fall color in the garden

**Win of the week: **had three contractors out to give quotes for new attic insulation (of course my two favorites quoted essentially the same price! now I have to pick 🥲)

**Looking forward to: **James is hosting a Homebrew Website Writing Club in November!

Stuff I did:

• 0.5 hours consulting
• 3.25 hours writing
• 1.5 hours business admin and business development
• filled out my ballot and dropped it off (apparently USPS changed their postmarking rules and recommend allowing a week for ballots) — based on the signs around town I’m scared we’re going to get a bunch of NIMBYs on the Council 🫣 hoping the progressive candidates prevail!
• in-person doctor appointment — I got there early and they had me in and out before my official appointment time 🦾
• walked with a couple friends — my knee’s been acting up so we walked on the flat instead of through the forest like usual
• raked and swept the sidewalk and walkways in preparation for Halloween, and cleared the gutters in front of my house and the short term rental next door — also bought a snow shovel so I can guarantee it doesn’t snow this winter 😎 (we had our first big seasonal windstorm this week)
• big pantry / kitchen cleanout and reorg
• bathroom deep clean 🫧
• finally swapped out my seasonal clothes, and bought better storage containers for them
• made pancakes for brunch — it’s taken four decades but I’ve finally figured out I can eat a small breakfast before making brunch so I’m not hungry the whole time I’m cooking 😂
• adjusted my chair some more — this video was helpful for adjusting the back support

Dinners:

• leftover pasta
• fake chicken burger + curly fries + Coke
• seven layer dip + chips
• Thai takeout — pad thai with tofu
• went to a new local Turkish place for Restaurant Week — baba ganoush, shrimp kebab, rice pudding
• burritos
• lentil soup + ciabatta bread + apple cider

Reading:

• Read How to Find a Nameless Fae by AJ Lancaster 👍, Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews, and Of Lies and Earls by Sadie Bosque
• Finished reading Wordslut by Amanda Montell and Medium Hot by Hito Steyerl
• Continued reading Vexations by Annelyse Gelman and The Care Manifesto by The Care Collective (was going to try cranking through this to meet my goal of reading a book I own a month, but decided it was a better use of my time to finish Wordslut before it got taken back)
• Pre-ordered Scott Boms’ Context Window
• Was gifted Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz and Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert
• Kindle Unlimited subscription ended — read 13 KU books in 30 days, three of which I could have gotten from the library oops — also started and DNF’d 3 other KU books

Pretty stuff I saw:

that laceleaf maple puts on a show in the fall!

• surprisingly attractive glass bricks
• nice cover for Minor Black designed by Hea Eun Grace Han (via)
• dig the cover to The Beauty of the End designed by Kimberly Glyder

New music I listened to:

(via) (Bandcamp)

• Keanu Nelson – Kutjupa Tjuta (via)

Nature notes:

the native rose looks like it’s finally filling in a bit (also, added current photos of the Back 40 to my restoration page)

• spotted a banana slug on the front step

• found a giant dead rat in the yard 😩 also caught a mouse in the garage so they’ve found a way back in 😔

• thought I heard the hummingbird?

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By Tracy Durnell

Writer and designer in the Seattle area. Reach me at tracy@tracydurnell.com or @tracy@notes.tracydurnell.com. She/her.

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