I’m grateful for.. (🎃 Halloween edition)
Some thoughts & recommendations to start your weekend
I'm grateful that when I opened the curtains this morning, the sky was dense with colour. I'm grateful for how the cornflower blue contrasted with golden swipes of light which, come to think of it, were not unlike the lighting in Touched by an Angel. I'm grateful to have more options for television now, than when I was a child. Back then, Irish TV was mostly religion and sport.
I'm grateful for my Oodie which has kept me warm (+ vaguely ridiculous looking) all week. I'm grateful for the trick-or-treaters who didn't comment when I opened the door wearing it on Tuesday, but gazed up at me with a mixture of shame and hunger. I'm grateful to know that those are probably my feelings which I’m projecting onto the Mouse, the Witch and the Goblin who likely enjoyed the experience and the sweets they collected.
I'm grateful for the memory of my mother dressing her children in costumes comprised of things we had around the house, and driving to her friend’s house one Halloween night. I'm grateful that she didn't push me to dress up - I was older and over it - but that I was allowed to come along and get some sweets, which were very restricted in our home.
I'm grateful for the memory of each child displaying a talent, like they were on stage in the Rose of Tralee, a mix of tuneless singing, ‘knock knock’ jokes and what could generously be described as interpretive dance. I am grateful for my mother’s friend who joked that retying my shoelace was my ‘talent’ and handed me a 10p mix of jellies. I’m grateful for the memory of the whole preposterous scene, and how it still lives in me decades later.
Recommendations
🎨
, one of my favourite illustrators, is now on Substack. Their art is beautiful and moving and I hope you’ll check them out.🎧 “I cannot think of a less Jewish thing than to make another person a refugee.” I’m still thinking about what’s unfolding in the Middle East everyday. This future-orientated conversation provided some realistic hope that maybe it won’t always be this way.
🥣 Made the Broccoli Cheddar soup I mentioned a few weeks back and it was so, so good. A bit fiddly to make - sauteing things, making a roux etc - but worth it.
📚“It produces a type of cruelty that we call a family.” Claire Keegan on misogyny Irish-style
📺 Enjoyed this John Carney movie, and particularly how he does endings.