Actual Fall Has Arrived

Happy Sunday! I hope the weekend has been treating you well. After a very warm start to the week (up to the 80s on Monday and Tuesday), the weather has finally settled and it’s starting to feel like fall around here! We’ve had a couple of mornings that have been below freezing and the highs have been in the 60s and 70s – much better for this time of year. And now we’re expecting a nor’easter to blow through this evening and for it to rain through Tuesday morning, which I am very excited about.

And despite all of our lingering congestion and cold symptoms, we’ve had a pretty good week around here. I have homeschooling and personal learning, knitting, and reading updates for you today!

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Home Stuff:

In history this week, we learned about Vikings! Bryce and Bronwyn really enjoyed this history chapter and we did a lot of enrichment around the topic, including carving our own Nordic Rhunestones. It was probably our best homeschooling week this school year and I am trying to figure out how to replicate that for next week. And all three kids have gotten their flu and covid vaccinations, so now I just have to figure out when I’m going to get mine.

Personal Learning:

This week I finished the first and second chapters of The 1619 Project, the third chapter in These Truths, and started the third chapter of The 1619 Project. I just wrote a ton on those three finished chapters but deleted it, because this isn’t the right place for that sort of writing! For the last three weeks, I’ve been trying to find time to sit down and write about these things in a more thoughtful way, but haven’t figured out when to do that. I will keep working on it!

So briefly – The 1619 Project has a fascinating structure that makes it difficult to really fit into the other historical reading I’m doing right now, but I think that’s okay. It is taking a topic (democracy, race, and sugar so far) and showing how its affected our culture throughout the history of the country.

The third chapter of These Truths was on the French-Indian War and the Revolutionary War. It outlined the biggest impetus for entering the war (the British offered freedom for slaves who joined the cause against the colonists and that ticked off the Virginia slaveholding elite) and how carefully the constitution was drawn up to ensure that slaves couldn’t argue for their own freedoms based on the words they wrote. And when Abigail Adams wrote to John to remind him to include women he replied, “depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our Masculine systems.” Message received.

I am really enjoying this time for myself and am already making lists of possible topics and books for when I finish. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually sit down and do all of this reading after I made my initial outline, so I’m relieved to see that I’m finally making progress in this stack of books!

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Knitting:

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I had a goal this week to knit four rows every day. Once again, I didn’t knit every single day but I managed to finish the back colorwork and am about to start the shoulder ribbing! The end is in sight, dear friends. Unbelievable! Next week’s goal: finish the shoulder ribbing.

And of course, I’m starting to think about my next sweater project. Here’s a few that I’m contemplating:

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I’m most pulled by the bottom two projects, but have no idea which direction I’ll take. I’m just excited to get my current project in my wardrobe rotation and to start something fresh!

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Reading:

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

This was quite the saga and I’m finding it difficult to put words to it. Sonia and Sunny’s paths tangentially intersect when Sonia’s family writes Sunny’s family to propose a marriage between the two, given that they are both Indians living in the United States at the time. Later, they actually meet in India and this is where their complicated and fraught relationship really begins.

This novel was such a paradox: it was funny, but serious; full of stereotypes, while finding the truths hidden in plain sight. It was also very long and I’m not sure it needed to be? I kept wanting Sonia and Sunny to just talk to each other because they both seemed to have a lot of (wrong) assumptions about how the other felt and my goodness — they missed out on a lot because of that. I listened to this on audio and found myself confused by the switches between perspectives in this story, but that seems to be a theme for me lately. Maybe my poor old brain can’t move as quickly as it used to. Besides my minor quibbles — which have more to do with me than anything else — this book is an excellent choice for anyone who loves sweeping love stories and peeking into cultures around the world.

And with this book, I think I’m finished with my Booker reading for this award season. I’ve decided not to read the other three shortlisted novels (by men) and am rooting for Desai, Kitamura, and Choi for the award. But if another book wins, I’ll consider reading it in 2026.

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Currently reading:

I’m still reading Celestial Bodies! Despite it being quite haunting and beautiful, I’m having a difficult time settling into it. I’m finding myself checking the family tree at the beginning of the book several times a chapter and it skips around a wide cast of characters and throughout time. So I’m struggling a lot but am interested enough in the characters to keep going. I also got my hands on Ripeness by Sarah Moss at the library yesterday and I’m excited to get started on it.

I’m hoping to start The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai on audio sometime today. This is for my 2025 reading goal to read 12 female prize winners. I was planning to read a female Booker prize winner in October anyway and a second Desai novel seemed like the perfect follow up to Sonia and Sunny. (Also, it’s about half the length of Sonia and Sunny, so that’s encouraging!)

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Today’s plan: we’re going to whip up some bagels and lox and dash up to the mountains for some leaf peeping. The foliage was early this year so it’s past peak, but that’s okay. I’m still looking forward to it! And we’ll be back home in time for Matthew to watch football. I’m hoping to get a jump on next week’s knitting goal, read a few more pages of Celestial Bodies, and to get started on Ripeness today.

I hope your Sunday helps recharge your body and that your week gets off to a good start. Take good care!