Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s Prompt: Books That Conjure Up Happy Memories

This may end up being mostly children’s books!

Mr. Putter & Tabby Pick the Pears || Little Miss Sunshine || The Story of Ferdinand

Let’s start with Mr. Putter. There was a winter that Wyatt and I read a Mr. Putter and Tabby book every night before bed. He would snuggle up next to me, his head on my shoulder, and I would read a new little gentle adventure before saying goodnight. These were just such sweet nights, warm and cuddly, with these happy little easy stories. The kind of memory you wish you could recapture but since it was magic you can’t necessarily capture that moment again exactly – you just need to make new magic.

Then the Mister Mister books. My cousin Brian and I used to read these together when we were little. I can still see us sat on the floor, surrounded by a slew of these books.

My parents read to me often, and my mom more than my dad, and one of my favorite books was The Story of Ferdinand. I could not get enough of this gentle bull who liked to sit and smell the flowers.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone || Charlotte’s Web || Where the Sidewalk Ends

Harry Potter of course has to be on here. It was such a phenomenon! So little story. Billy is dyslexic and never enjoyed books or reading – until he met me. When we first started dating I would read books to him all the time. Then when Harry Potter came out, I started reading it to him, and then one day I said, “Ok, your turn. If you want to know what happens next you will have to read it yourself.” And he did, and now he loves books. He still listens to books on audio more but we all know that counts!

Charlotte’s Web is another book that I read to Wyatt. It is a sad book but also beautiful. I remember I finished reading this book to him on a small vacation we took to a tiny cabin on a farm. I like to be immersed in reading when I can be lol, and apparently I am extending that to my family’s experiences. We were laying on the bed, reading the end, while it was pouring down rain onto the skylight. It was just a good moment.

I loved Where the Sidewalk Ends and all Shel Silverstein growing up! No particular memory attached, just the happiness I felt reading his poems!

Outlander || The Witches ||The Bewitching

Billy and I took a trip to Shenandoah National Park one year that was pretty amazing. We stayed in Big Meadows Lodge, and we stayed in the older part that was built by the CCC. There was no television, no AC, but I had this book. I remember just reading it after a day of hiking, before dinner and I will always associate this book with that trip.

The Bewitching is a newer memory! Last year my cousin and I went to a Sip and Read in Detroit, and this was the book I got there. We would read a little, stop and talk, then go back to our books. It was pouring rain, no one else was there, and it was a fun night. It was like the grown up version of when we would read with each other as kids!

I loved when teachers would read to us in school, and I remember my favorite elementary school teacher Miss Caruso reading our class The Witches. I would always be so happy when she would tell us to put our stuff away and she would pull the book out and start reading.

Little House in the Big Woods

Finally, the Little House series. I loved these books, and I have always loved them. No specific memories, just good feelings.

And that is it for me today! I can’t wait to see what you all have shared. I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you happy!

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well! The weather here today is absolutely beautiful, sunny and cool. Is fall here to stay? It may be!

The Books of September:

The Breakdown: I read five books but finished 6 books in September. It took me a while to read Stillmeadow Calendar and it spread out among two months so, it was a finish I guess. I read an eclectic mix with 2 cozy mysteries, a thriller, a memoir, a middle grade, and a cozy fantasy. I absolutely loved them all honestly. I usually pick a favorite but I can’t this month. And as for settings, a few of them were magic! One was spread across four magical kingdoms, one in Deadwood Forest, and one in Shady Hollow; then returning to our own realm and world, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New York.

A Good Book and a Cup of Tea favorites:

I am cohosts with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and Cat at Cat’s Wire, of the linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things books -not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of! You can find the link up for October here.

We have decided we will be featuring our favorite posts from the month here. I do read all the posts even if I don’t comment. I only like to comment from my actual laptop and not from my phone, which is a problem sometimes when I read the post on my phone. ( I am working on more time to read and comment though. )

September Audio Books and Podcasts from Lydia at Where the Wild Things Are

Blog Tour: The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon from Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Sunday Bookends: A Bookshop Visit by Lisa at Boondock Ramblings

And for some non-book related faves in September….

Definitely at the top is our trip to Louisville. That was a much needed escape and we had so much fun.

Fall weather

A solo walk in the woods

A great report from the orthopedic surgeon for Wyatt and then a trip to Cracker Barrel on the way home for chocolate chip pancakes

And that is my little wrap up today! I hope you do something that makes you smile!

Hello everyone! It is sort of dreary here today all overcast. It has been busy busy and is going to stay busy busy as we get closer to my mom’s memorial service on Saturday. But I want it to be nice as like the final thing I can do for her, a send off to honor her.

Wyatt and I are back to homeschool, and he is learning about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad. He loved an activity that we did yesterday, having to do with the quilt maps that enslaved people used to help guide them north. I was fascinated as well to be honest. He was less interested in the quilt aspect and more in the secret code, but whatever works. We read a book called The Patchwork Path, and every time we came to a new secret code block in the text, we found one I had printed out, and he colored it and added it to a Quilt Code Key that we made. It turned out really cool honestly, and he had fun decoding.

Afterwards, I was still thinking about quilts so I listened to an Ologies podcast about quilts. It was super interesting. I love learning all these quiet ways that women rebelled expressed big feelings, through crafts, and quilting has played its part in political history. The AIDS Memorial Quilt comes to mind, which was not only about remembrance but a big gesture that demonstrated that despite how some people felt about AIDS patients, we were not going to forget them. They were used as I said during the Civil War, and also during the suffragette movement. So quilts not only preserved traditional handiwork and avenues for women to get together and be social, but also helped people find freedom and helped women get the right to vote. It’s wild to me. I love stuff like this.

I also love old vintage quilts. I have one of my aunt’s that someone gave her, and another that my besties great-great-great grandmother made. My friend didn’t want it so I scooped it right up! It needs some repair work done which I hope to figure out at some point. And just last month we got a handmade crazy quilt from our local Buy Nothing! It is on Wyatt’s bed and looks really cool. And is super warm!

I was also thinking about how my family is losing its storytellers, our older family members who have shared their stories with us and now my brother and cousins and I need to pass that on to our children for them. My family is very Scottish in background, on both sides, and my mom and my aunt were Highland dancers, and my uncle was the drum major in the pipe band. I even did a little highland dancing as a child too. We ate desserts that were Scottish that my grandmother made, heard all the stories, and I want to preserve some of that for Wyatt, and hopefully for my nieces and my cousins’ children. So, I applied to join the St. Andrews Society here in my area, which is all about being Scottish. Lol. I heard back and they said my application looks good (I had to prove I had Scottish heritage!) and that I will be initiated soon. I think it will be neat to take Wyatt to some of the Scottish Sunday Night dinners and to the Highland Games. Although now we all need to get articles of clothing in our tartan and I need to sort that because I am not sure what we will get? I did find a cute kids t-shirt that has a dragon in your family tartan on it so Wyatt can wear that. I was also thinking about getting a scarf not just in my tartan, but in the official witch tartan, which was created to in remembrance of the women that lost their lives during that horrible time in history.

I am all about fabrics and statements today, and I didn’t even realize it until just now, that these two things dovetail.

Anyway, I am excited about the St. Andrews Society. I am really committed to creating more community for our family in anyway that I can. Which for an introvert is really hard!! But I believe really strongly in community, in people coming together, and so I push myself out of that shell when I need to, and I think that this will be a fun thing to do. They have all sorts of neat events, like a Robbie Burns dinner which I would love to go to, and like I said, the Sunday dinners. I would love to move to Scotland, which I am sure is not in the cards for us, but I will take what I can get.

Wyatt’s baseball wrapped up for the year, and while it was a good time I was ready for it to be done! I will miss the sunsets and the evening sky that I could see from the field though this fall, and the big smile on Wyatt’s face when he and Billy ran the bases!

I’ve been caught more than once woolgathering while looking out at the skyline and enjoying the evening. There was just also a certain contentedness those nights too. I would chat with my friends, laughing and catching up as our kids were playing, and then when the game was over, we would go home to our house and cats, dinner already made, either a slow cooker meal or leftovers and for some reason that food just always tasted better. So while it was tough at times and made our days long, I will miss it. But I am still glad it is over for the year!

I’ve got to get dinner started in a minute, just chili and rice, but I will leave you with some photos from the old camera roll!

I hope that whatever you do this evening, you do something that makes you smile. Or, I hope that something made you smile today! Feel free to share!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s Prompt: Fall Freebie

One of my favorite activities during fall is just sitting around a fire with my family and friends, hanging out, having s’mores and cider. So today my post is inspired by those fires! I have not read any of these but I have added a few to my TBR!

Murder at the Bonfire || Bonfires and Hot Chocolate at the Little Duck Pond Cafe || Murder at the Bramblewood Bonfire

Bonfires, Backpacks, and Brawls || Bonfire Night || Bonfire

Bonfire & Bliss Bookstore || Bonfire of the Calamities || The Body in the Bonfire

Bonfire Night

I can’t wait to see what you all have chosen!

Hello everyone!! This is just a link up to post any movie that you feel is sweater weather worthy – cozy or creepy, sad or scary!

This past week my family and I watched an 80s movie out of nostalgia – Monster Squad! This movie came out in August of 1987, when my husband and I were both 11 and 12. Wyatt is now 11, and the kids in the movie were 12, or at least they were supposed to be according to the movie. So it seemed like the perfect time to watch it!

This movie is about a group of kids who love monster movies and lore. They have a super cool treehouse clubhouse, that is decorated with all the old classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Swamp Thing, and the Wolf Man. However, they do like to watch modern horror movies as well. Anyway, the best/worst thing ever happens, and all of these classic monsters head to their town, as main kid Sean has possession of Van Helsings diary, which his mom just happened to find at a garage sale. Lol. Of course, it is written and German, so they have to go talk to “Scary German Guy” to have it translated. (spoiler alert – Scary German Guy is not scary at all and becomes their friend. Also Frankenstein is their friend too)

The costumes were pretty good for the 80s! I also liked the idea of them all buddying around together, like they had their own bad guy monster club too. Dracula was their leader, and he had it in for Sean and his family. I am going to say most of the special effects were pretty good for that era. Not now of course, but for the 80s. Except for any scene that involved shooting. Gunshots looked terrible.

Overall this is a pretty fun mostly tame horror comedy for families. It does have a few things that just didn’t age well though. There is some objectification of a teenage minor, the whole Scary German thing, body shaming, and then swearing at a little tiny girl! That part bothers me every single time! Billy told me that is to show just how villainous Dracula is and honestly it really does feel like the worst thing he does even though he maims and kills people in the movie. It is PG-13 so nothing too terrible at least.

For the most part though, this is a pretty fun watch with kids, even if it is just for the classic movie monsters. Wyatt enjoyed most of it, then fell asleep, as always. This kid always falls asleep during movies, even at the theater. It cracks me up. He woke up for the big ending scene though, and was appreciative of the action, although he was not as appreciative of the rap song during the credits.

This was a goofy watch but definitely fit in with our Sweater Weather Cinema! Next movie will be one for Billy and I, maybe The Village. I have been wanting to watch that one!

Whatever you are watching this fall, drop your link here and let’s share our sweater weather cinema experiences!

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz, Kathryn at Book Date, and Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone! It is becoming more autumnal around here by the day. Still not fall enough though, with this little warm up we are having – but not too warm, thankfully. I hope that whatever season you are in, that you are having more good days than bad.

Books:

I finished The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest and it was a very surprisingly beautiful book. Middle grade can be like that. It is about grief and loneliness, and friendship and self-acceptance, but it never felt too much, if you know what I mean. I really loved it.

When I finished it, I started Here We Goat Again, which is just as good as the last two so far. I love its uniqueness in terms of cozies, with the main character and amateur sleuth a yogi who lives on her great-uncle and aunt’s farm, where she has her classes. The relationships are all very sweet. Plus goats! Last week I was balking over having to buy a $6.99 Kindle version, and then lo and behold, it went on sale the next day for .99 and I scooped it right up!

When I finish it up, I am hoping to start this one.

Marsha, look! Little Jacks! I’ve been hoping to read a book by this author for a while and darn it, I am going to do it.

Screens:

Hmm what have we been watching? We are still watching Murder She Wrote; they are such easy little episodes to watch. I have to exclaim over the very 80s ness of it while we watch. I am all about this revival of the 80s and 90s that are happening around us with decor and hobbies and even some fashions. My mom had a perpetual calendar, that is wooden and has a painted covered bridge on it that she loved in the 90s and I hung it up in our kitchen the other day. Billy just looked at me and shook his head and grinned. Lol.

Billy picked our Sweater Weather movie last night, Monster Squad. Lol. It was also very very 80s. We thought Wyatt would love it but he passed out after the first half. I guess 1980s monsters just aren’t as impressive nowadays. Oh well. Billy and I thought it was nostalgic and also hysterical, although some parts just didn’t sit right anymore. You know how it is. I think I will pick a movie for tonight too.

I posted a few times too last week.

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall Reading Hopefuls

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

And remember, I am cohosts with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and Cat at Cat’s Wire, of the linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things books -not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of! You can find the link up for September here!

In-Betweens:

Wyatt and I made our fall bucket list together last week. Then I spent Saturday morning trying to plan how to do it all! We have less “go places” activities and more at home activities this year, which is sort of different but I am looking forward to the change. It is always fun to see where we are with what we want to do every year. Some years are home years, some are years we go and do a bunch of things.

And with that, I will leave you all. I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Hello everyone!

I hope that you are all doing well today. I had an early morning appointment this morning, my yearly mammogram. I always schedule it first thing in the morning so it is done but it is not the most fun way to start the day, especially before coffee. But I did it and got it done and I was in and out of there in 3o minutes or less. I even already have my results! (all is good)

I also have another appointment this afternoon – I had a busy summer with my mom, I have most of Wyatt’s appointments caught up, so now it is my turn. Yuck. But since I have two appointments today, I am making today a hygge homeschool day, which is slow school full of art and reading. And faffing about too, I guess.

Wyatt had a few appointments last week, his wellness and then a follow up with the orthopedic surgeon and all went great. We stopped on the way home from his surgery follow up at Cracker Barrel for lunch; Wyatt had never been there and I felt it was time. My friend Kelly said it was neglectful behavior that I had not taken him yet. She was kidding of course. Wyatt and I each had chocolate chip pancakes and they were delicious! Then we shopped, of course. I bought cute little Halloween cat salt and pepper shakers, and Wyatt picked out cookies for us to eat later that night during our movie night. It was his pick and we watched Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost. We also had stopped at the Little Free Library that is in the hospital; he liked that too.

Today when I got home from my own appointment I promptly reserved a cabin in the woods for my family in December for a weekend. I have always wanted to do that and life is short so I am doing it. And it is a trip purely for relaxation. We are not going to run around and see things, but we are going to hole up and play board games and read books and draw and watch for deer and foxes from the all season sunroom that is huge and full of windows. Wyatt will be happy as long as he can get outside a bit and can draw so that is easy. We will eat soup and bread and cheese and drink tea. It will be nice to get away for a relaxing weekend in the middle of the holiday season.

We have been getting ready for fall and Halloween around here, slowly but surely. A little here, a little there. We got Wyatt’s costume – he is going to be Mothman this year. He wanted to be something spooky. And he is diligently practicing walking with his gait trainer so that he can do a little trick or treating on foot this year!

I have a few crafts and projects lined up for us, and I want to do some fall baking too. Plus of course go to all the Halloween type events that I we can!

We had little league last night and it was so chilly on the field. We were happy to get home, where I had salsa verde chicken in the crockpot that turned into chicken soft tacos. I warmed the tortillas on the stovetop, and it was all just so tasty and warm – it was one of those good feelings you know? Being outside in the fresh air, getting a bit chilled, then heading home for a warm good dinner. I felt very content and happy.

We have our first Blackbirds event coming up this weekend, a Tigers Game on Sunday. It will be fun and it will be nice to see everyone. Then Oct. 3 is my mom’s celebration of life/memorial service. I feel like waiting was the better choice for me, I had such a hard time and now I feel like I am ready to grieve with family and friends. I have been slowly organizing that this past 6 weeks or so.

And guys, I am toying with the idea of starting a YouTube channel for books and about our life, I guess too? I am really nervous but I also think it might be fun. We will see how long it lasts. I do have a channel but it is currently private, I think, with just a spoiler video for The God of the Woods.

And with that, I will leave you with some photos. Probably of cats. I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s Prompt: Fall TBR (or spring for our Southern Hemisphere friends!)

Fall is my favorite season. I love winter, I love spring, I tolerate summer, but fall is my season. I am very seasonal, and just as my movie watching is sweater weather based, so is my reading. I turn to books that feel moody, gothic, scary, and cozy. Books that feel like fall, are set in fall. Witches and cats and mysteries, spooky old houses, creepy jump scares, cozy baking and cats. Oh I said cats twice. Well. I am going to leave it. I do love cats.

So my TBR is more of a giant list of hopefuls, just like it was for the summer. I have already read a few this September, because I dive into that TBR at the beginning of the month, as soon as the calendar flips over from August.

Here are my contenders!

Twig’s Traveling Tomes || Cold Clay || Shortbread in the Highlands || Mirror Lake

I already read the first two of these, so I guess I shouldn’t have had them on here but they were on my original handwritten list and I felt compelled to add them here. I loved them both, and I am looking forward to reading Shortbread in the Highlands. And since I just finished Cold Clay, and Mirror Lake is set in mid-October, I think I am going to try to read that one as well.

The Haunted Librarian || Disenchanted || Rewitched

I love both of these authors and I am looking forward to reading these. I have a copy of Rewitched already, and NetGalley sent me The Haunted Librarian, I just need to get my hands on Disenchanted!

Mulberry Mischief || Here We Goat Again || Clawed and Dangerous

Just a little row of cozy titles! I love the Berry Basket mystery series and the Zen Goat series as well; Clawed and Dangerous was sent to me by the publisher and I am going to try to read it despite not reading the other 33 books in the series that came before this one. Lol.

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest || Love, Witches, and Wahala || Crafting For Sinners

I will probably be reading the Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest when this post goes up, as I have it sitting right here next to me, and I am itching to get started. I just finished Cold Clay so I guess I am still all about the animals. Love, Witches, and Wahala grabbed my attention on NetGalley, and then Crafting for Sinners I actually picked up at the bookstore that the author owns and manages in Louisville the other week! (Butcher Cabin Books)

This is my very overambitious list for fall! We will see what I do end up reading.

Whatever you do today, I hope that you do something that makes you smile. Or makes someone else smile!

Hello everyone!! I am a day late for the Sunday linkups but today still counts! We spent last week and the weekend catching up on everything post vacation. I am not sure how our short little quick trip caused such a disruption, but it did. However it was worth it. And now we are slowly rolling out our fall and Halloween plans and decorations. Yay!

Books:

In the past two weeks I have finished three books.

I read The Change in one weekend, a busy weekend at that. I was obsessed with this nearly 500 page book and could not put it down! It is a feminist revenge thriller with magical realism elements and I can’t recommend it enough.

Stillmeadow Calendar is a more gentle read, full of good food and memories and country landscapes and descriptions of a slow country life. I also really enjoyed this one!

And finally, Cold Clay. I am just getting back to this series but this one is perfect for early fall! I love a good cozy talking animal book. Lol.

This week, I am thinking about one of these.

I would have to buy the kindle book though of the Rollins book, and I have already bought two books this paycheck and we are just getting back from vacation. And the Kindle book is $6.99 and I hate paying that for a kindle book. So I might wait so I can buy the paperback of it. I do however have a copy of The Undead Fox because, well that was one of the two books I bought since Friday. Lol. So, I will probably end up reading the Undead Fox. Glad I worked that out just now.

Screens:

Billy and I have been watching Bookish, and episodes of the Great British Sewing Bee because sometimes we need something like that too. Wyatt has baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-7 and our nights get so crazy afterwards that we just need something easy. We also started Murder She Wrote, swayed by Lisa at Boondock Ramblings love for it. I watched it with my brother as a kid, on nights that my mom was in school and I was in charge so I do have some warm fuzzy feelings of nostalgia watching it. I used to make us nachos for dinner like the good responsible big sister that I am, and we would settle in and watch some Jessica Fletcher together. Then like the complete dorks that we are, when we saw our mom’s headlights as she pulled in, we would arrange ourselves around the living room like we had been murdered. She never fell for it and in fact was really good at just acting like nothing was wrong. It was hilarious.

We also watched Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost on Saturday with Wyatt.

Last week I posted a few times:

Louisville Part One – Louisville Slugger Museum and Troll Under the Bridge

Louisville Part Tw0 – Mega Cavern, Col. Sanders, and an All Horror Bookstore

Louisville Part Three – Churchill Downs

Sweater Weather Cinema: Wake Up Dead Man

And remember, I am cohosts with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and Cat at Cat’s Wire, of the linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things books -not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of! You can find the link up for September here!

In-Betweens:

The other day I lived out a 1980s McDonalds commercial. My niece is in middle school now, her first year there, and she was assigned a lunch without any of her friends. She has been struggling a bit, she is pretty shy, and sad that she had to eat alone. She even texted me from her lunch one day. I decided that I would take her McDonalds for lunch that week, as a treat because if there is one thing I learned working in a school is that having a special lunch dropped off makes kids happy. So last Wednesday I got to McDonalds at 10:30 am, ordered her lunch plus two chocolate chip cookies. I thought if she felt inclined she could offer a cookie to another kid and make friends. Lol. Well, I don’t know if she did that but she DID talk to another little girl at lunch that day!

All it takes sometimes is a little McDonalds I guess. But doesn’t it sound like it could totally be a commercial from the 80s?

And that is all from me today! I hope that whatever you do today you do something that makes you smile!

Hello everyone! We are all about fall over here, and of course, snuggling up with the perfect fall movies (for us) is part of our autumnal celebrations.

We usually watch movies on Sundays, and this past Sunday our movie pick was Wake Up Dead Man, which is part of the Knives Out Mystery movies. I loved the first two, and really didn’t think they could get better. Then, I watched this one, and in my opinion this one blew the others right out of the water.

Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc is always fun to watch, but dang if Josh O’Connor didn’t steal this movie in my opinion, with his performance. He played Larry in The Durrells, one of my favorite shows, and I was so happy to see him in this movie. He plays a rough and tumble priest, whose origin was in the boxing ring before turning to the Catholic Church. This background served him well after an altercation with a deacon sends him to a new parish, one in upstate New York. But you will have to watch it to find out why.

When Father Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor) arrives to this new parish, it feels and looks a bit…off. Monsignor Wicks (played brilliantly by Josh Brolin) is a hellfire and brimstone priest, literally raging from the pulpit which stands high above the parishioners, and looks a bit like the prow of a boat bringing to mind the Puritans. He believes we need to fight the world, rather than love it, which is the opposite of Father Jud’s belief. He has a devoted little following, who are distrustful of Father Jud, and are not particularly welcoming to the young priest. Martha, played by Glenn Close was amazing. It has been far too long since I have seen her in a movie and she can play crazed fanatic so well. Lol. Thomas Haden Church played the laid back groundskeeper, and Martha’s boyfriend, Jeremy Renner, Cailee Spaeny, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack, all round out the rest of the Wicks’ Ride or Dies.

This movie took the locked room mystery to a new level, and while the methods were slightly ridiculous (and on purpose I am sure, as part of the movie’s goal) it definitely made this movie very suspenseful and almost impossible to figure out. This movie never stopped, something was always happening, and the characters were both pitiable and mean. They have their own lore as well, with the mystery of a fortune gone missing when Wick’s grandfather, the former priest, dies without leaving a hint as to where it is. It was meant to go to his daughter, Grace, also known in the movie as the “Harlot Whore” yet when he died, his accounts were empty. So where is it? Where is this fortune?

Father Jud was endearing as a priest who was at odds with his Monsignor. Jud was about love and finding forgiveness and peace in God’s love, and here he was with a man who preached nothing but judgement and hate, who manipulated and played games. He was a tough guy, with the instincts of a fighter, but in his heart he wanted to help others find that love. One scene in particular stands out, where he and Benoit are in the middle of their investigation, which Jud completely stops so that he can help someone in need.

The setting itself was gorgeous and spooky, with a beautiful church and rectory, surrounded by an army of trees that engulf it all, making it seem like an isolated island in the middle of nowhere and added to the intenseness and suspense.

I loved this movie and I am very impatiently waiting for the next one to come out. Rian Johnson has said there will be more but as of yet there are none on the horizon. This one was a masterpiece, and had so many layers beyond what we see; as always, it was a poke at our culture and society, I also loved the references thrown in, including a few for one of my favorites, Father Brown.

This was definitely a sweater weather movie, and I am glad that I saved it for autumn movie watching!

Whatever you are watching this fall, drop your link here and let’s share our sweater weather cinema experiences!