Well, well, well!
Travel:
We’re back. Got back last Thursday night. Summary report of our trip to Utah here.
Individual posts:
October 15: Travel day, Salt Lake City
October 16: Capitol Reef National Park
October 17: Leprechaun Canyon, Blarney Canyon, Goblin Valley State Park, Moab
October 19: Fiery Furnace hike, Arches National Park, travel to Needles section of Canyonlands
October 20: Chelser Park Overlook hike, Canyonlands, Delicate Arch trail hike, Arches
More photos and videos at Instagram, both in posts and in “highlights.”
It’s odd – although completely expected – how quickly the focus changes once I return from a trip. For weeks beforehand, every other browser tab and half the books on my desk are related to the trip, and I’m all research, research, research up until the last moment (especially when a trip changes…at the last moment as this one did)..and then the minute I get home…bam. It’s all out of my head (in that respect).
Time to move on!
Don’t know where, though.
Writing:
I was in Living Faith yesterday. Go here for that.
I was on the Son Rise Morning Show this morning talkin’ about solidarity. Great conversation!
And, er…well, as I said….just got back from a trip. Currently recalibrating.
Reading:
Two novels which have completely defied my expectations: Greene’s Brighton Rock and Nightmare Alley by Douglas Gresham.
Why these? Because Brighton Rock is one of the few Greene novel’s I’d not read, to my shame, considering its place in his canon, and the other because it’s a famed noir that’s the source for a forthcoming film from Guillermo del Toro (and an old one starring my mother’s heartthrob, Tyrone Power).
I’ll write about both in separate posts. Brighton Rock today, and Nightmare Alley tomorrow – I’ve got about fifty pages to go. It’s very strange and quite different, as I said, from what I expected. What gives Nightmare Alley particular resonance is – as I figured out in a duh moment when I picked it up – is that the author, William Gresham, was Joy Davidman’s first husband – the one left behind when she crossed the pond for C.S. Lewis. Considering the content of this novel, that is just….fascinating.
Many New Yorker articles, including a surprisingly engaging one on Paul McCartney here, framing it in terms of the new Peter Jackson-directed and produced documentary project, airing at Thanksgiving on Disney+ – pulled together from the dozens of hours of footage filmed during the Beatles’ last recording session. I’m not a particular Beatles fan, but of course, I do like my history, including cultural history, and this – a correction, in a sense, of an earlier documentary culled from the same footage – looks marvelous.
Watching:
Not much for me, although the two youngest in the crew saw Dune over the weekend and raved, and the one who still lives here returned to scroll through the film, streaming on HBOMax, pointing out his favorite parts to me. So in a sense, I guess I sort of saw Dune.
Listening:
Inspired by reminiscences by David Remnick in the McCartney article, I queued up Teddy Wilson on the playlist last night and spent the evening with him in the background while I made my baffled way through Nightmare Alley.
Cooking:
We’re back, so that means busy times for the person who does the eating around here. Time to cook in batches and leave them around for when the need arises. Bought a bunch of short ribs half price at the grocery store, so they became this. Made a fantastic tomato pasta sauce last night: sauteed onions, green peppers, carrots, then soaked, chopped porcini mushrooms. Garlic. Put a bunch of red wine and tomato paste in, cooked it down. Dumped in a jar of passata (half price, on clearance at Publix), fresh basil and oregano, etc. Cooked that for a bit, then put in the partially cooked meatballs (ground beef & pork, soaked breadcrumbs, parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, oregano), kept on a low simmer. Threw in parmesan rinds.
Perfect.
And then, probably tomorrow, I’ll make this pork & poblano stew. That should do us for the week.
Charlotte was Both 