Words On Wednesday

Coming up on spooky season, I was looking for a new horror book to listen to. I came across a list of book recommendations from someone who claimed to love horror books and figured that was probably a good starting point. I'm a little late to the punch, since it's now November, but it can be my recommendation for NEXT October, or any time you're in a spooky mood. I skimmed through the list, giving a quick pass through each of the descriptions. Iain Reid’s "I’m Thinking of Ending Things" was quickly dismissed, after a Netflix adaptation baited me into listening to Thirteen Reasons Why and I hated it. Agustina Bazterrica's "Tender is the Flesh" sounded interesting, especially as that blogger's MOST disturbing book, but it was only available from the local library as an e-book, not an audiobook. I started Paul Tremblay's "The Cabin at the End of the World," but the narration was AWFUL. Going back to the list, I noticed "Devoluti...

On the evening of Thursday, September 26, 2024, many people in the Southeastern United States went to bed not realizing just how bad Hurricane Helene was about to be. What transpired over the following week humbled many of us and made us realize just how much we had taken for granted. Like so many others, I hadn't prepared at all. I hadn't bought bottled water, I hadn't stockpiled anything, it had barely even registered to me that a hurricane was coming. I lived in the foothills of South Carolina and the worst thing we ever got from a hurricane was a few days of heavy rain. I didn't live in a flood zone, and if we got to a point where my house flooded, we were too late to build an ark. The first signs that this storm might be worse than others came on Wednesday after school. We received an email from the school administrators that we would be having an e-learning day on Friday. When I was growing up in the 90s, school wasn't cancelled until their was snow on the gro...

I'm a basic white girl at heart, so the October cocktail obviously had to involve pumpkin. I wasn't alone in that thought process. A lot of recipes online recommended starting with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks and adding ingredients to it. In my opinion, that felt like cheating. I, too, can throw a shot of vodka into a Starbee's drink. No, I wanted to make something with pumpkin in it myself. October Theme 1: Pumpkin Spice & Halloween.  The absolute quintessential fall theme. A Pumpkin Spice Martini, a Pumpkin Old Fashioned, or a spooky-themed cocktail with dark colors and fun garnishes. Theme 2: Campfire Comfort.  Focus on whiskey and bourbon. A cozy Spiced Bourbon Smash or an Apple Cider Hot Toddy. The AI suggestions corroborated the focus on pumpkin, but I didn't love the specific suggestions. I don't really love a martini and I wanted another type of old fashioned (to come later). The apple cider hot toddy sounded interesting, but that would be two  ...