October Ultimate Coffee Date!

I finished the Ken Follett Century Trilogy!!!  Fall of Giants covered WWI, Winter of the World continued with WWII, and The Edge of Eternity starts in the 1960s. One thing I loved about these books is it showed me the continuity between these events.  I used to think of WWII as something that happened in the past, whereas events in the 1960s and 1970s were in more “modern” times.  Now I understand more the connection between WWI, WWII, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the events leading to the fall of communism. Edge of Eternity focuses mostly on the children and grandchildren of the original characters from Fall of Giants.  It was fascinating that a young man who fought in WWI, if he lived to a ripe old age, would also live through the Cold War.  There were characters in the book who endured Nazi Germany, WWII, the Soviet occupation of East Germany, and then saw the Berlin Wall come down.  It was incredibly moving to me that Black people who fought for Civil Rights in the 1960s could live to see Barack Obama elected president. I will say that, while I was reading it, Edge of Eternity was my least favorite of the three books, and I’m still trying to figure out why.  The first two focused heavily on Europe, and in Edge the focus shifted to the United States and Soviet Union.  There was a lot of detail about politics in the US, and while it was interesting, the story bogged down a little for me.  JUST A LITTLE!  I still enjoyed it, but whereas with the first two books, I didn’t want them to end, with Edge, I was kind of looking forward to finishing it. Then… I actually finished it, and the ending was so good that I cried.  There was an epilogue, which I was initially annoyed to see- I mean, the ending was perfect, what’s with this epilogue?  But then the epilogue also made me cry.  You guys- it was so good and I’m so glad I read these books.  I’ll be thinking about them for a long, long time. It was hard to move on to anything else, but I had to forge ahead.  I have some library books to get through, so I started this one: So far, so good!  I’m not very far into it, but I’m enjoying it. Eating-wise, I continued the pumpkin theme with some pumpkin oatmeal.  No special recipe- I just add a couple dollops of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to my regular oatmeal. For dinner on Sunday, I went to Nora Cooks and browsed through her “Fall Recipe” section.  I ended up making Butternut Squash Curry With Chickpeas. It was good!  The only problem was, I should have doubled the recipe.  I like my Sunday dinner to also feed us on Monday, and I should have known one can of chickpeas wasn’t going to do that.  My daughter wasn’t a fan of the squash, but she’s obviously insane.  You cube the squash and roast it, and add it to the curry at the end- it was delicious. I’ll echo Engie’s recent question- what was the last book that made you cry?   What are you reading now?

It’s October!  Time to get out the Halloween decorations- how exciting. Like many others, I’m looking forward to the Girl Next Door Fall Extravaganza episode for 2024.  While I’m waiting, I’ve been amusing myself by listening to their old ones.  One thing I love about these episodes is, Kelsey and Erica live in Arizona. Arizona weather is not Florida weather, but there are similarities.  Mainly that neither place has a true “fall.”  While the rest of the country is (hopefully) experiencing beautiful, crisp fall days, we’re still sweltering in the heat. In this episode from 2016, Kelsey and Erica talked about how they adjusted to fall in the desert.  They went through stages of denial, acceptance, and said they are now living in an alternate reality where it IS fall, dammit, because I say so!  That’s the way I feel- I put up my decorations and light a candle, so therefore it’s fall. Switching out my decorations (fall to Halloween, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas) also helps make one month distinct from another.  In Florida, we pretty much have two seasons: Summer, and SuperSummer.  There’s definitely a difference between January and July, but still- most days in January you can still walk around in shorts and a tank top. There are many times that I temporarily have no idea what month it is.  I know we all have those moments, but I doubt most people up north get confused between summer and winter.  In the absence of external cues, it’s important to me to make one season distinct from the next.  Otherwise time slips by much, much too fast. In this week’s Best Laid Plans podcast, SHU discussed how she marks the start of a new month,  One of the things she does is switch her screen backgrounds.  I like that!  I’m going to switch the photo on my phone, and I’m thinking of using this “terrifying” one of Charlotte… Hee hee… actually, she was yawning.  But she looks ferocious.  Here she is looking like her beautiful self: Magical black cats really do guard my home this month! Do you decorate for Halloween? Do you feel like you need to do something to make your months distinct, or does it naturally happen where you live?  

It was a great week!  That is, if you like heat, humidity, and hurricanes.  (If you don’t like those things, don’t come to Florida in September!)  Here in South Florida we’re sending love to those in the panhandle who got pummeled- while being grateful that we were spared this time.  As always, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!) for this Weekly Rundown.  Let’s just see how it all went down… Sunday 6 miles on the trail!  The first mile was walking, then 5 miles running.  It was hot, sticky, parts of the trail were overgrown and there were biting flies.  But I loved it. Monday Leg day at the gym!  Here’s how I found the squat racks: BOTH racks had heavy weights left on the bars.  Why do people do this???  I didn’t feel like dealing with it, so I went over to use an older squat rack in the corner.  Once again I avoided deadlifts because of my cranky low back, but did squats, some single leg balance exercises, and abs. Tuesday I continued my cautious every-other-day running schedule.  Today I walked half a mile and ran 2.5. I followed this with a MadFit standing core workout. Wednesday It was a strength day at home- upper body, Caroline Girvan deadbugs, and hip stability exercises. At 5 pm we got a call that school was canceled the next day because of the hurricane.  Wait, what?  This was the first I heard of Hurricane Helene (I really should start watching the news more.) In my defense, it wasn’t on track to hit us, but we still had a tropical storm warning. Thursday The good news was, since there was no school, I was able to sleep in a little and run in the daylight.  The bad news was, we had pockets of horrendous weather, and one of them happened during my run.  Wind, driving rain, and thunder and lightning in the distance.  I did 3 miles and then hightailed it back home- and as soon as I got there it started to clear up. I followed this with the MadFit standing core workout- except I didn’t realize it was a different one.  Apparently MadFit has at least two standing core workouts.  I like them both! Friday I was very proud of myself for getting to the gym twice this week for leg day.  This time I did squats and deadlifts.  My low back is still achy, but I just decided to carry on. Saturday 5 miles!  Well, the first half mile was walking, and then I ran 4.5.  I’m getting there… slowly but surely. Sunday On tap for the day- sleeping in and waffles!  I’ve decided to shift my “long” runs to Wednesdays (a day off from work.) Obviously there will be football as well, although the Dolphins play Monday night.  I’ll find a game or two to watch. How was your week?  Any “interesting” weather?  

Well, it’s the last Friday of the month and you know what that means- I’m linking up with Marcia for Runfessions!  But first- let’s talk, once again, about pumpkins. I said I wasn’t going to talk about pumpkins in every post, but yesterday Nicole sent me this: I love it!  And I love how when people see tons of pumpkins, they immediately think of me.  I am officially the Crazy Pumpkin Lady!  But did you know it wasn’t always this way? When I lived up north, I actually- gasp- HATED fall!  I know- the irony!  I grew up in Illinois (the pumpkin capital) where I could do all the fall things- go apple picking, see fall colors, wear sweaters… and I hated it.  What I really hated, of course, was winter, but fall meant winter was coming. In my 20s I was still living up north (why? WHY?) and one day I went for a walk with a friend.  He pointed out the beautiful colors of the leaves, and I told him I couldn’t see the beauty- all I could see was that winter was coming.  He said “Can’t you just appreciate this now and enjoy yourself, without worrying about what’s coming next?”  My response was, “If you knew you were going to prison next month, would you be able to put that out of your mind and enjoy yourself today?” Yes, that sounds dramatic, but it’s truly how I felt.  Every winter the entire world turned gray.  It felt like someone threw a thick blanket over me, and I had to struggle through every day with that encumbrance.  This was right around the beginning of SAD lamps, but they weren’t widespread.  It wasn’t like you could just order one on Amazon.  I’m not sure there was a SAD lamp big enough and strong enough to fix my SAD, anyway. Now you know why I live in Florida!  But- the irony continues- after living here for about ten years, I started to notice how frickin hot it is in September… and October… and November.  I started to “miss” fall- or rather, the romanticized notion I had of it.  A crisp fall day would feel amazing right about now.  So… Pumpkin Palooza was born. I mention all this because for those of you who are dreading the winter (Hi Engie!  Hi Kim!) I want you to know I truly empathize.  It IS awful, and if you’re not enjoying fall, I don’t blame you one bit.  (Side note- Florida is a lovely place to visit in January- just saying.) Now wait just a minute! (you might be thinking.) How is this “runfessions?” Well, it’s hard to have a lot of runfessions when you’re not running very much.  I’m plugging along, a little frustrated that this is where I’m at (when I thought I was going to run a 12 hour race in November) but at the same time grateful that I can run at all. Recently I heard someone on a podcast describe training like this: every time you run, or do your strength work, or mobility, or whatever you’re doing to train, you’re placing one brick on top of another.  It doesn’t look like anything at first, but if you’re consistent, eventually you’ll have built an entire wall.  Every once in a while someone comes along with a sledgehammer and smashes your wall to pieces; and then you begin all over again. I’ll just be over here laying down my bricks.  And- stay away from me with that sledgehammer!  I’ve had enough for the time being. How’s your fall going- are you enjoying it? Is your “running wall” big and strong, or are you building it back up from the rubble like I am?