Liminal Spaces
In the garden and in life
It’s finally fall. I’ve had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season from a local coffee shop that uses real pumpkin. There’s an arrangement of mums and pumpkins on my front porch. I don’t plan on sweating from the weather anymore until summer rolls around again next year.
But with the arrival of this beautiful season comes the realization that my vegetable garden didn’t reach its full potential this year. We had freezing overnight temperatures through the end of May followed by months of 90-degree temps and extremely dry conditions.
As a result, the tomatoes in our raised garden bed didn’t have enough time to make it across the finish line. I came home the other day and my husband had harvested these tomatoes to allow them to ripen up in the comfort of our home or to pickle them.
Sometimes the gardening season doesn’t work out the way you want it to. Sometimes things simply need more time in the sun, but the sun’s already gone away. Some seasons are meant for plodding along, not for thriving.
Murder at an Irish Wedding by Carlene O’Connor
After reading a dark and torturous book last week, I decided to take it easy this week. Even though this book is technically about murder, it’s a cozy murder. The writing is light and fast-paced.
In Murder at an Irish Wedding, the wedding of a famous fashion model takes over the small village of Kilbane. When the original best man is demoted and then found murdered after the bachelor party, chaos ensues.
The killer has plans for the rest of the bridal party, dishing out violent warnings and another murder. The owner of the local bistro takes it upon herself to solve the case and clear her boyfriend’s name, a local garda who was promoted to best man after the death of the first one.
This book is the second in the Irish Village series, where you can have murder any way you like it—in a pub, bookshop, bakery! The list goes on.
The ever-changing Irish sky was now the color of a dusty pearl, the the emerald grass was slick from the recent lashing, and the nearby river was having a chat with fishes and birds, answering their plops and caws with murmurs and gurgles.
It was the perfect book to bring with me on my two-hour flight last weekend. It kept me entertained while I waited and didn’t ask too much from me cerebrally. I appreciated that the author included tidbits of Irish history and culture throughout the book. I’ve also coincidentally been loving a fair amount of Irish things lately—this book, The House of Guinness on Netflix, and Irish exits.
Other Things I’m Reading
My favorite astrologer Chani Nicholas is starting a book club!
I loved these answers from thirteen journalists about how they’re embracing “the adaptability that is necessary to survive in a struggling industry.”
Do I need to start reading graphic novels?
Books I Added to My TBR List
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi: A teenager escapes an abusive marriage and flees to 1950s Jaipur where she becomes a sought-after henna artist
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: Three recently reunited siblings look back at their childhood together at an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside
Wives Like Us by Plum Skyes: A zany novel about the Country Princesses of a peculiar section of the Cotswolds called “The Bottoms”
Last week I read Warrior Princess Assassin. Next week I’m reading Everyone Is Lying to You.
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