Well this blog has been sitting in drafts for roughly eons now, so let me sweep through and update as best I can and just publish the darned thing unfinished, because closure is impossible!
It is time! Bring it! We've blazed through some unseasonably warm days and I'm so very ready for the rain, fog and chill. That's right, bring on the autumnal yin-yang of cozy+spooky, please!
Well, getting there. We passed through spider season (Allan has dubbed the thriving urban huhbub of web condos amongst the neighborhood trees "Spidercisco").
And, of course, there are the rainy days. That's kind of our thang, after all.
It's an oft repeated myth that Seattleites don't use umbrellas. As the parent of a child who has a sensory aversion to water, I generally dispel that nonsense. If it's raining more than the normal drip, umbrellas show up here. They don't show up when it's drizzling, because "why bother?" and same reasoning applies to the really windy days. But once there's a regular vertical drip-drop, I see them plenty on the streets.
That said, I will admit that I've caught myself walking home in the driving rain, holding two closed umbrellas, because somehow it felt like more work to try to open one. So, perhaps there's a kernel of truth for the OG Washingtonians and their aversion to umbrellas.
Whatever else, it's nice and atmospheric cuddling up on the couch
indoors these days! (Don't keep your couch outdoors this time of year. It's a recipe for a giant mold cube!)
And in my little cozy-couchy corner of the world: a new series of shows and movies to honor the season! This year, so far:
* Agatha All Along, a campy fabulous romp through The Witch's Road leading right on to a finale on Halloween Eve. While a Marvel property, it really doesn't feel like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At least not exactly. It has shades of Wandavision, which is natural, considering the character spun-off from there, and the same showrunner handled both. But also, it mostly just has its own unique vibe. Which might be why you'll see some fanbois frothing at the mouth over this, and a lot of non-Marvel fans getting excited about it.
Oh, it gets worse for the Fandom Menace. Not only do we not see any superdudes' finely chiseled abs, but the show is about women. Middle aged women (about 400 years give or take). Sapphic middle aged women. And a teenage boy who totally has a boyfriend, which we know cuz there was a single shocking reference to how his boyfriend worries, and also because he's almost certaintly destined to be revealed as a very big comic book character who is canonically gay! Gasp.
There was some talk about it being "The queerest marvel ever". Granted this is a pretty low bar all in all, but this time it's not just underwhelming hype with zero payoff. Women have complex relationship histories with other women. They experience lust (gasp!!) for other women. And yeah, it's sheer campy goodness from start to finish. Kathryne Hahn. Aubrey Plaza. Joe Locke. Patti LaPone. Like duh! And a handful of other delightful surprises
And the music!! Being a show steeped in pagan lore, music is important, and they got the best of the best to remix their main song many wonderful times. It's dominating my playlist - internal and external - at the moment.
Also, OMG what just happened this week with the big Wiccan reveal?? What the actual what??? Now I'm supposed to wait a week rewatching the same episode over and over again and deconstructing every frame on Threads? Ok, sure, you talked me into it, but seriously WHAT JUST HAPPENED???
* Coco, possibly my favorite Pixar movie and one guaranteed to make me sob even more than the Up! opening sequence. I almost can't think of much more to say about it, other than it's fairly much perfect and I watch it every year around the Day of the Dead. The music stays around all year.
* As a complement, Book of Life, Guillermo Del Toro's marionette inspired ode to the Day of the Dead. Also visually sumptuous and musically fantastic, though in very different ways. Fun fact: the composer for this movie turns out to be Gustavo Santaolalla, a founding member of Bajofondo Tango and Arco Iris which i never knew and think is cool.
* Haunted Mansion, a much maligned and highly undervalued Disney theme park film. It's weird that's a genre, but there we are. For the life of me I do not understand why Disney released this movie in the summer (up against Barbenheimer, nonetheless) when it's quintessentially Halloween. It feels like a huge disservice to what could otherwise have become a cult film. But there we go. It's not perfect, but it's actually pretty fun. And, to follow a theme, it has a great New Orleans inspired soundtrack.
* Nightmare Before Christmas which is almost so ubiquitous, I didn't bother including it! But it's there for a reason.
* Hocus Pocus 1 and 2. Ok, let me wax heretical here: Hocus Pocus 2 is in some ways even more fabulous than 1. I know everyone hates that the witches got themselves a vague redemption hint, but it kind of speaks to the changing pop culture view of Wiccanism and the witch trials between the 1990s and the 2020s. Possibly more so that the protagonists themselves turn out to be a "coven" of good witches. Basically, it feels like it shifts from a Christian universe to a Pagan one between the two films. And I'm ok with that.
Hey, sympathetic back story and sisterly bond doesn't make them less campy draggy evil. Giving Ursula and Cruella a run for their monies still. They even play into that a bit with one of the characters assuming they were just misunderstood until he meets them and realizes he was... mistaken. Also having Bette Midler lose out to some drag queens and throw a fit was a nice little touch.
* Which leads to Paranorman. Which is definitely soundly in the "The Witch Trials were kind of a bad thing" territory. I won't spoil the ending, exactly, but mob mentality is bad. Being different is celebrated. And people do terrible things when they're scared. It's so good and pierces my heart with payoff after a somewhat goofy set up.
There will be more! Definitely expecting some Addams Family, some Coraline, and Frankenweenie. And that's just the beginning I'm sure!!!!
In the mortal realm of the living, we've moved from anxiety to excitement to passive resistance and back again on the homeschool block. Mostly settling into the groove with a resigned series of sighs and protests.
How did we get here? So much google calendar! It's all relative, but Allan has three weekly private appointments, three appointments/services at the school, three to four outschool classes, and a few playdates to fit together. Needing to also be mindful of sufficient recovery time and without over-burdening any single day.
I think we've hit a rhythm but I can only assume it'll all change again within minutes of kicking off my scheduling shoes and donning my routine slippers!
Well actually, my running shoes because there's a lot of running around required to lubricate the thinking muscles
The youngling - unlike her parents - has never been officially diagnosed with ADHD. Regardless, focus is an intense and uncontrollable beam that borders on chaos magic 90% of the time.
And sometimes we all want to solve a math problem but all our brains can do it replay a youtube about cute kittens that we saw the other day. The struggle is real.
I've found that it takes about three math problems worth of attention before focus starts to go rogue.
And so: After a couple of math problems, the youngling and I might take a movement break. In our house, that looks like putting on a song and playing an ever elaborate game of high five tickle monster tag in the main room. There is shrieking and giggling, and a lot of running.
When the song ends and we go back to the burdensome business of regrouping with a bit more purpose!
A smidge!
We have also added in youtube breaks. Malign it as you will, but there's a ton of interesting stuff on there. We usually choose an educational channel - homeschool pop, real science, pbs eon, bbc world, etc etc - and intersperse some of their videos with worksheets and quizzes in between. And sometimes it's podcasts and reading from our Greek Mythology books. Or get in some time in the sensory swing. Regardless, breaking it up a lot seems to help.
It can take hours, but eventually we finish up our learning path and anarchy reigns!!!
Or, Allan works on her electives. These include a lot of programming on Scratch and the occasional article for the Miacademy Gazette. Currently, she is composing a series about Froggy and Socks (another cat) going into space.
She recently combined her passions to animate a short video (taking a video of a finished Scratch project) for Miacademy. It was lit. The rocket, in particular, had a lot of energy and power.
Speaking of tiny yowling female, we've discovered Ms Froggy's origins. Turns out that her parents were a lion and a cow. Here, check it out:
Lion and Cow met. Lion tried to eat cow. Lion changed their mind and married cow. Cow and lion had a baby.
The lovely Kayon. Yeah, yeah I started with Cion to really reflect the cow+lion vibe, but a c in front of an i will naturally become a "s" sound and that's no help. And thus we have froggy. A male Kayon would also have a bushy white or black mane, but Froggy is technically a Kayoness.
Our fierce little Kayoness is due to lose a fang. We think. She has a crack in one of her canines. The dentist quoted us an obscene price to remove it, so there was some messing around trying to track down the ever-evasive cat dentist (unfortunately turns out to be a human who works on cats, ah well) and see if we could arrange a little root canal for her. Turns out that the cat dentist is very popular and so we'd have to wait well into next year. Meanwhile, grumpy little kitty's tooth still cracked, so back to cede a semester of college to get it mercifully yanked. I hear that cats can get funny facial expressions when they lose a tooth, so I'm hoping Froggy looks extra grumpy and adorable in a few weeks!
She'll get to be grumpy cat for Halloween!
And we've got our costumes picked out as well. Well, Allan and I do. Andrew has yet to acquire one, because the one I suggested was too junky for his superior tastes. I'm not sure he literally said "I didn't go to school for a Masters Degree to wear a junky Spirit Halloween rag of a costume!" But I'm pretty sure it was implied. Allan, meanwhile, has declared it illegal for Andrew to come Trick or Treating without one, so he might be angling for a night to himself, here.
But we girls will be darling. Get excited! There may be pictures in a few months when I finally get the next entry out of draft form and/or scrap it all and leave no pictures involved to instead start anew in several months! What will it be??? CLIFFHANGER!!!
At any rate, it's only just starting to get spooky up in here. There's plenty of time to amp this up to 11!
Prepare the extra large amping dial!!!
Happy October, luvs!
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