Beyond Monet

« Il faut capter la lumière et la jeter directement sur la toile . » — Claude Monet.

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October 2022 in Pictures

“I’m so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers.” — Lucy Maude Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Links I Love • October 2022

“You can have the finest pen, typewriter, or computer, but without a set of eyes that truly see the world, you might as well have none of it.” — Thurman P. Banks Jr.

• How To Find Your Personal Style — I just did a fall purge of my already well-curated capsule wardrobe.

• Legendary Paris Restaurants That Live Up to the Hype (Food + Wine) - Maybe I’ll visit one in March. Probably should reserve now.

• The 18 Best Places for Shopping in Paris — How have I only been to four of these? So much to discovery!

• Five Paris Museums for Fashion Lovers

• The Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Everything You Need to Know

• Paris Métro Paper Ticket Reaches End of the Line After More than 120 Years — While I completely understand the cost and environmental ramifications of the paper tickets, this does make me sad. I still find canceled Métro tickets in pockets of my coats and used as bookmarks in several of my books. I even wrote my name and number on an old green ticket the night I met my husband.

• What Hemingway Left in Sloppy Joe’s Bar 80 Years Ago — Four unpublished short stories, drafts of manuscripts and boxes of personal effects…I continue to be intrigued by this fascinating albeit problematic man.

• Apple Original Films Lands Animated Short Film “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Based on the Beloved Award-Winning Book by Charlie Mackesy

• 19 Punctuation Marks You Never Knew You Needed — A great read for grammar geeks like me and perhaps an extension of my 2022 Word of the Year.

Currently • October 2022

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” — Albert Camus.

READING:

• Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah — “Evocative, sensitive, and rich in historic detail, Jacqueline in Paris portrays the origin story of an American icon. Ann Mah brilliantly imagines the intellectual and aesthetic awakening of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, and illuminates how France would prove to be her one true love, and one of the greatest influences on her life” (Goodreads).

• Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand — “After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket descended from a gilded age gem to a mediocre budget-friendly lodge to inevitably an abandoned eyesore — until it's purchased and renovated top to bottom by London billionaire, Xavier Darling. Xavier hires Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton as his general manager, and Lizbet, in turn, pulls together a charismatic, if inexperienced, staff who share the vision of turning the fate of the hotel around. They face challenges in getting along with one another (and with the guests), in overcoming the hotel's bad reputation, and in surviving the (mostly) harmless shenanigans of Grace Hadley herself — who won't stop haunting the hotel until her murder is acknowledged” (Goodreads). This genre is outside my comfort zone, but this summer, I did enjoy a couple of books by Elin Hilderbrand. I think what I liked most is the Nantucket setting and lifestyle. This one fell short for me — too much gratuitous, predictable romance and ridiculous paranormal activity.

WATCHING:

• Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+ — The Sanderson Sisters are back. Great seasonal fun.

• Derry Girls Season 3 on Netflix — “Derry Girls,” the raucous Netflix comedy created by Lisa McGee, is about two long-simmering states of conflict: the Troubles in Northern Ireland and adolescence…returns for its third and final season Friday, is first and foremost a brutally funny coming-of-age story, following five working-class friends at a Catholic girls’ school in the 1990s. But the larger political battle is ever-present, even in the show’s title… “Londonderry” is the official name, preferred by Protestant unionists who support Northern Ireland’s remaining part of the United Kingdom; “Derry” is how [the girls’] Catholic friends and neighbors know it. In the intro, the camera sails above youths spray-painting over the “London-” on a road sign, as a military vehicle passes and “Dreams” by the Cranberries plays on the soundtrack” (New York Times). This was such a good show.

• The Sound of 007 documentary on Prime — “the remarkable history of six decades of James Bond music, going behind the lens into one of the greatest movie franchise and the iconic 007 theme song” (iMDb).

• And of course, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, a seasonal tradition (at least once in October)

LISTENING TO:

• My personally curated Halloween playlist: “Thriller” (Michael Jackson), “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder), “Zombie” (The Cranberries), “Devil Inside” (INXS), “Ghost Town” (The Specials), “Psycho Killer” (Talking Heads), “Peek-a-boo” (Siouxsie & the Banshees), “Dead Man’s Party” (Oingo Boingo), “I Want Candy” (Bow Wow Wow), “Time Warp” (Rocky Horror Picture Show), “Season of the Witch” (Donovan), “I Put a Spell on You” (Nina Simone), “Banana Boat Song” (from Beetlejuice - Harry Belafonte) “Evil Ways” (Santana), “Ghostbusters” (Ray Parker, Jr.), “Somebody’s Watching Me” (Rockwell), “Spooky” (Classics IV), “The Munsters”, “The Addams Family”, “Love Potion Number Nine” (The Searchers), “Purple People Eater” (Sheb Wooley), and of course, “The Great Pumpkin Waltz” (Vince Guaraldi).

• Cool jazz: It just reminds me of fall.

ENJOYING

• October — The crisp air, the brilliant colors, the smell of fallen leaves, the evenings that are still warm enough to linger on the deck with a fire and a glass of red, and even the snow (yes, it snowed on October 17th).

• A long weekend in Door County

Door County - Autumn 2022

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” - Emily Brontë

A long weekend in Door County in October — steaming coffee and cardamom rolls from Fika in the morning; long walks in the woods to enjoy the fall colors and crisp air; wine on the deck at sunset; tart apples from Woods and cider from Island Orchard; meals at SBYC, Chives, and Trixie's; visting with friends and family —exactly what I needed.

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September 2022 in Pictures

“By all these lovely tokens, September days are here with summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer.” ― Helen Hunt Jackson