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| Felled trees like this one on power lines, houses and cars on almost every street. |
Let's move on to happier subjects, starting with books!
Most of my book choices for October were well suited for the R.I.P. VII reading event I joined--dark fantasy, paranormal, crime fiction and thriller type stories. Even the two In Death books I read were apropos in their crimes for this time of year--one was a controversial murder of a priest inside a Church in Spanish Harlem and the other was a human sacrifice type murder. Spooky stuff.
In books:
Total books read: 7
Romance............... 1
Fantasy................. 1
Crime fiction ......... 2
Young Adult ......... 3
1. Cold Fire by Kate Elliot
2. Demon From the Dark by Kresley Cole
3. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
4. Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb
5. Ritual in Death by J.D. Robb
6. Prince of the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
7. Tales of Death and Dementia by Edgar Allen Poe,
Illustrated by Gris Grimly
My favorite this month was Demon From the Dark by Kresley Cole followed by Cold Fire by Kate Elliot.
In fitness:
I've been working out regularly as usual, but I have to admit since the Gran Fondo in September, I feel a little adrift without an event ahead of me. At first it was nice not to always be thinking about my next training ride, but that lasted all of a week or so. Now I miss those long 40, 50, 60, 70 mile rides that took hours on a Saturday morning to do. We're still cycling on the weekend, but since the days are so much shorter now and family calendar's so busy during the school year, we don't have as much time to ride.
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| Here they come.. I ride like a girl. Try to keep up. |
Photography:
I'm hanging in there with the Project 365 I started on Instagram on Jan. 1--haven't missed a day in a long time now! Of course, I probably just jinxed myself saying that. I followed the photo-a-day prompts from Fat Mum Slim over the summer and am thinking of doing it again for December. Anyone else want to do a photo-a-day project just for December? Maybe I'll share the prompts here on my blog once they're announced to encourage you to join. It's fun.
In the garden: I yanked it all up right before the hurricane. I picked all lingering green tomatoes that just weren't ripening and was too impatient to wait for them to ripen on the counter so I was considering making fried green tomatoes with them. My family grimaced at that idea, but thankfully Joy came to the rescue and hooked me up with this fabulous Indian recipe Green Tomato Sabji. It was so delicious that I'm counting on making it with green tomatoes next year! I already miss having fresh basil right outside my door and already we have only ONE jar of homemade pesto to get us through the winter. Bummer.
And that wraps up my October adventures. Wishing you all a wonderful November.
What kind of adventures did YOU have in October?
The cat's eyes... they are, like, all knowing!
ReplyDeleteLOVe the cat picture
Well, all your pictures are lovely actually!! And I hope the pesto last.
Also, sorry the hurricane saga continues. Our Gulf was hit by similar system couple of years back (Hurricane Alex) and it flooded cities that were land-locked by 500 miles in each direction, and still now some towns are dealing with left over damages.
I'm still trying to figure out how the heck we've already gotten into November!!!
ReplyDeleteSadly my brother in Bethpage Long Island STILL has no power! Doesn't have a clue as to when it'll come back either. Luckily no damage to him or mom and considering what some friends in Staten Island are dealing with and some of his co-workers he isn't complaining. He does have a generator for his fridge and the heater, plus his inlaws are very close and they have power.
I have to say fitness wise I am very happy. I have lost a total of 14 1/2 lbs so far, I put on a pair of dress paints the other day and they fell down! I was doing the happy dance! 10 more and I'll be over the moon :)
October was a so so reading month and my blogging mojo has gone bye-bye for a bit. That's ok, at some point it'll come back.
Love the bike and cat pic! I picked about 15 gorgeous pomegranates off my tree and have been enjoying the seeds just like that or in a salad.
Have a great weekend!
Paula
Love both of your pictures! The kitty has such big eyes and they seem so knowledgable. *g* If you share the prompts I may try the picture challenge. I've gotten rather lax in taking pictures lately.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about October. There is something almost magical about Fall, that crispness in the air in the evening and the beautiful colors of the leaves. Not to mention listening to them crunch underfoot or the smell of a wood burning fireplace.
I hope the difficulties faced by those affected by Sandy and now the Nor' Easterner are overcome.
Even with Sandy, your month of October sounded awesome, Christine :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, the good news about the storm Sandy is that there is no snow outside. What you're going through reminds me of the ice storm we had in 1997 I think. We had freezing rain for a couple of days and as a result, a lot of the power lines were coated in ice and too heavy, so they snapped and all. We didn't have power for a week or two. It was right after New Year, so we got delayed a week or two before going back to school :(
So it's bad, but at least, you don't have to deal with snow.
Glad you're still enjoying the Kresley Cole books so much :)
You are amazing! I am so happy you are safe from the storm.
ReplyDeleteSandy was a bad storm and I am sure sorry for all the folks who suffered through that one. Living in Florida we are used to the hurricane threats but this one was crazy destructive. Thankfully you are ok.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that photo of the cat is mesmerizing. What soulful eyes! Nice bike photo too!
Alex, The gray cat in the box with the green tomatoes is Nöel. I think he's our most expressive and therefore our most photogenic cat. We have four. Yikes. :|
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughts on our hurricane Sandy saga. Despite the widespread damage, I hae to admit that most of the problems in the aftermath are at least just loss of power and property damage. There are obviously worse natural disasters in the world that take so many, many more lives. Those are the most heartbreaking.
Paula, I know. I can't believe November is more than half over already.. way too fast. How is your brother now? I hope his power has been restored by now!?
Wow! Super congratulations on your 14.5 lb weight loss! That's fantastic!!! I keep talking the talk of losing these last 20 lbs but I can't stick to it. And now the best food of the year is right around the corner.. ugh.
So jealous of your pomegranate tree! They are $1.99 each OR MORE in the grocery stores here.
Brandy, I will let you know when the December photo a day prompts go up. It would be so fun to do them together! I have been VERY lax about using my DSLR in the last year since I started using Instagram. I gotta get back into "real" photography in 2013.
I LOVE the smell of wood burning fireplaces (or campfires!), too! :)
nath, You know when you left that comment, we had gotten snow the night before! LOL! We got about 5" in my neighborhood.. very wet snow that melted within two days or so. The funny thing is that when I went to my girlfriend's house to take care of the co-op for her, she only had about 2" in her neighborhood and she only lives about 3-4 miles away from me. Weird.
I'm so glad I'm still loving Kresley Cole's IAD series so much, too! I just find them so funny and also quite sexy and dramatic.
Michelle, I am not amazing, but thanks for saying so, anyway. Everyone needs a little ego booster once in awhile, so thanks. ;)
Pierce, Thanks for the kind words about hurricane Sandy. Most people are just about back to normal now although there is still a lot of tree cleanup going on. The coastal areas will need a lot longer to recover. The tidal surges with Sandy were just unbelievable!