Suddenly September

As far as I have generally been concerned, September exists as a way to ramp up for the last three months of the year. This year that ramp felt especially steep– honestly, wasn't it just Labor Day? How is it already time to start prepping for trunk or treats and other Halloween shenanigans?

Anyway, September news is pretty sparse. We've gotten into a decent if not foolproof routine with school and extracurriculars. Oscar and I started rehearsals for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and it has been so much fun. He's learning lines like a pro, remembering his blocking, and sometimes managing not to talk too fast (a passed-down trait I cannot pretend to blame on anyone but me).

Our wildlife has been acting up as the summer winds down. One night we woke up at three in the morning to a very low, loud growl from Nutmeg, who was extremely unhappy that there was a bear in our yard. (This wasn't our first bear, but it was the first middle-of-the-night visit she'd alerted us to.) A flock of wild turkeys has been roving the neighborhood, causing traffic jams and occasionally claiming our yard. The deer are absolutely everywhere all of the time. I had a hummingbird fly up to me while I was standing on the deck, look at me for a second, and then disappear. And we have a bumper crop of bunnies because the coyotes migrated elsewhere this year, and let me tell you, Turtle finds their presence in his yard to be extremely unacceptable.

Mom's garden is also winding down, with the sunflowers losing all of their petals and many of the other plants drying up and fading away. Her pumpkins and tomatoes are still going strong, though, to the point where she is constantly looking for people to give them to.

Oscar's school year has fallen into something like a routine. We had the school's annual fall festival, and the sun decided to come out in full force for that, presumably because it knew that the entire week after would be rainy and gray. Because we don't get a ton of this kind of weather, I tried to remember to enjoy it. I got out and checked out some nearby trails before the rain came in earnest and they got too muddy to be fun.

Jeremy headed down to Texas this last week to hang out with his dad and go to a concert in San Antonio with a friend. He checked in with photos and set lists so that Oscar could follow along from here. Then he got to take his dad out for his birthday before heading home.

And the dogs continue to be ridiculous.

Books:

• Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach: Like her The Wedding People, which I read earlier this year, this book balances dark themes and events– in this case, the death of the narrator's older sister, to whom she directs the story– with charming, well-observed details and humor.
• The Rom-Commers and The Love-Haters by Kristen Center: These aren't technically the same book, but they are both extremely undemanding stories about women whose career opportunities hinge on successful men condescending to work with them. Both protagonists end up in swimming pools while wearing voluminous dresses that said men must help them remove. Whatever. I walked a lot and needed things to listen to on audiobook.

Movies:

• Finding Emily: A charming little romcom set in Manchester, of all places– and that's just one smart twist in what is largely a pretty formulaic story. As the hapless Owen searching for his lost Emily, Spike Fearn is fantastic, just absolutely endearing, but he deploys a thick Mancunian accent; years of watching The Great British Baking Show helped me a lot on this point, but you may long for subtitles at times.
• Coyote vs. Acme: Holy cow, y'all, this movie is a riot. It's also surprisingly well calibrated for audiences that might not have grown up on Looney Toons: You don't have to know who these characters are for the plot or the jokes to land, but it's even better if you do. (Whoever looked at Foghorn Leghorn and thought, "High-powered, unethical CEO" is a genius.)
• Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom: This Aardman adventure is horror tinged, but in the gentlest, funniest possible way. And like Coyote vs. Acme, it trades in pop culture references that some viewers won't get without losing humor or momentum.

TV Shows:

• Ordeal by Innocence: This one is already closing in on a decade old, but it's got a great cast– some of whom I likely wouldn't have known a decade ago– so I decided to give it a try. It's not great. For one thing, I'm not sure Agatha Christie stories should become three-episode series. It always seems like there's not enough story and it could have just been a movie or there's too much story and they're rushing to squeeze everything in. Weirdly, this one feels like both at once, probably because of the awkward way flashbacks are integrated into the present narrative. But the clothes are great and Matthew Goode is there, so not a total waste.

This Steotchalong thing is keeping me very busy, both with the stitching along on the main pattern and with these side projects. I wrapped up September by reclaiming and reimagining an unfinished embroidery project as part of a team challenge, but I'll just save all of the relevant pics until the Steotchalong is over.