Friday Roundup #45
Happy Halloween! This is publishing a day late because life got hectic. There’s still a proper Halloween post to come later today.
Georgia finally decided to give us fall, y’all. Two weeks ago it was 86°F. Then it dropped to 46 overnight, the next day topped out at 64, breezy and cool, and now there are leaves everywhere.
The deer are getting brave, too. I woke up to find one of my porch pumpkins down in the flower bed, and I figured the wind must have been stronger than I thought. Then I picked it up and found the entire back had been eaten out. So I bought a motion sensor that flashes a light and makes a noise, because I cannot believe the deer are walking right up to the front door.
Monday night, Lacey and I went to Lunar Tides at Chateau Elan, and it was fantastic. I’ll have more to say about it, with photos, in a bonus post this coming Monday.
- Coming on the blog: Sunday is eight pies for six people. Monday’s a bonus: floating under the Hunter’s Moon at Chateau Elan with Lacey. Tuesday is Sharon’s rice and green chile.
- This past week: Sunday was how we do Halloween at the Creek House, Tuesday was Jell-O shots for the grown-ups, and Thursday was full-size candy (and Greenies for the dogs). And in case you missed it the week before: the pumpkin spice deep dive, Sweatshirt Day, Sharon’s pecan cheese ball, and, finally, ham stock from a HoneyBaked ham bone.
- Halloween Update: The cemetery went up a little later than planned, and it’s appropriately spooky. I added some lights this year, and I got a great deal on battery-powered pillar candles at the dollar store, so those go out tonight. The ghost circle is up, but the wind keeps blowing the fabric off and leaving bare Styrofoam heads. So next year’s ghosts are getting an upgrade: a little bigger, with proper fabric circles. And the skeletons for the garage roof? I’m buying them on deep discount after Halloween, for next year.
- Garden Update: The saffron is growing, but no blooms yet. The collards are doing what collards do, which is looking good for Christmas dinner.
- What I’m Reading: I just started The Best Girls by Min Jin Lee [Amazon], a short story from Amazon’s Disorder collection. I read and loved Pachinko, so I’m really looking forward to diving into this one.
- What I’m Watching: I finished Carrie [Rotten Tomatoes], and at first I hated it. After talking it over with Kevin, I’m not quite as annoyed as I was. I understand that Mike Flanagan was pulling Carrie into the modern King universe, which, to be fair, didn’t exist at all when Carrie was written, since it was his first novel. But the new ending takes away Carrie’s free will and changes the whole message and feel of the story. There’s a second season coming. I’m skeptical, but I’ll give it a chance.
- What I’m Eating: Red beans and rice, Sharon’s rice and green chile with pork loin, and lamb biryani, ordered out, because work took its toll this week.
What are y’all reading/watching/cooking/dealing with this week? Let me know in the comments.
P.S. That’s the motion sensor in the photo above, peeking out from under the black webbing. So far it’s kept the deer off the front doorstep. If it keeps working, I might buy a couple for the garden next spring.
P.P.S. If you drive by and see a circle of bald Styrofoam heads around a fire, that’s not a new decoration. That’s the wind winning.
P.P.P.S. I’m a Stephen King fan, and lately I’ve been more disappointed than not by the miniseries adaptations. I quit watching 11.22.63 on Hulu several years ago because it drifted so far from the book. I’m not a purist, but change for the sake of change isn’t necessary.