grace

At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.

and this one about our robots meeting future aliens:

but we built robots, who have beat-up hulls and metal brains, and who have names; and if the other people come and say, who were these people? what were they like?

the robots can say, when they made us, they called us discovery; they called us curiosity; they called us explorer; they called us spirit. they must have thought that was important.

and the I Have Seen the Top of Clouds essay:

The only thing we can say for sure is that we will die, but we will die having gone so far above our primordial ponds and primate forests that we saw the tops of clouds.

In the late spring of 1193, Richard I composed a song. It was a ballad of melancholy and abandonment, of frustration and homesickness. The haunting melody accompanied lyrics written in Occitan. It is known, after its first line, as ‘Ja nus hons pris’. It is a song that would survive more than eight centuries.

The lyrics of the two most famous verses are:

Ja nus hons pris ne dira sa raison

adroitement, se dolantement non;

Mes par confort puet il fere chancon.

Moult ai amis, mes povre sont li don;

honte en avront, se por ma reancon

sui ces deus yvers pris.

Ce sevent bien mi homme et mi baron,

Englois, Normant, Poitevin et Gascon,

que je n’avoie si povre compaignon,

cui je laissasse por avoir en prixon.

Je nei di pas por nule retracon,

mes encor suit ge pris.

———

No man imprisoned tells his story

rightfully, as if he were not sorrowful;

but for comfort he can write a song.

I have many friends, but poor are their gifts;

shame on them, if for my ransom

I must be two winters imprisoned.

It is well known by my men and my barons,

English, Norman, Poitevin and Gascon,

that I do not have the poorest companion

whom I would leave to remain in prison.

I don’t say this for their reproach,

but still, I am imprisoned

absolutely nobody requested this, it’s mid-august and 105 degrees outside, here it is anyway. as usual, this is based on my own personal taste, which turns to delta blues, spiked cider, and ghost stories in the fall. italics are favorites. (winter) (summer)

jams

spooky: creepy covers / southern gothic megamix / in the woods / witch hymns / dark delta blues / me & the devil

indie & folk: as autumn leaves turn / a chill in the air / cozy log cabin / fallen leaves 

instrumental: autumn rhapsody / november / infinite instrumentals / autumn overture

ambiance

stovetop magic. put a 2 or 3 cups of water in a small saucepan. add apple slices, orange peel, cloves, and cinnamon. heat on low until your whole house smells amazing. don’t forget to turn the burner off when you’re done.

pomanders, you guys. get yourself some firm oranges and stick some cloves into them. dry them for a few days in a cold, dry room, or dust with orris root to keep from getting moldy. you can leave them in a bowl or hang them up by the window, and they smell incredible. (example - you don’t have to score the peel if you don’t want to)

it’s decorative gourd season.

candles! fall is a good time for darker, woodsier scents – cedar, fir, etc. i still like my candles to smell light and clean, though, so finding a “heavier” scent cut with a sharper one – citrus, lemongrass – is nice.

background sounds: hogwarts library / autumn cold front / autumn in the suburbs / the comforts of home / autumn crows / kitchen witchery

study break material

spooky book recs (crowdsourced)

movies & tv

100 halloween movies (missing practical magic, the best spooky movie in existence)

best halloween tv specials (again, i’m offended, the psych specials aren’t listed)

most popular horror tv series

ghost adventures masterpost

snacks

beverage of choice: warm spiced cider. heat up some cider in a saucepan before you pour it into a to-go mug. maybe get fancy and drop a cinnamon stick in there. i use trader joe’s spiced cider because i’m no longer living in the land of a thousand apple orchards.

the adult version: hard cider (or a pumpkin beer!) with a cinnamon sugar rim. dip the rim of a tall glass in your choice of liquid – i usually just use water, but you can also use simple syrup, apple juice, or even maple syrup for a stickier rim. then dip it in a mix of cinnamon and sugar. pour your cold cider in there and enjoy~

homemade salted pumpkin seeds. pumpkins: in season, ubiquitous, cheap. buy an ugly-lookin one from the discount bin, scoop out the guts and separate the seeds into a bowl. swish them around in water until they’re mostly clean and pat dry on a paper towel. add olive oil and salt (and pepper, if you like), pour them onto a tray, and bake for 30-40 minutes at 300. yields a crunchy, salty snack that’ll last you a few days. 

that’s the classic version; here are six different seasoning options.

you can add those seeds to other seasonal trail mix ingredients (granola, pretzels, dried cranberries, nuts, etc.) for a snack that’ll last a full week.

in-season veggies: squash, broccoli & cauliflower, brussels sprouts, radish, lettuce & chard, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, turnips, pumpkin.

in-season fruit: pears, apples, cranberries, grapes, kumquats, pineapple, persimmons, pomegranates.

baked goods

pumpkin bread (or pumpkin muffins, you know yourself best)

pear cranberry gingersnap crumble. it’s so good. i’ve made it three times now and every time it blows my mind

easy apple cake i beg my roommate to make me every few months

mini french apple cakes, in case you want to take a fancier apple-themed bake break.

actually, just have smitten kitchen’s entire fall line-up. 

study advice

open that window! it’s crisp as hell out there!

it often feels like september is the real beginning of the new year, rather than january 1. it’s a good time to do some cleansing & purging. organize your desk! donate some clothes! sage your whole house to dispel negative energies!

if you’re trying to start out organized, this term-long to-do list might help you out.

set a budget for your school supply shopping, and for god’s sake, take stock of what you already have in the back of your closet before you buy 7 more notebooks.

layer. you know those academic buildings haven’t figured out how their climate control works yet, plus it’ll be cool in the morning and roasting by two, so give yourself some options.

dawn - herbal tea, clouds turning pink as the sun enters the sky, thick blankets, falling cherry blossom petals, washing their face with cold water, natural hair

noon - light wash jeans, rainbow sprinkles, wishing on dandelions, lips shining with gloss, spinning a pen between their fingers, skin stained with paint

twilight - a gleam in their eyes, doodling potential tattoos on their arms, finding cute tops in thrift shops, breathing in stardust, an open mind

dusk - flickering candles, taking long showers, holding someone close, walking in the rain, peaceful thoughts, letters from a lover, silk nightclothes

eve - watching the stars through a vintage telescope, lying in bed with headphones on, homemade cookies and milk, streetlights illuminating their face

megan practices ballet on the roof, asks ‘how long do you think I canstay up here before people start to get suspicious of my intentions?’

              here’s a rule of thumb:almost everything you do is just fine right up until somebodyhands you medicine for it

quick, someone look up a meaning for the word ‘human’– no, not the noun I mean the adjectiveok, ‘forgivable.’wow how great is that? and what a relief too! and the trees laugh & the frogslaugh & the dirt laughs & everything else in the universe laughs             knowing humans wrote the dictionary

i’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that thingsexist even when there’s not a word for them.              ‘like you know what I mean like that feeling you have when you’realone in an airport for a 3 hr layover in a city where no one you knowlives