§ That pawpaw talk I attended last Sunday did indeed—ahem—bear fruit. I finally got the opportunity to taste a pawpaw after first learning about them back in 2023. The taste and texture were both really good—like a sweet and fragrant piña colada custard.
The lecture itself was also fascinating. Justin Husher spoke not just about growing pawpaws but about urban agriculture and his experience running small-scale organic orchards.
§ I’m not sure that I’ve explicitly mentioned it yet so it’s worth noting here—for my future reference as much as anything else: this was our first time growing green beans in the garden and it was more successful than I ever would have guessed. I think it’s safe to say that they will be added to the permanent rotation.
§ On Tuesday I got my seasonal flu and covid vaccines. It’s maybe a bit early in the season but recent events have me worried that it might be a lot more difficult to get them if I wait too long. Wednesday, in turn, was basically lost to feeling very whiny about sore joints and a very tender right arm.
§ On Thursday I bounced back and had the opportunity to watch Suni Williams speak at the Cleveland City Club. You might remember her as one of the two astronauts that were recently stuck on the ISS for nine months after a Boeing spacecraft malfunction. A good talk by a fascinating person.
§ On Saturday all of a sudden the leaves on my maple tree were nearly all red.
In the evening, Caroline and I went back to the Cleveland Lantern Festival for its closing day—this time we brought the in-laws along with us. It was as pretty as ever although significantly more crowded than earlier in the summer. It looked like a few displays were added in the intervening months since we last went, too.
§ I finished reading The Third Realm. Almost 2,000 pages into the series, it’s exciting to see the various storylines and characters start connecting together.
I’m going to have to wait until November before the next book in the series is released in English. What’s next then? Maybe starting Knausgaard’s autobiographical series or Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett or maybe Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume series?
§ I watched Weapons. I liked it but it wasn’t what I was expecting, despite going into the movie blind, per Chris Glass’ advice.
It didn’t have much of the typical horror movie pacing. It was more plodding than action-packed—slowing examining a central mysterious, disturbing circumstance from a handful of different perspectives—sort of like The Third Realm series, come to think of it. Some of the middle sections felt unnecessary which is always a risk with this type of approach.
Julia Garner was great in the starring role. I still associate her with Ruth from Ozark but it’s been fun to see her cast in a wider range of roles as time goes on.
I’ll be excited to watch whatever Zach Cregger directs next. I liked his previous horror movie, Barbarian, but I think Weapons was a bigger swing and an even bigger hit.
