Links I Love • October 2021

“With an apple I will astonish Paris.” — Paul Cezanne

This month’s links featuring a love of October, Audrey Hepburn, Paris, Shaun Cassidy, puppy zoomies, and Frank Lloyd Wright architecture are quite eclectic, yet still so me.

• October Isn’t Just a Month Anymore. It’s a Whole Szn.

• 21 Apple Varieties To Sink Your Teeth Into This Fall

• The Audrey Hepburn You Never Knew — and Her Cheeky Sense of Humor

• You Can Now Rent the Iconic “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Brownstone

• What to Wear in Paris: 14 Must-Haves to Pack for Your Next Trip

• The Very Best French Fashion Brands to Shop Online according to Marie Claire magazine

• 28 Facts About the Paris Métro

• National Library of France Finally Complete After a 10-Year-Long Renovation

• Bergdorf Goodman’s Guide to Paris

• Emily in Paris: A tour of the real Parisian hotspots from the Netflix series

• The Newest 'Teen Dream' — a vintage article in the Washington Post that made me smile.

• What Causes the Zoomies?: Vet Weighs in on What Makes Your Pet Race Around the House - Piper still gets them every night.

• 51 Best Airbnb Stays Across the United States — Wisconsin’s offering is a Frank Lloyd Wright.

Currently • October 2021

“October, baptize me with leaves! …October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!” — Rainbow Rowell

READING:

• Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood — “A riveting tale of passion, love, and heartbreak, Mrs. Hemingway reveals the explosive love triangles that wrecked each of Hemingway's marriages” (Goodreads).

• Warrior: Audrey Hepburn by Robert Matzen — “Completes the story arc of Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Hepburn's experiences in wartime, including the murder of family members, her survival through combat and starvation conditions, and work on behalf of the Dutch Resistance, gave her the determination to become a humanitarian for UNICEF and work on behalf of impoverished families” (Goodreads).

• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy— “Enter the world of Charlie's four unlikely friends, discover their story and their most important life lessons…” (Goodreads). My lovely and thoughtful new colleague, Jane, surprised me on a Wednesday morning with this special gift. The illustrations, the simplicity, the depth — everything is beautiful. Is it terrible, that I feel the urge to add that Oxford comma in the title?

WATCHING:

• No Time to Die (the latest James Bond film and the last one for Daniel Craig) — The movie was long and just ok, but it was so fun to go to the cinema after almost two years away.

• Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ — “Winner of 7 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series. Jason Sudeikis is an American football coach hired to manage a British soccer team. What he lacks in knowledge, he makes up for in optimism, determination, …and biscuits” (Apple). Season 1 was heartwarming and funny; Season 2 is darker, but rich in character development.

ENJOYING:

• A final few warm evenings on the deck with wine, blankets and a fire in the solo stove.

• An October weekend in Door County — autumn leaves, crisp air, great food…

FEELING:

• Determined — I have rowed 900,000 meters and hope to make the Million Meter Club by Thanksgiving.

• Frustrated by work as well as home repairs. This week, we had issues with our furnace (brrrrr), with Eric’s car, and with two holes in our siding due to hungry woodpeckers.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

• Hygge — fires in the fireplace, soft sweaters and blankets, candlelight… As the days get shorter and the light wanes, at least we can enjoy the coziness.

Fall Colors in Door County 2021

“The trees are in their autumn beauty; The woodland paths are dry; Under the October twilight the water mirrors a still sky.” — William Butler Yeats

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“It is possible, even probable, to be told a truth about a place, to accept it, to know it and at the same time to not know anything about it. I had never been to Wisconsin, but all my life I had heard about it, had eaten its cheeses, some of them as good as any in the world. And I must have seen pictures. Everyone must have. Why then was I unprepared for the beauty of this region, for its variety of field and hill, forest, lake? I think now I must have considered it one big level cow pasture because of the state's enormous yield of milk products. I never saw a country that changed so rapidly, and because I had not expected it everything I saw brought a delight. I don't know how it is in other seasons, the summers may reek and rock with heat, the winters may groan with dismal cold, but when I saw it for the first and only time in early October, the air was rich with butter-colored sunlight, not fuzzy but crisp and clear so that every frost-gay tree was set off, the rising hills were not compounded, but alone and separate. There was a penetration of the light into the solid substance so that I seemed to see into things, deep in…I remembered that I had been told Wisconsin is a lovely state, but the telling had not prepared me. It was a magic day. The land dripped with richness, the fat cows and pigs gleaming against green, and, in the smaller holdings, corn standing in little tents as corn should, and pumpkins all about…Beside the road I saw a very large establishment, the greatest distributor of sea shells in the world--and this in Wisconsin, which hasn't known a sea since pre-Cambrian time. But Wisconsin is loaded with surprises. I had heard of Wisconsin but was not prepared for the weird country sculpted by the Ice Age, a strange, gleaming country of water and carved rock, black and green. To awaken here might make one believe it a dream of some other planet, for it has a non-earthly quality, or else the engraved record of a time when the world was much younger and much different…” — John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley (1962)

September 2021 in Pictures

“Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul... but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my beloved October.” ― Peggy Toney Horton

Links I Love • September 2021

“Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soil.” — Peggy Toney Horton

• Travel Used to Be My Identity. How Do I Move Forward? — I certainly relate to this.

• Why Paris Is Still the Best Place in the World to Go to the Movies — I miss Paris and I miss going to the movies.

• James Bond: How France shaped 007’s adventures — We are planning our first night at the movies in two years next weekend to see No Time to Die.

• The Arc de Triomphe is Wrapped in Fabric, a Vision Six Decades in the Making — I have mixed feelings about this.

• 13 Items That Defined Audrey Hepburn’s Wardrobe — So chic

• 7 New Reasons to Visit Paris Right Now

• A Guide to Paris’ Flea Market — I’m bookmarking this one.

• The Best Modern Architecture in Paris

• These Ten Small Towns in France Are Straight Out of a Storybook — I’ve only visited half of them.

• The Best Café-Bookstores in Paris

• 30 Cool Indie Bookstores — One is in Sturgeon Bay.

• Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Will Reopen in 2024, Five Years After Disastrous Fire

Currently • September 2021

"The windows are open, admitting the September breeze: a month that smells like notepaper and pencil shavings and autumn leaves...A month that smells like progress and moving on." – Lauren Oliver

READING:

• Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley M.M. Blume — In the summer of 1925, Ernest Hemingway and a clique of raucous companions traveled to Pamplona, Spain, for the town’s infamous running of the bulls. Then, over the next six weeks, he channeled that trip’s maelstrom of drunken brawls, sexual rivalry, midnight betrayals, and midday hangovers into his groundbreaking novel The Sun Also Rises. This revolutionary work redefined modern literature as much as it did his peers, who would forever after be called the Lost Generation. But the full story of Hemingway’s legendary rise has remained untold until now. Lesley Blume resurrects the explosive, restless landscape of 1920s Paris and Spain and reveals how Hemingway helped create his own legend. He made himself into a death-courting, bull-fighting aficionado; a hard-drinking, short-fused literary genius; and an expatriate bon vivant” (Goodreads).

• Fitzgerald & Hemingway: Works and Days by Scott Donaldson — “F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway might have been contemporaries, but our understanding of their work often rests on simple differences. Hemingway wrestled with war, fraternity, and the violence of nature. Fitzgerald satirized money and class and the never-ending pursuit of a material tomorrow. Through the provocative arguments of Scott Donaldson, however, the affinities between these two authors become brilliantly clear. The result is a reorientation of how we read twentieth-century American literature” (Goodreads).

• The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World — “The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet. From the beginning, the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday cake: their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others. Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life” (Goodreads). Yes, I’m reading this again. It’s brilliant and inspirational and this time, I’m sharing the joy with colleagues.

WATCHING:

• Cruella on Disney+ — “Before she becomes Cruella de Vil, teenage Estella has a dream. She wishes to become a fashion designer, having been gifted with talent, innovation, and ambition all in equal measures. But life seems intent on making sure her dreams never come true. Having wound up penniless and orphaned in London at 12, 10 years later Estella runs wild through the city streets with her best friends and partners-in-(petty)-crime, Horace and Jasper, two amateur thieves. When a chance encounter vaults Estella into the world of the young rich and famous, however, she begins to question the existence she's built for herself in London and wonders whether she might, indeed, be destined for more after all. When an up-and-coming rock star commissions Estella to design him a signature piece, she begins to feel as though she has truly arrived. But what is the cost of keeping up with the fast crowd- and is it a price Estella is willing to pay?” (IMDb). I loved this movie so much more than I thought I would — the plot, the music, the fashion — so good.

• The Chair on Netflix — “At a major university, the first woman of color to become chair tries to meet the dizzying demands and high expectations of a failing English department” (IMDb). As an English major/educator, I can certainly relate to the love of literature, the challenges of being in a department of excellent communicators and critical thinkers, and the nature of what we do looking antiquated in today’s culture and climate. That being said, the show is funny and engaging for academics and non-academics alike.

• Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy on HBO Max — “Stanley Tucci travels across Italy to discover the secrets and delights of the country's regional cuisines. Viewers will go along with him as he enjoys the luxurious creamy carbonara of Rome, the delicious simplicity of Sicily's pasta alla Norma, the saffron-infused silkiness of risotto in Milan, the crispy tenderness of bistecca alla fiorentina, the perfect classic ragu alla bolognese and the world's best pizza in Naples. Tucci comes prepared with a bottomless appetite for it all, showing us how the diversity of Italian cooking offers a gateway through which you can glimpse Italy's history and culture” (IMDb). I loved the scenery, Stanley’s wardrobe, hearing regional Italian accents, and most of all the food. This show made me hungry for Italian cuisine and for travel.

• Only Murders in the Building on Hulu — “A comedic murder-mystery series for the ages. Only Murders in the Building follows three strangers (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. As they record a podcast of their own to document the case, the three unravel the complex secrets of the building which stretch back years. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living amongst them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.” — This is so funny + Sting!

LISTENING TO:

• George Winston’s Autumn — a perennial classic and a personal favorite since my days at Marquette.

• Live Jimmy Buffett concerts on Margaritaville Radio while enjoying a fire and a beverage on our deck.

FEELING:

• Motivated — I hit the 750,000 meter mark this month and am determined to join the Million Meter Club before Christmas.

ENJOYING:

• The changes in my garden and finally, the gardenias that struggled all summer long (featured photo).

• The beautiful weather — days in the seventies and nights in the fifties. I could enjoy this all year long.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

• An autumn getaway — if only for a weekend and if only to Door County. We need a break.

• Decorating for fall with white pumpkins and our new Peanuts Halloween doormat and luncheon plates.