after Mom. We get along ok and I am the one person she trusts. Plus I figure that she changed my diapers all those years so it's a fair trade.
I hope that I have enough foresite to off myself prior to becoming too old to care for myself but know the odds are against sound judgement at whatever time that happens. These are autumn thoughts which are about preparing for the bleak season ahead; by spring, may the air bring renewed hope and spirit.
posted by mightshould at 4:14 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I harvested the herbs early September (oregano, basil, tarragon and sage) the garlic chives still need harvesting but I'm waiting for some drying space and it'll take the cooler temps whenever they blissfully arrive. The rosemary, my favourite, will grow all year so no harvesting necessary.
I treated myself to a few new flowering perennials this year and have been rewarded with a yard full of sulfer butterflies heralding the approach if fall. They live these plants more than butterfly bushes!
The tourist season is drawing to a close. We love them, then we tolerate them, then we're glad to see them go. It's a good part of the economy here and I really am afraid for thise hit by recent hurricanes.
Friday evening I attended a local community play. I try and do one social thing per month and supporting their usuall good efforts is mutually beneficial. It is the first time I've abandoned a performance at intermission. But overall the plays have been enjoyable efforts for a tiny place (The area population is about 9k and many of those are young marine families who just don't have time to get involved locally.)
Tomorrow is another workday and also is Mom's 87th birthday. We will go out to an expensive delicious unpretentious meal. It may be our last birthday dinner out since her health has been declining these last couple of months. Last night we went to the Wilmington Symphony and were awed by the 14 y.o. guest soloist (cello player Ifetayo Ali from Illinois) I'm doing much more mom-support these days and am holding off moving into her home until totally necessary. Tis a fluid balancing act.
The kitties have mostly behaved this week after the previous week's chaos. I've been purging clothing that is too small and will never fit again. I hope to keep up with the divesting of stuff all winter so that by springtime the remaining things are only the essentials of what makes my life more pleasant. (If I don't have to move in with mom.)
I actually love my little place where I can be me uncensored but am the one who's willing to look after Mom. We get along ok and I am the one person she trusts. Plus I figure that she changed my diapers all those years so it's a fair trade.
I hope that I have enough foresite to off myself prior to becoming too old to care for myself but know the odds are against sound judgement at whatever time that happens. These are autumn thoughts which are about preparing for the bleak season ahead; by spring, may the air bring renewed hope and spirit.
posted by mightshould at 4:14 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm really feeling the sense that fall is harvest season, and I'm overwhelmed - the earth is producing bounty and I can't eat fast enough to keep up! I'm way more urban than rural, but still feel it, in the form of my CSA doubling in size such that there's still last week's in the fridge and I get another tomorrow. And the weekend was when I had enough time/focus to actually look at my garden and see that only half the green beans I grew are still edible and the others are trying to become fibrous masses and/or dry beans for storage and/or seed beans for next year (if I needed a pound of those). And I have two tiny super-dwarf urban apple trees: one of them is loaded but hasn't started dropping fruit yet, and the other has given me 20 lbs of apples so far (only about 5-10lb to go) and we threw out the gnarliest because I just couldn't take it. Spent the weekend chopping apples because the fruit flies were taking over, made up the filling for 3 pies, and canned a batch of apple butter. I'm half delighted but also wondering wtf I'm going to do when the second tree starts to deliver. So it's kind of cool? Except overwhelming. The freezer is getting full, and instead of it being reassuring and comforting the way fall harvests are "supposed to feel", it's more like I'm getting in over my head and don't have a way to store things. And if I were at least hungry right now, that would help, I could look forward to eating this food later, but I've been dealing with stuff in the kitchen all day, and apparently snacking on bread and apples enough that dinner is a moot point, and the idea of having a freezer full of food is more of an obligation that future me is going to have to deal with it, rather than a promise of comfort and plenty.
I do like fall, really, just not right now. It's like having the Christmas bah-humbugs, only for apples.
posted by aimedwander at 4:21 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I do like fall, really, just not right now. It's like having the Christmas bah-humbugs, only for apples.
posted by aimedwander at 4:21 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm glad I asked this, I really like this thread!!!
UPDATE: while reading the Harrison Ford interview someone FPP'd the other day I was like WAIT MY KIDS CAN BE STAR WARS GUYS and so I proposed it to them this morning. Middle child (who is blond and kinda whiney right now) agreed because he gets to be the protagonist (Luke) and carry a light saber, Oldest child (who is brunet and a charming rogue of a child) agreed because his guy drives the spaceship (Han), and even the baby will be happy because she is very into hats and the baby Leia costume comes with a bun-hair hat. PLUS I can buy all of the costumes which is important this year because my sewing machine is in storage, along with all my craft supplies! I immediately ordered all the costumes on amazon before anyone could change their mind or anything could sell out.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:24 PM on September 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
UPDATE: while reading the Harrison Ford interview someone FPP'd the other day I was like WAIT MY KIDS CAN BE STAR WARS GUYS and so I proposed it to them this morning. Middle child (who is blond and kinda whiney right now) agreed because he gets to be the protagonist (Luke) and carry a light saber, Oldest child (who is brunet and a charming rogue of a child) agreed because his guy drives the spaceship (Han), and even the baby will be happy because she is very into hats and the baby Leia costume comes with a bun-hair hat. PLUS I can buy all of the costumes which is important this year because my sewing machine is in storage, along with all my craft supplies! I immediately ordered all the costumes on amazon before anyone could change their mind or anything could sell out.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:24 PM on September 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
Teaching my classes, knocking a Book 3 1/2-related article into shape and revising another one, proofreading yet other things, some book reviewing, service work...quiet academic life, pretty much. I recently defeated the Invasive Bush from Outer Space which appeared in my front yard while I was away for a few weeks (to clarify: the roots were there already, but thanks to all the rain we had, the whatever-it-was went wild), and am staring sternly at the first few leaves fluttering to the ground. Occasionally, I sneak into my basement to work on the dollhouse I'm rehabbing, an English kit that got accidentally beaten up by the first person who had a go (I sympathize).
posted by thomas j wise at 5:11 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by thomas j wise at 5:11 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
This weekend was more social than most of my weekends, I went to a local keyboard meetup yesterday (that is, nerds who geek out over computer keyboards) and showed off the one I built. It wasn't that spectacular compared to the one that weighed maybe a dozen pounds (an aluminum case and solid brass slug can do that), the one built with decades-old keycaps and parts, or the many projects of the couple of guys locally who prolifically design, build and sell new keyboards. It was more fun than it sounds. You had to be there. Etc. Also we had poutine (which the expat Montrealer of the group vouchsafed as legit) and a variety of craft brews.
Today we went to a home show, we gawked at a lot of different vendors of home-related stuff, I got a few more refrigerator magnets because that's kind of a thing for me. We talked with a few different solar panel vendors and maybe in 2018 we'll get the house rigged for solar. One of the vendors was actively encouraging us to start with a relatively sparse system and let the system run through a full cycle of seasons before adding things like power storage, because they can use the metrics the solar system would collect to make better-reasoned recommendations, as opposed to making projections based on average-home usage. So that was neat.
Our city's big annual street festival was this weekend, but the other activities combined with each of us coming down on different days with some kind of short-lived head cold thing that made being out-and-about tolerable but not actually fun, it was better to miss it than to go and be cranky, tired, and probably feeling worse. Now that we have a house for keeps it feels more reassuring now to promise to do it next year.
posted by ardgedee at 5:27 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Today we went to a home show, we gawked at a lot of different vendors of home-related stuff, I got a few more refrigerator magnets because that's kind of a thing for me. We talked with a few different solar panel vendors and maybe in 2018 we'll get the house rigged for solar. One of the vendors was actively encouraging us to start with a relatively sparse system and let the system run through a full cycle of seasons before adding things like power storage, because they can use the metrics the solar system would collect to make better-reasoned recommendations, as opposed to making projections based on average-home usage. So that was neat.
Our city's big annual street festival was this weekend, but the other activities combined with each of us coming down on different days with some kind of short-lived head cold thing that made being out-and-about tolerable but not actually fun, it was better to miss it than to go and be cranky, tired, and probably feeling worse. Now that we have a house for keeps it feels more reassuring now to promise to do it next year.
posted by ardgedee at 5:27 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I like pretty much every day of the year but I adore fall in the mountains, when the aspens are changing and you get misty, cloudy drizzly days that are just perfect for some wet hiking and then curling up with hot beverages and a good book. And while it's the end of peach/berry pie season, apple everything is coming, so I'll probably bake something 3-4 times a week between now and Thanksgiving. And squash and apple soup! Yayyyyyy!
This fall I have 3 tons of rocks that I gathered in my field research, now in my backyard, that need careful cataloging and analyzing. It was a very hurried field season this year and I'm not very happy with my progress, my sampling, or my field notes. But I'll muddle through and I'm taking a week off in October for a "writing retreat", which means setting up my tent someplace wild and isolated, then concentrating on writing two research pubs I desperately need to finish without the distractions of the internet. In the meantime I've got a lot of rock to look at and hopefully whittle down so I'm not out lifting snowy tarps in January and digging through boxes when its 10 degrees (F) out. Hahaha I love my optimism, I know what's going to happen anyway.
My ortho has not given me the go-ahead to do a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail next year like I hoped, which I've been contemplating for awhile and am for the first time ever in a time & financial position to do. He basically asked me if I wanted to still have knees in 5 years and/or move up the hip replacement I'm going to need at some point. Pffffft who needs knees? What a party pooper that guy is. But ever the flexible optimist, I asked if I could try the much shorter Colorado Trail instead, and he grudgingly said okay. So even though it's almost 10 months away, I'm going to spend some time excitedly coming up with my meal plan (I make and dehydrate all my own backpacking food) and hiking plan and fitness plan. All the plans!
posted by barchan at 6:08 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
This fall I have 3 tons of rocks that I gathered in my field research, now in my backyard, that need careful cataloging and analyzing. It was a very hurried field season this year and I'm not very happy with my progress, my sampling, or my field notes. But I'll muddle through and I'm taking a week off in October for a "writing retreat", which means setting up my tent someplace wild and isolated, then concentrating on writing two research pubs I desperately need to finish without the distractions of the internet. In the meantime I've got a lot of rock to look at and hopefully whittle down so I'm not out lifting snowy tarps in January and digging through boxes when its 10 degrees (F) out. Hahaha I love my optimism, I know what's going to happen anyway.
My ortho has not given me the go-ahead to do a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail next year like I hoped, which I've been contemplating for awhile and am for the first time ever in a time & financial position to do. He basically asked me if I wanted to still have knees in 5 years and/or move up the hip replacement I'm going to need at some point. Pffffft who needs knees? What a party pooper that guy is. But ever the flexible optimist, I asked if I could try the much shorter Colorado Trail instead, and he grudgingly said okay. So even though it's almost 10 months away, I'm going to spend some time excitedly coming up with my meal plan (I make and dehydrate all my own backpacking food) and hiking plan and fitness plan. All the plans!
posted by barchan at 6:08 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Eyebrows McGee, how did you get the kids to agree to the idea of themed costumes? I just imagine my inner elementary-schooler totally rebelling because it's not fair I can't wear what I want, etc. I love the idea of family themed costumes and I'm just impressed they go for it.
posted by lazuli at 7:23 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by lazuli at 7:23 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hi, I'm MGL. You may remember me from such comments as "It's been a crazy few weeks" in which I talk about leaving Asheville and traveling for a year in a truck camper. Well. The first attempt was a failure but! I'm actually doing it starting Friday only not in a truck camper but in this small travel trailer which I will BY GODS learn to drive if it kills me and it certainly seems like it might. I am terrified, excited, guilty - basically, I have all the feels. But I am doing it and while I'm at it, I would like to meet Mefites. I don't know how to do one of those rolling meetup announcement thingies like we used to do before there was IRL so let me just announce here that I'm going to be in Ohio by the end of next week, like around the 28th & 29th (I was hoping I could make it to the camping meetup in California but um no that is too ambitious. However! I will be there next spring!) and, well, let's meet up, cities which begin with C, and yes I'm looking at you Cinncinnatti and Columbus and Cleveland which is not in Ohio but hey I think I'm going that way anyway. Life in a trailer! Let me show you it!
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:31 PM on September 17, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:31 PM on September 17, 2017 [10 favorites]
I might run for my neighborhood community council. As a Chinese woman, I've had an entire K-12 (maybe grades 4-12) of being de facto forced to run for student government things to demonstrate "leadership" / "good at people" / "not just math team"-ness for college applications, and I guess the habit is now ingrained?
And, since my partner is taking himself to China for language practice this fall, I'm going to spend the week in Brooklyn doing ALL THE THINGS. Floor barre at Mark Morriss Dance Center, going to the cloisters, so much pizza...
(^ if anyone needs a cat / apartment-sitter 11/10-11/20 in NYC, memail me!)
posted by batter_my_heart at 10:32 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
And, since my partner is taking himself to China for language practice this fall, I'm going to spend the week in Brooklyn doing ALL THE THINGS. Floor barre at Mark Morriss Dance Center, going to the cloisters, so much pizza...
(^ if anyone needs a cat / apartment-sitter 11/10-11/20 in NYC, memail me!)
posted by batter_my_heart at 10:32 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I have a six-month writer-in-residence gig on the other side of the world from where I usually live, and am teaching a class on documentary poetics and trying not to be such a sloth and a layabed for once. It's one of these lucky times when I'm getting paid to do something I love and am fairly good at, and I just can't get my brain to play along and work hard while I have the free time and institutional support. Which is honestly the usual for me--brain not playing along, I mean--but still a drag, every time.
posted by tapir-whorf at 12:24 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by tapir-whorf at 12:24 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
I've managed to gather an impressive collection of library books on my research topic, but now I have to actually read them. The horror.
I'm also trying to get better at writing emails without obsessing over how they're worded. There should be an email handbook for the socially stupid. I would totally buy it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:44 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
I'm also trying to get better at writing emails without obsessing over how they're worded. There should be an email handbook for the socially stupid. I would totally buy it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:44 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
This last 12 months is the first really good year we've had since we teamed up and everybody is starting to relax. We don't need the food banks anymore. 3 unrelated adults, 3 unrelated kids, 3 unrelated dogs, two horses and some incestuous Alpacas and a Fox who is never coming in again because she stinks.
We finished the addition and rented it out to an RN for enough to pay half the mortgage and she has a niece who is over here much of the time cause her own mom is a mess. They are both really nice, considerate people. RN grew up just down the road and her being here has taken the wind out of the people who started harassing us for "our alternative lifestyle" since the election. And a steady-as-a-rock ER nurse is a poifect addition to what is sometimes a dangerous place. After two weeks she said this is where I want to be.
The kids built a larger chicken coop while apparently looking at Escher drawings and we let them cause it was funny to see them decide we need more chickens, start and finish it on their own and slowly realize why it wouldn't work.
Took 13 and Elven out to this 150 year Red Oak that fell two years ago and is all we need for the winter. Gonna have to 4WD loads of it out. Chainsaw maintenance 101. Start on it tomorrow. The insert in the basement can keep the whole house at 63.
Traded sold and bought until we standardized the rifles. One kind of ammo means bulk discount. Kids are up to the bigger ones now. We've been scouted by a jet black coyote that we tracked for miles. Found a few sites with lots of coyote shit and many traces of afterbirth and that's not a good sign for early winter.
Fall is just prep time for winter.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [7 favorites]
We finished the addition and rented it out to an RN for enough to pay half the mortgage and she has a niece who is over here much of the time cause her own mom is a mess. They are both really nice, considerate people. RN grew up just down the road and her being here has taken the wind out of the people who started harassing us for "our alternative lifestyle" since the election. And a steady-as-a-rock ER nurse is a poifect addition to what is sometimes a dangerous place. After two weeks she said this is where I want to be.
The kids built a larger chicken coop while apparently looking at Escher drawings and we let them cause it was funny to see them decide we need more chickens, start and finish it on their own and slowly realize why it wouldn't work.
Took 13 and Elven out to this 150 year Red Oak that fell two years ago and is all we need for the winter. Gonna have to 4WD loads of it out. Chainsaw maintenance 101. Start on it tomorrow. The insert in the basement can keep the whole house at 63.
Traded sold and bought until we standardized the rifles. One kind of ammo means bulk discount. Kids are up to the bigger ones now. We've been scouted by a jet black coyote that we tracked for miles. Found a few sites with lots of coyote shit and many traces of afterbirth and that's not a good sign for early winter.
Fall is just prep time for winter.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [7 favorites]
Well I have a project that I am avoiding for reasons that I would rather avoid discussing (nothing serious, I just agreed to do something without thinking it through/getting all the details and now I regret my rashness), which means that other aspects of my life have been running at high efficiency. Unfortunately, I am about 36 hours away from do or die time, so I am going to have to get to work soon.
Other than that, as I have mentioned a million times, I have been training for the past ten weeks to run my first 10k in two decades. I turn 39 in a few weeks and really want to finish the race in under 40 minutes to prove that I'm not old (yet).
Once that is over I intend to start drinking more because the fall is a great time for that. Also, I promised to meet my friends for the first time in ages (I have three little kids at home so never ever go out socially anymore) and they are all big drinkers, so I need to do a bit of training for that, too.
Ummm, there is a ten day holiday coming up in two weeks and while it is a big family holiday, we don't really have any family to meet (mine are in America, and my wife's are complicated), so it will be us and the kids as usual.
I just started year 4 at my job, which is pretty long for me, and I am starting to look for a change. To that end I took some freelance work to test the waters and am pretty disappointed by what I found. The job I have now sucks by all reasonable metrics, it is a pain in the ass, management is terrible, the hours are longer than comparable jobs etc etc etc. However, the work I do has actual meaning, which I think is hard to find elsewhere. And honestly, it doesn't matter that much, but I get paid better than I would elsewhere.
Ok one last thing! I write Android apps as a hobby and got stuck on a problem for months. I have no coding background or anything, and am self taught from various websites and a healthy dose of stack overflow, so I wasn't really sure how to solve it. Then suddenly like three days ago I figured it out and since then have been prolific (see the work avoidance above).
Happy Fall!
posted by Literaryhero at 3:35 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Other than that, as I have mentioned a million times, I have been training for the past ten weeks to run my first 10k in two decades. I turn 39 in a few weeks and really want to finish the race in under 40 minutes to prove that I'm not old (yet).
Once that is over I intend to start drinking more because the fall is a great time for that. Also, I promised to meet my friends for the first time in ages (I have three little kids at home so never ever go out socially anymore) and they are all big drinkers, so I need to do a bit of training for that, too.
Ummm, there is a ten day holiday coming up in two weeks and while it is a big family holiday, we don't really have any family to meet (mine are in America, and my wife's are complicated), so it will be us and the kids as usual.
I just started year 4 at my job, which is pretty long for me, and I am starting to look for a change. To that end I took some freelance work to test the waters and am pretty disappointed by what I found. The job I have now sucks by all reasonable metrics, it is a pain in the ass, management is terrible, the hours are longer than comparable jobs etc etc etc. However, the work I do has actual meaning, which I think is hard to find elsewhere. And honestly, it doesn't matter that much, but I get paid better than I would elsewhere.
Ok one last thing! I write Android apps as a hobby and got stuck on a problem for months. I have no coding background or anything, and am self taught from various websites and a healthy dose of stack overflow, so I wasn't really sure how to solve it. Then suddenly like three days ago I figured it out and since then have been prolific (see the work avoidance above).
Happy Fall!
posted by Literaryhero at 3:35 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
I managed to actually submit my book manuscript to the publishers, and they didn't throw it back in my face! This means that my plans for the next four months involve the minimum of intellectual effort--apart from the copyediting and production stuff related to the book, I have a couple of small things to write, plus teaching--and a focus on sleeping and cooking and eating and walking and talking and doodling. The last time I had a slice of time to just meander through life, without a Big Scary Project dominating my mental landscape, was 8 years ago; I'm not 100% sure I remember how to do it, but I'm looking forward to having a go. I have all 7 seasons of Game of Thrones to catch up on, to begin with.
posted by Aravis76 at 4:55 AM on September 18, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Aravis76 at 4:55 AM on September 18, 2017 [9 favorites]
"Eyebrows McGee, how did you get the kids to agree to the idea of themed costumes?"
They actually do it on their own! It was pretty easy when they were little and they wanted to be something matching and I could talk them into something achievable and leave them with the idea that they'd come up with it, but every year now I'm like, "Well YOU could be your thing, and YOU could be your different thing, and it's fine!" and they're like, "No mom, we want to be the SAME thing!" and then they spend a month fighting bitterly over what that thing will be because they can't agree on a theme. My boys are only two years apart and they are best buds, so they really like doing things together, they just both want to be the boss of what thing they're going to do in their togetherness! (And of course with the baby they dote on her and she must be included!)
Anyway, my life would be a lot easier if they'd just agree to be whatever they each wanted and not insist on being a matching set. So I suppose their elementary school rebellion is insisting, over my exasperated and exhausted protests, that they be a matched set!
(Last year was so brilliant it's kind-of hard to top, though -- they're both really into space and stargazing, so they went as their favorite constellations, which entailed getting them both black pajamas that they then wore all winter, and bulk LED earrings for a rave, which we poked through the PJs in the correct patterns for Orion and Scorpius. And then the baby got green pajamas and I bought her a little alien hat on Etsy, and it was brilliant and CHEAP! They've also been a zookeeper and his lion; a cop and a robber; an owl and a tiger; a yellow minion and a purple minion; and one year one was a Wild Kratt and the other was Steve from Minecraft but they didn't think it was fun because they didn't go together even though they both got to be their favorite thing.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:19 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
They actually do it on their own! It was pretty easy when they were little and they wanted to be something matching and I could talk them into something achievable and leave them with the idea that they'd come up with it, but every year now I'm like, "Well YOU could be your thing, and YOU could be your different thing, and it's fine!" and they're like, "No mom, we want to be the SAME thing!" and then they spend a month fighting bitterly over what that thing will be because they can't agree on a theme. My boys are only two years apart and they are best buds, so they really like doing things together, they just both want to be the boss of what thing they're going to do in their togetherness! (And of course with the baby they dote on her and she must be included!)
Anyway, my life would be a lot easier if they'd just agree to be whatever they each wanted and not insist on being a matching set. So I suppose their elementary school rebellion is insisting, over my exasperated and exhausted protests, that they be a matched set!
(Last year was so brilliant it's kind-of hard to top, though -- they're both really into space and stargazing, so they went as their favorite constellations, which entailed getting them both black pajamas that they then wore all winter, and bulk LED earrings for a rave, which we poked through the PJs in the correct patterns for Orion and Scorpius. And then the baby got green pajamas and I bought her a little alien hat on Etsy, and it was brilliant and CHEAP! They've also been a zookeeper and his lion; a cop and a robber; an owl and a tiger; a yellow minion and a purple minion; and one year one was a Wild Kratt and the other was Steve from Minecraft but they didn't think it was fun because they didn't go together even though they both got to be their favorite thing.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:19 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Anyway, my life would be a lot easier if they'd just agree to be whatever they each wanted and not insist on being a matching set. So I suppose their elementary school rebellion is insisting, over my exasperated and exhausted protests, that they be a matched set!
Ahh, now it makes perfect sense! And the constellation/alien costumes are brilliant.
posted by lazuli at 5:25 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ahh, now it makes perfect sense! And the constellation/alien costumes are brilliant.
posted by lazuli at 5:25 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
I love the fall, so much so that I actually thought I'd get married in October. That didn't happen, but I still really like this season. We usually get a break in the awful humidity, the trees up here do change colors a little, and I start the lead-up to NaNoWriMo, which is very much the highlight of my November and the fall season, as it has been since 2005 (and I just felt very old typing that out). Plus there's Halloween and Thanksgiving, my favorite fun holiday and my favorite food holiday, so really, what's not to love?
I'm considering writing a fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo this year, which I very much do not want to do, but it's the idea that's sticking best right now, so whatever. We're going to Atlanta next weekend, and again for a couple days in October. I'll get to wear some nice dresses to see some shows at the theater, and maybe even a cozy jacket. Fall's the best.
posted by PearlRose at 8:42 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm considering writing a fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo this year, which I very much do not want to do, but it's the idea that's sticking best right now, so whatever. We're going to Atlanta next weekend, and again for a couple days in October. I'll get to wear some nice dresses to see some shows at the theater, and maybe even a cozy jacket. Fall's the best.
posted by PearlRose at 8:42 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also am on Day Four of a long birthday weekend, in the bar of a posh hotel, contemplating dinner options. In a little while am off to the cinema for a final birthday treat to myself for this year. Having a weird almost childlike excitement about it.
Am also very much enjoying everyone's autumnal comments on this thread.
posted by Wordshore at 10:01 AM on September 18, 2017 [3 favorites]
Am also very much enjoying everyone's autumnal comments on this thread.
posted by Wordshore at 10:01 AM on September 18, 2017 [3 favorites]
Anyway, my life would be a lot easier if they'd just agree to be whatever they each wanted and not insist on being a matching set. So I suppose their elementary school rebellion is insisting, over my exasperated and exhausted protests, that they be a matched set!
That was totally my sister and me! Except we didn't fight for long before I realized my sister was the boss. The best year was when she were a nurse's uniform; I wore my pajamas and robe and just went to town on the goriest bruise and bloody wound makeup my eight-year-old brain, Mom's discarded cosmetics, and an old, torn-up white sheet could devise.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:24 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
That was totally my sister and me! Except we didn't fight for long before I realized my sister was the boss. The best year was when she were a nurse's uniform; I wore my pajamas and robe and just went to town on the goriest bruise and bloody wound makeup my eight-year-old brain, Mom's discarded cosmetics, and an old, torn-up white sheet could devise.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:24 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Just as soon as the weather turns more mild I am going to complete my Hurricane Harvey recovery. The house was never affected by the high water but the storage shed and back yard were. Having purged the contents of the shed it is time to repair the structure of the shed itself. New siding and trim are needed.
The flood waters pushed yard debris into all of the corners. I have to haul out sticks, grass, and leaves and find room for them in the compost pile. This means I will have to clear out the well composted material and ready that for spreading. Hard and sweaty work.
The lumber stack shifted and fell over. Planks, boards and timbers have to be stacked again and evaluated for decay. Fortunately the scrap iron collection (save me from this please) is intact and unmoved.
Finally, it is time to clear the wildflower bed and sow the new crop for next spring and summer.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 10:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
The flood waters pushed yard debris into all of the corners. I have to haul out sticks, grass, and leaves and find room for them in the compost pile. This means I will have to clear out the well composted material and ready that for spreading. Hard and sweaty work.
The lumber stack shifted and fell over. Planks, boards and timbers have to be stacked again and evaluated for decay. Fortunately the scrap iron collection (save me from this please) is intact and unmoved.
Finally, it is time to clear the wildflower bed and sow the new crop for next spring and summer.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 10:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
My wife is in the middle of a PhD and also teaching her first university class, which means she's out of town between Monday and Thursday or Friday most weeks. I am doing the following things with my free time: continuing to hit the gym 3-4 times a week, listening to records, reading, catching up on the half-dozen or so TV shows I watch, socializing and napping.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:39 PM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:39 PM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Grandysaur: It snowed today! Happy September!
I was in Phoenix, AZ, late last week and it was in the mid 100s, dropping to the low 90s at night (seriously, it was 93 degrees Farenheit at midnight). Then a colleague from Montana pulled up some cameras and showed us snow in her neck of the woods, falling at that very moment. What a difference a thousand miles makes.
It's been pleasant here in our part of New Mexico, with temperatures into the 80s, peaking in the 90s in the afternoon, but with lovely breezes and plenty of afternoon to evening thunder storms. I love it!
Mrs. filthy light thief completed the first of two dinosaur costumes, after the youngest light thief agreed to wear a little person costume instead of the dog costume that was also included in the costume templates :P
We got two jars of tasty, tasty jam from a friendly MeFite, which has give us more impetus to turn our grapes into jelly and send a jar or two as thanks. Hopefully it turns out half as good as the ones we got.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:23 PM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was in Phoenix, AZ, late last week and it was in the mid 100s, dropping to the low 90s at night (seriously, it was 93 degrees Farenheit at midnight). Then a colleague from Montana pulled up some cameras and showed us snow in her neck of the woods, falling at that very moment. What a difference a thousand miles makes.
It's been pleasant here in our part of New Mexico, with temperatures into the 80s, peaking in the 90s in the afternoon, but with lovely breezes and plenty of afternoon to evening thunder storms. I love it!
Mrs. filthy light thief completed the first of two dinosaur costumes, after the youngest light thief agreed to wear a little person costume instead of the dog costume that was also included in the costume templates :P
We got two jars of tasty, tasty jam from a friendly MeFite, which has give us more impetus to turn our grapes into jelly and send a jar or two as thanks. Hopefully it turns out half as good as the ones we got.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:23 PM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
Out of the cinema after seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and back at base after catching the last bus outta the city and enduring drunken passengers attempting to sing REMs "Everybody Hurts". Badly.
But it worth it to see that movie, on a huge screen. I may have had a lot of dust in my eyes when Barry said "Goodbye" at the end. That's okay for a 49 year old man, yes?
Also noting that the very first thing I saw on leaving the theatre was a poster for ... The Emoji Movie. Such a thing exists. Heck, from a cinema point of view I am glad I was a child in 1977 and not 2017.
posted by Wordshore at 5:22 PM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
But it worth it to see that movie, on a huge screen. I may have had a lot of dust in my eyes when Barry said "Goodbye" at the end. That's okay for a 49 year old man, yes?
Also noting that the very first thing I saw on leaving the theatre was a poster for ... The Emoji Movie. Such a thing exists. Heck, from a cinema point of view I am glad I was a child in 1977 and not 2017.
posted by Wordshore at 5:22 PM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
Also noting that the very first thing I saw on leaving the theatre was a poster for ... The Emoji Movie. Such a thing exists. Heck, from a cinema point of view I am glad I was a child in 1977 and not 2017.
But Sir Patrick Stewart is the voice of Poop!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:07 AM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
But Sir Patrick Stewart is the voice of Poop!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:07 AM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Speaking of autumn: My wife and I are planning on taking our first trip to NYC since the baby was born, and we are bringing the baby toddler with us! We're headed up in October and we'll be staying with my aunt and uncle on Central Park North. Hopin' for some autumn-ass foliage. Hell yes. Play us out, Billie.
posted by duffell at 5:57 AM on September 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by duffell at 5:57 AM on September 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
I am so excited about the upcoming holiday season! Equinox is Friday and I am baking my butt off this weekend. I am also planning on planting a ton of veggies because there is no winter here and I get to have lettuce and other spring veggies all winter long.
Unfortunately, I'm traveling for work for Samhain/Hallowe'en, so this will be the first year maybe ever, that I'm not celebrating in my own way. But I do love to travel and I get to see friends in D.C. while I'm there. I have to trust that the husband will give out the candy that I buy in sufficient handfuls to all of the many children.
I love this time of year. I get so much done. It's as if my on switch really works from Fall to Spring and really shuts down during the summer.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:54 AM on September 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Unfortunately, I'm traveling for work for Samhain/Hallowe'en, so this will be the first year maybe ever, that I'm not celebrating in my own way. But I do love to travel and I get to see friends in D.C. while I'm there. I have to trust that the husband will give out the candy that I buy in sufficient handfuls to all of the many children.
I love this time of year. I get so much done. It's as if my on switch really works from Fall to Spring and really shuts down during the summer.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:54 AM on September 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
My girlfriend and I spent a lovely long weekend in Montreal to celebrate a milestone birthday (hers, today). We ate very, very well, thanks to some old AskMe recommendations, and I was totally charmed by the city. It was (unseasonably?) summery there, and though we were only gone for 4 days, the leaves back home seem to have changed a lot in such a short time. I am having all the back-to-school nostalgia feels, as I started an EMT course earlier this month. New books, new clothes (the required uniform!), new friends, and the smell of an office supply store. Ahhh.
posted by coppermoss at 8:31 AM on September 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by coppermoss at 8:31 AM on September 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Our fifth anniversary is in mid-October, and we're going to Paris for five nights. After that we'll be in The Hague visiting my sister and her family for two nights before flying back to the real world. The September/October shoulder season is a great time to travel, but it turns out to be pretty terrible for two of my wife's jobs (it's complicated) so our next big trip will probably get shunted to August even though we both prefer to travel later. Adulting is hard.
posted by fedward at 10:26 AM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fedward at 10:26 AM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Underpants Monster: Sir Patrick Stewart is the voice of Poop!
And he was Rafe Bentley in the stunning tour de force, Masterminds from 1997. All I remember is that SPOILER WARNING (not really sure you can spoil a rubbish movie) he ends up swimming in "poo water" as my friends sang at the end of the movie. Yeah, he's had to pay the bills a few times, it seems.
Sir Stewart alone is not enough to redeem a movie.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:32 AM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
And he was Rafe Bentley in the stunning tour de force, Masterminds from 1997. All I remember is that SPOILER WARNING (not really sure you can spoil a rubbish movie) he ends up swimming in "poo water" as my friends sang at the end of the movie. Yeah, he's had to pay the bills a few times, it seems.
Sir Stewart alone is not enough to redeem a movie.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:32 AM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
There is always a pause between the seasons when I'm done with one and ready for the next, then later realizing that I should have practiced mindfulness and appreciate the elements of the transition. I'm currently in that space, where it's still warm weather, but the trees are turning, and I want it to get cold, but not too fast! And then I'm bummed when the pool closes for the season :/
I've just purchased over $100 of supplies for my 3 year old's Halloween costume. Don't send in a cosplayer to Joann without a lot of reference material or a budget. They're going to be a princess, and maybe wants to be a different Disney princess, so I may end up using the pattern to make another costume for Christmas. It is going to be very warm, though, with pockets and maybe a cape!
We've already gone on our farm pilgrimage and brought home 40 lbs of apples, which I need to turn into pie filling and apple sauce.
I'm already feeling the pull of stews, baking bread and crock pots, even though it is still 80 degrees during the day.
Mr. Purr has decided he has figured out an amazing gift for the fall, which I think is going someplace, but I'm giving it a little side eye until we are on the road. We may also go camping with friends for Indigenous People's weekend, but I have not confirmed, or pulled out our old equipment.
Little Purr is also going to be starting their first "sports class" on the weekends. They're ready for it, but I haven't decided if I want to be on the sports train or not. We'll see how it goes!
I also have this idea of being super on the ball for the holidays, since being so busy before the Solstice staves off SAD, but I always seem to be looking down the line, and not in front of me.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 11:53 AM on September 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
I've just purchased over $100 of supplies for my 3 year old's Halloween costume. Don't send in a cosplayer to Joann without a lot of reference material or a budget. They're going to be a princess, and maybe wants to be a different Disney princess, so I may end up using the pattern to make another costume for Christmas. It is going to be very warm, though, with pockets and maybe a cape!
We've already gone on our farm pilgrimage and brought home 40 lbs of apples, which I need to turn into pie filling and apple sauce.
I'm already feeling the pull of stews, baking bread and crock pots, even though it is still 80 degrees during the day.
Mr. Purr has decided he has figured out an amazing gift for the fall, which I think is going someplace, but I'm giving it a little side eye until we are on the road. We may also go camping with friends for Indigenous People's weekend, but I have not confirmed, or pulled out our old equipment.
Little Purr is also going to be starting their first "sports class" on the weekends. They're ready for it, but I haven't decided if I want to be on the sports train or not. We'll see how it goes!
I also have this idea of being super on the ball for the holidays, since being so busy before the Solstice staves off SAD, but I always seem to be looking down the line, and not in front of me.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 11:53 AM on September 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
I think the AC is off for the season. I am stubborn about things like this. No socks until November first, they come off the first day of March. I am in a new climate, but AC is spendy anywhere. It is pretty near perfect where I am right now. The kids have stopped their playful noise outside, and everyone is in for the evening. I will go looking for elderberries tomorrow, I think I am late. I have found they sell membrillo paste, (quince,) guava paste too. It sells in chunks, great for baking, and blending into Dutch Babies. I made one of those today. I like little squares of the stuff on wheat thins, with cheese, as a light meal.
Fall always sets me back and makes me appreciate the passing of time, and the lowering of the light. This season puts me in mind of the mistakes I have made, during the year, as the winter comes near. Forgiveness starts at home. I ate the last of the bbq ribs today, I will have to make more, and then freeze them in portions. I cooked these three weeks ago, in my ceramic burner, over plum wood I carted here from Utah. I always wrap and save some goodness for later. This summer was more like a fire that never went out, until a few days ago. I will have to drive up onto the Sierras to get the real fall feel.
posted by Oyéah at 6:44 PM on September 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Fall always sets me back and makes me appreciate the passing of time, and the lowering of the light. This season puts me in mind of the mistakes I have made, during the year, as the winter comes near. Forgiveness starts at home. I ate the last of the bbq ribs today, I will have to make more, and then freeze them in portions. I cooked these three weeks ago, in my ceramic burner, over plum wood I carted here from Utah. I always wrap and save some goodness for later. This summer was more like a fire that never went out, until a few days ago. I will have to drive up onto the Sierras to get the real fall feel.
posted by Oyéah at 6:44 PM on September 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we're going to spend the next couple of months raising these puppies that Zhora had this morning.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:06 AM on September 21, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:06 AM on September 21, 2017 [7 favorites]
(there is puppycam that is live at this specific moment and will be online at random times; memail me for the url)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:14 AM on September 24, 2017
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:14 AM on September 24, 2017
Unless it would be visible to logged-outs, you put that link in your profile right got-dang now.
posted by rhizome at 11:50 AM on September 24, 2017
posted by rhizome at 11:50 AM on September 24, 2017
That's a good idea! I put the url in my "occupation" field to keep it out of public/bot view.
They're cute little blobs but they won't do anything very interesting for a couple of weeks.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:59 AM on September 24, 2017
They're cute little blobs but they won't do anything very interesting for a couple of weeks.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:59 AM on September 24, 2017
(link fixed, or just omit the final b -- I use a lenovo laptop with the nipple so I fatfinger a 'b' pretty often)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:33 PM on September 24, 2017
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:33 PM on September 24, 2017
please tell zhora she is a good girl
posted by dismas at 1:52 PM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by dismas at 1:52 PM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Zhora is frequently informed that she is a good girl. Generally she swears at us in response, or offers her usual comment on most occasions: "I'm Zhora!"
But I will be sure to inform her that the internet also says so.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:49 PM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
But I will be sure to inform her that the internet also says so.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:49 PM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
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posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:27 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]