September Mishmash

The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on my skin

Hi friends!

This month has flown by in a flash!!! Fall is in the air and I am starting to think about considering leaning into sweaters, blankets, beanies, soup, hot tea, butternut squash, etc. I am going to miss my hammock something fierce, but that glorious sunshine always returns eventually. Sunshine and cool breezes are probably my fave in the world of weather, so Fall and I are currently on good terms. Ask me again when the rain starts how I feel about Fall (Autumn?), and you will definitely get a completely different answer!

I am so happy you are here, taking time out of your life to read my silly newsletter. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Food!

• First things first: I finally got into the Rancho Gordo Bean Club after waiting for YEARS on the waitlist!!!! If you aren’t cooking your own beans, you’re missing out. I am not the only one who loves these beans.

• Here’s a delicious bean recipe too, while we are at it. I used some freshly cooked Lima beans for this and it was absolutely delicious: Beans & Buttered Leeks with Garlicky Toasted Breadcrumbs. (I added a bunch of Kale!)

• In non-bean-related food, we had one unforgettable meal this month thanks to a delivery from a friend! Freshly made ratatouille and whipped feta, including instructions to smear the whipped feta on some toast and pile the delicious vegetables on top, along with arugula and a really perfect lemony dressing. I am seriously drooling thinking about this meal!! Ratatouille is a labor of love, and I felt the love in this one hard. 💜

Books/TV/Movies!

• https://bookshop.org/shop/michelleflook Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

  • The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras is an audiobook that I really enjoyed this month. It is a memoir rich with family stories, Columbian history, vibrant characters, vivid descriptions, magic, legends, superstitions, and more! I am going to read her fiction *soon! (*if I can ever get a handle on my library queue!)

  • The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers is a very long book (800+ pages) that I started reading in August and barely finished by the end of September. It is a multi-generational novel that spans two centuries in Georgia. This story follows the lives of people from many branches of a family tree, mostly women, and is full of history—a lot of which is not pleasant to read about, but rooted in a reality of the U.S. that should not be ignored. Even though I was a bit anxious to finish this book and move on, I was never bored. I really loved reading each unique character’s story, views, life experience, and cared about each of them, imperfections and all. The way the author carried themes and traumas through the many decades contained in this book was just amazing, and when it ended I was a bit sad—the sign of a great book. Pick it up if you like this type of thing (e.g Pachinko)!

• Please watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. I have been waiting for this movie for a very long time. It’s a very sweet movie, and I just love Marcel. Highly recommend Jenny Slate’s book also, Little Weirds, which is great as an audiobook and also in written form. She is a delight.

  

• Matthew and I have been enjoying The Patient on Hulu. It’s a very tense and interesting show. I am afraid to say too much and spoil it! We have been watching week by week but it would be great to binge-watch. The episodes are short and I have no idea what is going to happen or how it might end!

Projects!

• Here is a quilt I whipped up on commission for a baby due in January. It turned out so cute and I really love this pattern, it comes together so fast once all the pieces are cut!

  

• Besides three (!!!) quilts in various stages of in progress, I have a couple of non-quilt projects spinning around in my head that I want to get done, so hopefully my fall will be full of sewing!!!

Miscellaneous!

• I signed up to volunteer with a great nonprofit, For Goodness Cakes, that connects home-bakers with organizations who provide cakes to kiddos who would not otherwise be able to have a cake for their birthday, graduation, etc. I do not really consider myself a baker, but I am excited to try my hand at cake decorating and making kiddos smile. They are always looking for more volunteers, which they call Sprinklers, and you do not have to have any special skills at all, so if you want to join me, please click that link above! They are in a lot of cities, not just Portland. I’ll share pics of my cakes here if they turn out cute. They are also having a bake sale coming up on October 8, in NE Portland:

  

• Went to an Oktoberfest party! It was fun to get out of the house and see lots of friends. I don’t know what’s happening to my face here, but almost everyone else looks cute!

  

Medical!

• I finished chemo this month! Woohoo! This last cycle seemed less intense than the 3rd one, which makes no sense to me, but I’ll gladly take it. Overall this chemo process has not been as hard as I expected. I wouldn’t recommend it, and it hasn’t been fun, but it has been mostly tolerable with a few unpleasant moments over the past 2 months. It’s crazy to believe that a mere 6.5 months ago I was just an oblivious human without a cancer-care in the world, and here I am now, in the middle of treatment to make sure the cancer does not return for a very long time, or hopefully—ever. Not to get all sappy here at the end, but throughout 2020 and 2021 with COVID at the forefront of everyone’s lives/behaviors/activities/plans and into 2022 with this health issue I’ve had to face head-on for the bulk of the year, I am just feeling so very thankful for the opportunity to keep going, to have good friends, to be able to wake up, walk my dog, cook and eat delicious meals every single day, and feel very supported by so many wonderful people, including my very patient and kind husband, my sister who continues to impress me all the time, my in-laws who check in often and are so caring and concerned, numerous friends who have provided sweet words, food deliveries, gift cards, and so much love. I am truly feeling just very lucky, so thank you all! Enjoy this very low quality gif of me ringing the bell at the end of my last chemo appointment. 💜 (here is a better video if you prefer)

  

• Radiation will be starting on October 12, more on that next month.

Remi!

She’s the best girl.

Goodbye, until next month!

xoM