Rain may make applesauce, but tonight, so do I! I love apples. Part of the reason I love autumn so much is the selection of yummy apples available and strange as it may sound, I literally make the rounds to stores in search of the interesting and unusual. My current (two years running now) favorite is the McIntosh apple. When I find them I hoard them. I'll share my dark chocolate before I'll share my McIntoshes. And if you know how much I love dark (and I mean really dark bordering on bitter) chocolate you will know I mean business. Now don't get me wrong. I will share my apples, too, but McIntoshes (for some odd reason) are so hard to find here and then the window for buying opportunities is pretty narrow, so greed usually wins over being a nice, sharing person. Ask me for any other apple in my fridge and its yours!
So, tonight I made a batch of applesauce out of the remainders from a bag of Jonathans I bought a week or so ago. They were looking pretty ripe and ready to go bad and it's almost a sin to waste a good apple. It'd been ages since I'd made applesauce, but I must say it turned out quite yummy. All simple and natural ingredients--the last six or seven apples in the bag (they were small guys), a little water, a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon (cinnamon flows freely in my household), a dash of nutmeg and a little patience. While they simmered I sat and read (hence this bullet-point post . . . am getting to those bullet-points). Then I devoured a bowl of warm, freshly made applesauce that I topped with chopped walnuts and currants and another dash of cinnamon. I might just back for seconds when I finish this post. Alas, no rain was involved in the preparation of my apples.
Okay, enough waxing lyrical on the joys of apples (though if you have a favorite recipe for anything apples or applesauce, do share!). Now on to some bookishness.
- I went to the library earlier tonight on my way home from work to drop off an overdue library book. I had it in my bookbag but had another book in hand that I had been reading. By the time I got the books on hold for me, grabbed the most recent BookPage, checked out my books and set off home, I realized that the tardy book was still in my bag and I was already half way home. Normally I love walking and would think nothing of turning around, walking back and returning the book, but for some reason all energy was completely zapped and I couldn't face turning back. Maybe it had something to do with the *seven* books I was lugging home with me (along with my jacket, purse and regular bookbag).
- I'm now racking up the fines at the library. The book in question, by the way, is Virginia Woolf's Flush. I really enjoyed reading it, and still plan on writing about it (I have a growing list now of books I need to write about). Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. Fines are 25 cents a day.
- I'm going to have to do a major swapping out of library books--the pile I had on hand will all have to go back since I'll be on vacation. The pile I just brought home will be safe while I'm gone (safe meaning no due dates while I am away).
- One of the titles that I am totally drawn to is a book/genre I would not normally read. It's a Western of sorts, though maybe more of a historical fiction title, Kathleen Kent's The Outcasts. It sounds like great fun: "A thrilling adventure story about buried treasure, a manhunt, and a woman determined to find a new life for herself in the old west". Would I dare take a library book on vacation with me? Somehow that seems to be asking for trouble.
- I know I am in the thick of my RIP reading (well, sort of anyway), but Caroline and Lizzy have announced the third annual German Reading Month happening in November. I'll be there. I have a mental list going and will start setting titles down to paper now and amassing possible reads.
- But getting back to RIP...I am thoroughly enjoying my ghost story reading each weekend, loved the Hill novella am in the midst of reading Wilkie Collins but think I need to start a regular novel now. Even though I am steadily reading along I feel like I've fallen behind in my plans somehow. I have it narrowed down to two short novels (well, okay, they are both probably novellas, but that's okay, novellas are good, too): The Greatcoat or A.N. Wilson's A Jealous Ghost. But, we'll see. I've been eyeing Joyland, too.
- You know what's throwing me off, of course? Charles Palliser's The Quincunx. As a matter of fact I am taking tomorrow "off" and concentrating on a few other books. I swear the Palliser is a NeverEnding Story! I feel like I read and read and read and never make any measurable progress. I am sure I am, but it doesn't feel like it. Less than 300 pages to go now, but the print is excruciatingly small.
- A couple of mail items. Did you see that postage is going to increase again in 2014? I'll still keep writing letters as often as I do now, but I might have to curtail my Postcrossing activities (actually I already have to some degree) as the price of sending a postcard abroad isn't cheap.
- And check out this Ex Postal Facto Mail Art Call. All entries are going to be exhibited!
- I've been watching Foyle's War on PBS every Sunday night and have found it very addicting. Now I guess I need to go back and start from the beginning! Next weekend The Paradise begins, and as I do love a good costume drama, I'll be watching.
- Happy October everyone.