Disquiet

Yep, I'm skipping a Friday outfit. I had the day off from work (to make up for working a couple of weekends ago) so all I did was clean the house and practice braids on Child's hair. And celebrated fall (for real this time) by putting away my summer shoes (I kept some out that I thought could work with tights this fall), taking out the fall/winter shoes, and suede-protecting those that needed to be suede protected. Then maybe I sat in my closet for 20 quiet minutes and looked at the blacks, browns, and grays; soft leathers, durable leathers, and suedes; zippers, buckles, and laces; flats, heels, and wedges; ankle-length, calf-length, and knee-length, and just felt content.

Then I realized I really had packed all of the shoes that would go with this still-summer-looking outfit, except for one pair of shoes that I don't even think got touched all season:

Dress worn as top - Target, Blue jeans - J Brand, Pink wedges - Target

It's weird when you think you're intimately familiar with everything you own, and you're desperately searching for shoes not packed away in your closet, and discover, nope, you still have surprises creeping around.

Is this really then my final summer outfit hurrah?

On the plus side, at least they went with my top. And, look, look! I put my hair in a French braid! And yaddayadda, did a lot of adult things today, like make a pumpkin pie to celebrate fall with Husband's parents, aaaaand read three books!

Disquiet, a powerful novella about a disturbing family. Oh, and the cover's blue. Like my pants.

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 3/5 rating. "...this is the reason (not Tolkien) that I want to live in a hill. With a charming creek outside. And I could skip around with my cow and my faithful dog Jack (and not my stick-in-the-mud sister Mary) and hope my crazy, adventure-loving parents don't kill us all." For other thoughts on scary parenting and other charming memories, read my full review here.
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 3/5 rating. "...the family moves to follow the men who are building the railroad, and again, I'm worrying about the family because Laura and cousin Lena are allowed to run around like hooligans jumping on and falling off horses. Your first child is blind, are you at all worried your second one might break something? UGH." More worrying about the Ingalls' parenting style but relief that Laura is stepping up can be found here.
Disquiet by Julia Leigh. Also 3/5 rating. It has been a long time since I've read a novella. And I appreciated this one. In this small book, you get deeply immersed in these people's lives-- disturbing, distressing, depressing lives. Sophie, whose baby died during the birth, and grieves for the child by...

**SPOILER** carrying her around instead of burying her, was most definitely the darkest, saddest character, her relationship with Marcus was second in my book (um, **SPOILER again** the breastfeeding bit), then the woman/Olivia who just seems so dead inside that I kept wondering if she was actually a ghost and we were delving into The Sixth Sense territory. The children are clearly going to be f*ed up, so I'll put them next on the list of f*ed up-ness, then we'll place Marcus because he's vaguely a weirdo and I have various thoughts on why that is and they're all sexual reasons. Grandmother, the housekeeper, and the twins finish out the list (which, why did it spook me out so bad that these people were twins? I kept having flashbacks of The Shining.).

Do you see that paragraph? I mean, that is a lot to pack into one paragraph, it's still a lot to pack into a 121 page novella. Brava, Julia Leigh.