Happy Halloween - Friday Frights

Happy Halloween!  

 We have  the spirit at our house

Meanwhile, more pumpkins to show you from  the Dallas Arboretum

I just love the fall colors

Ray and I enjoyed the displays.  I wore my Charlie Brown Halloween t-shirt. 

Poor Charlie - all he ever got was a rock.  Hope plenty of treats abound for you this weekend. 

Whatever Wednesday - Pumpkin Palooza

October at the Dallas Arboretum means pumpkins galore

A variety of displays

Plus a special Mundo Mexico theme with sculptures of spirit guides

colorful art to observe and learn

The colors were popping!
 

Monday Moments - More Glencairn

More Glencairn to explore, as promised.  The stone work is stunning

Doors brought back from  Europe

Tilework

A  view of Philly from their tower

and a view of their church - I believe around four hundred members now.
 

Finally Friday - Glencairn

Glencairn was the home of a family ( Raymond Pitcairn) that founded a religious group ( the  New
church - Late 1800s), emphasizing family, community, and faith.  The founder traveled Europe a lot and brought back art, stone masons to replicate works he saw, tile masters, and more.

This "castle" is in suburban Philly, PA. (Bryn Athyn) It housed the husband, wife, and nine kids. 

Here's the general foyer

Pretty dramatic and gorgeous.   Lots of medieval art.

This is only your introduction.   More to follow. 

 

Whatever Wednesday - Book Club Delight

 My PA gang held our book club meeting in Florida, even though the story - History of the  Rain by Niall Williams - takes place in Ireland.  (Well, it did rain in FL, so that counts. )

We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. That's how it seems to me, being alive for a little while, the teller and the told.   (back blurb)

Ruthie Swain is the  daughter of a dead poet. She's living in FaHa, County Clare, and recovering from a collapse in college. She's in  her attic room, with the rain rushing down the windows. She writes Ireland, with its weather, its rivers, its lilts, and its lows. 

I loved Ruthie. I loved all her references to her dad's books as she puzzles her way through family history. She's a twin, and slowly tells Aeny's joyous short life.  I laughed out loud at her descriptions of town folk. I teared up at other writings - p. 311  But  the fact is grief doesn't know we invented time. Grief has its own tide and comes and goes in waves.  

Williams writes lyrically, humorously, and with a passion for Ireland - its quirks, its people, and its rain. That's  a character itself. I loved this book - it meanders, it goes off  on a bender, and it's gentle. 

Take your time,  find a comfy  chair, pour a cuppa, and settle in for History of the Rain. Let the words pour over you and enjoy.

Monday Moments - Mercer Museum

Mercer Museum and Castle in Doylestown, PA offers a history afternoon.  Seven floors of exploration
 

Henry Mercer believed in  the  power of hands-on history. He collected tools and products for all to see. He also ran a tileworks that manufactured gorgeous designs

Here's an excellent example of the tiles

The Mercer Library is glorious.  Just look up and around in awe

And then - the collection.  Here on  the bottom  floor, you stand  - head raised, mouth open. Then start looking, reading, climb the stairs, and keep exploring.  Respect the history!

Finally Friday - Trust by Hernan Diaz

 Trust by  Hernan Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in  2022.  It is certainly well written, but easy to put  down.  I didn't  really care for the  main characters and I kinda wanted to  slap some sense into them.  The overall themes and connected narratives were impressive. Kudos to  Diaz. 

1920s New York City - Benjamin Rask is a Wall Street tycoon. Helen Rask is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together they are at the top of  the  game.  But it's  the usual - money does not buy happiness. 

A  novel  appears in 1937 called Bonds and it strikes a nerve with Rask. How dare this author delve into the most personal of stories. 

back blurb - Trust  engages  the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with  which power can manipulate facts. 

Whatever Wednesday - All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman is a hoot. Florence Grimes is hot mess - thirty one years old, former member of a girl  band, party girl, now single, and  broke.  She is the mother of Dylan - age ten. The one good thing in her life. 

But her son's bully, Alfie Risby goes missing during a class trip. Is Dylan a suspect? 

cover blurb and opening sentence - The missing boy is ten-year old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he's a little shit.

That's your intro to Flo and it's what made me pick up this  book at the library.  The book is hilarious, the plot line gets  convoluted, and you wonder - what bad decision  will Flo  make  next?  

I won't say more - you have to read this, chuckle, and be surprised.   Enjoy!

Monday Moments - The Overstory by Richard Powers

After reading North Woods by Daniel  Mason, I turned to his muse - The Overstory by Richard  Powers. 

This is a dense, serious  read.  It took me awhile, but it was worth the time and effort. Very impressive. 

back blurb - From  the roots to the crown and back  to the seeds, this book unfolds  in concentric rings of interlocking fables  that range from antebellum  New York to the late 20th century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This is the story of a handful of people who learn  how  to see that world (vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible  to us) and who are drawn up into unfolding catastrophe. 

Trees!  Hug one today. 

 

Finally Friday - Table for Two by Amor Towles

 Table for Two  by Amor Towles is  a delight - six stories  based in New York City and  a novella set in Hollywood.  

The  NY tales take place in 2000 - brief encounters,  compromises, modern marriages and all the complications of life.

cover blurb :  Towles novel Rules of Civility had Evelyn Ross head west from NYC.  But  what if  she actually headed to Los  Angeles.  "Eve in Hollywood" is a hoot. She  crafts a whole  new  future, exerts her power, and we enjoy her  life through  movie sets, bungalows, and the dive  bars of LA.

I  love Towles' writing and enjoyed this collection.  Truly a treat.

Whatever Wednesday - I'll cry if I want to (Happy Birthday to me)

Me with my cousin Mark and a great grandmother

Me with my  dolly

me saying goodbye to my childhood home after Dad passed away in 2024

and me with Lori, David, and  Dad  back when  he turned 90

Today is my birthday - October  8th

Rah!

 

Monday Moments - Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer

Well, it's October and fall, but  I got this  book for  one dollar  at the library book sale. Totally worth the price.  Can reading change  your life?  Hilma  Wolitzer explores this theme in  Summer Reading. 

Join ladies in the Hamptons at the Page Turners book club. Angela Graves, a retired English professor, helps reading groups in their discussions. Lissy Snyder is a wealthy newlywed hosting the afternoon soirees.  Her secret - dyslexia. Maybe not the brightest bunny, but truly tries.  A local gal, Michelle, is Lissy's housecleaner.  She eavesdrops, picks up books that ladies  leave  behind, and keeps  track of  the gossip. 

These three women all have personal issues. As Angela encourages discussions  of heroines by Trollope and  Flaubert, the act of reading will influence tough  choices the women  must make. I was entertained  and amused, and I admit one can look for answers or inspiration in books. 

Keep reading and questioning. 
 

Finally Friday - Dawn by Elie Wiesel

 I was browsing the library shelves. I was aware of Night by Elie Wiesel - such a stunning  book.  Did  not know it was part of  a trilogy.  So I picked up Dawn  (copyright 1961) and read it  in one day. 

It's a little story about  a camp survivor who  is now in Jewish held Palestine.  He's a  freedom fighter who must execute a British soldier at  dawn.  He's afraid. He's betraying the dead of his memories. 

forward by Wiesel:  What will dawn bring for him? More darkness or the light  of the coming day?

In this  story, which calls religious and cultural ideas into question,  I evoke the ultimate violence: murder.  It aims to put  on guard all of those who, in the name of  their faith or of some  ideal, commit  cruel acts of terrorism against innocent victims. 

And yet, this tale about despair becomes a story against despair. 

Whoa. So  timely.  So  thought provoking. Rather gut wrenching. 

Whatever Wednesday - Welcome October

Welcome October.   But  a few final pics from Longwood Gardens.  New big lily pad area

Bonsai treats

Sunset
 

And now - October means  pumpkins galore

Is there a patch near you to visit?  I'm inspired from these last year pics from the Dallas arboretum

We  need that orange  pop of color.