I try to create a culture of celebration in our home. For life, for the little things, for wonder and for whimsy. I try to find the beauty around us and teach my son Wyatt to find it, and appreciate it and love it as well.
We are a homeschool family, and we love it. We love the freedom it gives us to explore a topic or idea more deeply, and I like that I can adjust our schedule around Wyatt’s other needs. Wyatt has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and his week often has therapy, doctor’s appointments, naps peppered throughout which would make a traditional school schedule difficult. He is also an asynchronous learner, and I love that I can tailor learning to where Wyatt is at that moment.
We have a house full of animals and will probably add more because we like a zoo. We have one cat, Miso, who is a rescue. She is 14 years old and my little floofy girl. We also have one leopard gecko, Luna, a pictus gecko named Harlow, a pacman frog named Freddy, and two crested geckos, Applejack and Oliver. We love all of our little friends!
My husband Billy, Wyatt, and I are all curious, creative, stubborn humans which makes for some fun times around here. We love the outdoors, except we are not made for high temps so we retreat inside when the temps start to soar. We are nature lovers through and through. We are trying to downsize our lives too, to live more simply, to buy things that last and eat real food from small local farmers. (and of course Goldfish crackers) We live seasonally and are always up for adventure. We love books and reading, and can be found at the library at least once a week!
I am late. And I haven’t done one of these in a while but I am today. It just sounded so full of fall fun!
Apple cider all the way!! I am not a pumpkin flavors fan. I will eat a pumpkin roll and I will eat pumpkin pie with a ton of whipped cream, but that is it. Apple cider on the other hand is a favorite! I love it cold and warm and in a latte, and also hard cider around a fire! I am so happy it is apple cider season!
Lots of layers. I am at that age guys. That perimenopause age. I definitely need layers. I usually wear a t-shirt with a cardigan or sweatshirt so I can peel a layer off. Plus Michigan this time of year is wonky – cold in the morning but then can get warm during the day.
This one is too hard. Can’t I go to them both please Marsha? Lol. I guess I would say Harvest Fest before Craft Fair.
Movie nights! I am not a sports person. I called Wyatt’s baseball uniform either his costume or outfit all season.
I love slippers so much. The cuter the better!!
Ooo good one! I want all the pumpkins. I usually get orange ones for carving, and then decorate with all those fun different varieties, including white and those bluish ones.
Jeans unless I am at home, then it is leggings. Or rather, overalls, then leggings. I am an overalls gal. But I do wear overalls out of the house.
Horror movies. When I was in college, my roommates and I would go to the ahem, video store, and check out movies for Friday night. We called it Horrible Horror Movie Night, and we would look for the weirdest, dumbest ones we could find. There are some that have lived on in our personal archives, and that we still quote to each other. I think the best one we watched was House of Psychotic Women, it was hysterical.
Crisp and chilly day!! That is my favorite type of weather of all!! Like Winnie the Pooh’s blustery day, I also like it to be sort of windy too.
I do not like either of these.
And I was right, this was a lot of fun!
And that is it for me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! We are settling into fall proper now, and it is all I wanted. The cool nights and chill mornings are giving me life after a humid summer.
I hope that all of you who are being affected by the hurricane and Tropical Storm are safe.
Books:
I just finished this one last night and I really loved it. A cozy bookstore, a cat, autumn. It was perfect for this time of year!
This week I have a few I am considering!
I am making my way through some short more classic spooky books this season, and The Willows is on my list. So I am for sure reading that. Then I am either starting Trick or Treachery, which was a gift from Lisa, yay thank you, or Mulberry Mischief. I have a feeling I am going with Miss Jessica Fletcher though. I want to wear a thick cardigan or some tweed and hop on a bike and read somewhere and feel like I am in Cabot Cove. Hmm maybe I can do this? Lol.
Not much television watching has been happening this past week. We did watch The Village last week though, as part of Sweater Weather Cinema, and then this weekend we watched Casper last night, and then we are watching a spookier movie tonight. Maybe The Others or The Woman in Black.
I got a flu shot yesterday and my arm hurts today! I don’t have a ton to say here today. Lol. I will leave you with a picture of Mouse hanging out with us during a painting session.
Our cats are helpers.
I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile!
Aren’t these little ghosts so cute? Billy made me these! I love an adorable ghost.
Has anyone else seen that movie, Kiss Me Goodbye, starring Sally Field, James Caan, and Jeff Bridges? I remember watching it with my mom as a kid and absolutely loving it. Now, I have to admit that I don’t remember much of it but I do remember that Sally Field’s husband had passed and was a ghost in it. When I was looking it up to write this post, I also see that it got terrible reviews. Well, 11 year old Erin loved it so there movie critics! Anyway, the one thing that stands out in my mind was the love and the ghost. And that is what this post is (mostly) about – books with ghosts and romance.
Now, not all of the main romance is with the ghost, in fact most of them are not. But all involve a ghost and while I haven’t read them all, they are all on my very lengthy TBR.
So what do you think? Would any of these boo it for you? (I am so sorry. It is early and I am still drinking my first coffee and that makes me goofy apparently).
I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! This week Billy and I watched The Village, as part of our increasingly spooky watches for fall. I don’t think we had seen it since it came out in 2004. We obviously remembered the twist, but we had forgotten most of it so it was a fun rewatch.
And as for being a sweater weather movie, it was perfect. The mood, the weather, the scenery was all deliciously autumnal, with fog and the leaves on the ground, the big cloaks. You could almost feel the crisp in the air and the chilly nights. The costumes were long sleeved, high necks, blanket shawls. Definitely sweater weather.
This idyllic village, that is about keeping innocence alive has a secret. A pretty darn big one. And while most of the village folk go about their days bucolically tending their sheep and their farms, attending school, working together as a community, there is one small thing they need to worry about, the creatures they refer to as Those We Do Not Speak Of that live in the woods. As long as people don’t go into the woods, all will be safe. All will be good. And it seems that they are all willing to abide by that rule to keep the peace. However, there are sentry posts and alarm bells just in case, with everyone in the village knowing what to do if they hear the bell sounded.
Run. Hide.
They do have one other problem and that is medicine. They need to restore their “medicines from the towns”, as they are out. The movie begins with the funeral of a child who has passed from a sickness, and the fact that they need these important medicines is a huge part of the movie.
The movie centers on Ivy and Lucius, played by Bryce Dallas Howard and Joaquin Phoenix. Ivy is sightless, and is not the only disabled resident. Noah, played by Adrien Brody, portrays a developmentally disabled man, who is very good friends with Ivy. He is known to sometimes break the rules, to enter the woods but remains safe and Lucius believes it is because Noah is childlike and innocent, so the creatures leave him be, knowing he means no harm. Lucius petitions the village council to venture through the woods to the towns to obtain medicine feeling that they will leave him be, as he believe that they will sense he also means no harm.
However, he is turned down, and in the interim, he and Ivy declare their love for each other, and Noah gets jealous of their relationship and stabs Lucius. Now Lucius needs medicine as well, and Ivy is the one to travel through the woods to get the medicine required.
I know this movie came out in 2004 but I am still trying to avoid too many spoilers, just in case.
All of my favorite parts of the movie are in the middle. I loved just watching the scenes of village life, even with the threat of the creatures. That gave it a little edge. I love Ivy so much, she is so bold and fearless, and I loved that M. Night Shyamalan took her character in that direction. And I love how she looks for Lucius in times of danger by holding her hand out in front of her, knowing he will find her and take it. There is such trust there. And that is how she knows that the person Noah harmed was Lucius, by running around the village, calling for him, her hand out – and this time he didn’t find her and take it.
There really are so many well done moments like this in the movie. But I also want to talk about what I didn’t like, and that was the framing of Noah, the only developmentally disabled character in the movie, as villainous. Shyamalan has been called ableist before for how he writes the disabled, and in this movie it is interesting how he has one disabled character brave and bold, the other violent. I could see why Noah was an easy choice, and how the two were foils for each other; in the beginning of the movie, Ivy tells Noah that is wrong to hit people and makes him say he won’t ever hit anyone again, and then later in the movie she smacks the crap out of him. As for Noah being cast into the role of villain, I do find it sort of icky. If Ivy represents blind faith, blind to the truth, then what does that say about Noah?
There are other cracks in this utopia, but for the most part life is easy. Except for the creatures and lack of medicine that is.
This movie is such a great combination of cozy and thriller, and it is perfect for fall. I don’t think it is a terribly frightening movie, and this is a trope I really enjoy, that of an isolated village. Erin A. Craig’s books Small Favors and A Land so Wide are two that I can think of off the top of my head that contain a similar setting and atmosphere.
This weekend we will settle in with another sweater weather movie – I am thinking something spookier, maybe The Others, or The Woman in Black.
Whatever you are watching this fall, drop your link here and let’s share our sweater weather cinema experiences!
Hello everyone! I really need all the coffee this morning! I got up early and dragged Wyatt and I to an appointment that is tomorrow. Sigh. I need to remember to buy a planner for 2027 that is a Sunday start, because the one I have totally messes with me. I love it except for that.
We had my mother’s memorial service/celebration of life on Saturday. I had been a mess all week, running around trying to get things together, and the morning of I was so afraid no one would come. However, my heart was full as person after person walked into the church, filling the pews to the back. It was such a great outpouring of love for my mother, and I felt the service was beautiful. It was a service full of my mom. We played “Keep Me in Your Heart” by Warren Zevon, “In My Life” by the Beatles, and we had a bagpiper who played “Nearer My God to Thee” and “Amazing Grace”. I managed to get up and speak along with my niece Mermaid Girl, I was so proud of her. We walked up together and gave each other courage and strength. My cousin Brian delivered the eulogy, which was full of music and song that he related to my mother and stories and memories; my cousin Meghan read a poem, “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep”. And so many people got up and spoke! I had not seen that before and was surprised honestly. My mom would have been equally shocked lol. It was very cathartic for me, and I felt so at peace afterwards. As I sat in the church, I felt very enveloped in family and friends. Friends and family who I see and talk to daily, and friends and family that it has been too long since we talked, yet there they all were. It was good.
I didn’t do much talking but I did want to read something from the book The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest. I told you, that little middle grade book had some very soothing writing about grief. This is what I read:
“Grief is a thing with weight and bulk–perhaps the heaviest thing of all. It pushes at the edge of your soul, forcing it into a different shape. You can never fill it, because it is not empty. And it will not shrink with time. But you can learn to carry it. Practice noticing it less as it becomes a more familiar part of you.
In the end, your grief will always be there, taking up space.
And I suppose that’s the beautiful thing about a soul:
There is infinite space.
You may even find that there is space for more grief. But–this is what I want you to remember–there is room for more joy. And it is your job to open your arms and welcome joy and joy and joy until your grief looks small in comparison.”
This just really spoke to my own grief, yet also gave me hope. It was important for me to say, my mom carried a sadness within her always, but she taught me to see the laughter in the sad moments, the good in the bad. She always made me feel there was hope. And love. Always so much love and joy, music and poetry and dancing.
Afterwards we all headed to the luncheon which was equally full of love and stories. I think just being with other people who loved my mom and missed her and grieved for her was a balm to my heart. I am truly truly blessed with good kind people in my life.
And then I haven’t done much since! In school, I am teaching Wyatt about Sojourner Truth and continuing on with the underground railroad, abolitionism, and then next week the Civil War. We have been painting and reading, we have been practicing his walking, doing his exercises, cuddling cats. Today I hope to get some baking in, I want to make scones but if I don’t, there is always tomorrow.
Some little things that made me smile this week: spotting kittens on a walk, Wyatt’s giant grin at walking to the house the next block over that is super decorated for Halloween, painting this cute bookmark and the way that it peeks over the top of my book, the cool weather, brownies, our Little Free Library getting chosen for two copies of their book club book this month.
And that is it for me today my friends! Thank you to all of you too, who have been commenting supporting and caring words, and messaging me with the same.
I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile, even if it is something small.
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. )
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!
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!
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!
