Friday Favorites No. 704 | Welcome October, the Monarchs Are Here

Back from Wisconsin to find monarch butterflies in the circle, three recipes for the ber months, three books and a garage project that may have to wait for the rain

Welcome, October. The light is different this month. The air is different. Even the colors through the window look like someone turned up the contrast just a little. This is the last quarter of the year, friends. Slow down. Enjoy it.

I was in Wisconsin this week, and when I came home I found something I had been waiting for all season: monarch butterflies. Not a swarm, but several, moving through the circle and around the flowers still blooming by the front door. I have not seen a monarch in years, and this year they came with company. Small butterflies that mimic the monarch pattern on their upper wings, and little yellow ones I cannot identify. All of them graceful and unhurried. I stood in the doorway for a long time just watching.

This weekend I had hoped to tackle the garage, which has been quietly winning a battle of attrition since last spring. I need to get into it before the holidays because that is where the decorations live. But rain is coming, and I cannot very well move everything outside to sort through it if everything is going to get wet. The garage may have to wait another week. What about you, what does your weekend look like?

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Food

The “ber” months call for comfort food. All twelve months call for comfort food if we are being honest, but there is something about October that makes it feel earned.

Creamy Sausage and Gnocchi Soup from This Savory Vegan 

Simple ingredients, one pot, and the kind of soup that makes the whole house smell wonderful. Pillowy gnocchi in a creamy sausage broth with whatever vegetables you have on hand. 

Honey Apple Cheddar and Bacon Panini from Half Baked Harvest

Sourdough bread buttered on the outside and spread inside with apple butter, layered with sharp cheddar, havarti, thinly sliced honeycrisp apple and crispy bacon, then pressed until golden and melty. A drizzle of honey and fresh thyme to finish. The combination of salty bacon and sweet apple butter against sharp cheese is exactly the kind of thing you make on a rainy Saturday afternoon and then think about for the rest of the week.

Creamy Pumpkin Sausage Pasta from BroccYourBody

Think bolognese, but creamy and pumpkin-y and done in thirty minutes. Italian chicken sausage browned in a skillet, then a sauce of pumpkin puree, tomato paste, cream, shallots, garlic, nutmeg and a pinch of chili flakes, all tossed with rigatoni and finished with parmesan. The topping is brown butter with chopped walnuts and sage toasted in it, drizzled over the bowl at the end. 

Read, Watch, Listen

Why this island paradise has the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic

Get thee to a nunnery: how convents became an escape for a new generation

Stroke is becoming more common among younger adults. What experts want them to know

Solving Math’s Greatest Problems Was an Art Form. Then Came AI

Is it time to stop being afraid of so-called ‘bad taste’?

Did Thomas Jefferson Father Sally Hemings’ Children? After More Than a Decade of Research, the Answer Is Finally Firmly in Hand

My Family Dinner Table Was a Mess—Etiquette Experts Say I Need to Bring Back These Five Rules

Is it true that … double-dipping food is unhygienic?

There’s an easy way to get rid of all the reusable bags piling up in your home

On the Nightstand

Three books this week and they are all going on the list.

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue 

Based on a real 1895 train disaster that was captured in a series of extraordinary photographs, this novel puts you aboard a train packed with passengers heading to Paris, each one carrying a story. A medical student who suspects a girl may be dying. A secretary trying to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures. A young anarchist with a terrifying plan. Two crew members building lives away from their wives. Members of parliament, immigrants, dreamers, ordinary people. 

Three Queens by Rebecca Conelly

Three women, three countries, one extraordinary moment in history. Abigail Adams crosses the Atlantic to reunite with John after five years apart and finds herself navigating the courts of England and France, utterly unprepared for both. Queen Charlotte holds an empire together while her husband’s mind unravels and her son schemes. Marie Antoinette watches her world collapse while reaching out to the only women she trusts. Their stories weave together through letters, through chance encounters, through a quiet sisterhood forged across borders and upheaval.

The Secret of Flowers by Sally Page 

A year after her husband’s death, Emma is working in a florist shop and hiding behind the brightness of the flowers around her. When a colleague invites her to a talk on the Titanic, she becomes quietly obsessed with finding out who arranged the flowers on board. The search takes her somewhere she did not expect to go: back into her own grief, and toward something that might actually be a way through it. Sally Page writes the kind of gentle, precise novel that creeps up on you and then stays. Perfect for October, when the light changes and you want a book to curl up with.

You can find all of my book recommendations at My Bookshop. Most titles are also available from Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org and on Libby through your local library.

Outfit of the Week

The weather in Wisconsin was a little bit cooler than here and although I did not need a winter coat I did need a sweater. This weeks outfit will work in Fall and Winter in the South and the Midwest. A pair of blue cords, a white button down and a fair isle sweater, layers are the key during these transitional weeks. Once the cold sets in add your coat. I added a bag and loafers for my favorite classic look. Like me you probably have similar pieces in your wardrobe.

Outfit Seperates Below

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Friday Favorites. Tell me which recipe is going on your list, or what you are reading this October. 

Don’t forget to join Kim and Juliet for Weekend Meanderings tomorrow. 

Find me on Pinterest and Instagram for more during the week.

You may also enjoy:

Easy Cranberry Apple Muffins

Roasted Acorn Squash Salad with Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

Gifts for Hot Chocolate Lovers and a DIY Gift Basket

On My Radar