We’re in the thick of fall, and I’m resigned to it, nay, am even enjoying it. Barry and I have jumped on the “spookify a thrift shop painting” bandwagon and had a marvelous time doing it. (Can you guess which painting additions is whose?)

Barry brought home not one, not two, not three, but FOUR huge pumpkins for us. Barry is a “go big or go home” kinda guy. I’m not mad about it.

Oh, and I also bought a cute little toy castle and turned it into a haunted one with spray paint and lights.

I can’t say why we have been so smitten with fall; I suppose it has something to do with the whole redecorating of the house thing. 

We visited some dear friends recently, a writer (my Writing Mother, actually) and her partner, a musician, and the musician made us the most wonderful Italian recipe featuring bowtie pasta (farfalle, of course) and fresh sage.

The other three of us were ensconced on the back porch, talking about books when the chef walked through with a bouquet of sage from the pot of it he grows on their deck. The savory scent followed close behind him, and I stopped talking to absorb the fragrant cloud.

The dish was a revelation of buttery bowtie and creamy gorgonzola, gently overlaid with thin ribbons of sage; I have the ingredients in the refrigerator right now to make over the weekend. I hope he doesn’t mind having shared his recipe from his internship in Italy many years ago. I couldn’t resist trying to figure it out as we were eating it.

Now I must, must share a recent episode of our podcast, MFA Payday, with you because it features a man I call THE MOST DELIGHTFUL HUMAN I KNOW. I met him first in England, and I told Barry he would adore him if he met him. I was thrilled when they met in Japan, and yes, they got along just as well as I thought they would. There they were, almost immediately chattering away about The Submariner. You know, from the comic book.

Anyway, the delightful human Larry Brenner, screenwriter extraordinaire, and another Spalding graduate (automatically writing family) that we have never met in person but now feel connected to, author and documentarian Andie Redwine, host a podcast, Once Upon a Disney. That voice!

I have listened to nearly every episode of their podcast, and I can’t tell you how much fun it is to listen to the two of them break down the films and analyze them from a literary perspective with plenty of wit along the way.

Quick side story: When I went to England, I had just completed taking a World Lit class in which the professor said that someday we, the students, would be at a party and someone would bring up Candide. I sincerely doubted that would ever happen to me, but as I stood in a pool on the rooftop of the Bath Spa, a glass of champagne in my hand, I heard two men talking about Candide. One of them was Larry, and I laughed, said not a word about it, and sipped my champagne. But I thought, “Of course.” It was a magical trip on so many levels.  

Anyway, while I do tell that story to Larry for the first time on our episode, I promise there won’t be a quiz on the novel, so please take a listen to our episode with them. Barry and I truly enjoyed it.