Hoo-boy this is late, I know, and usually the Sunday or Sunday-for-Monday blog is the easiest one to birth. The weekend just happened, and stuff happened worth talking about. But I socialized on two — two! — back-to-back nights, then took a bike ride with Alan on Sunday, and I just hit a wall. I mean, what do I think I am? A 40-year-old? I am not. If I’m going to act like one, I need more strength training.
It was a good weekend. A friend who moved to Philadelphia a few years ago brought a bunch of Philadelphians to her hometown for a weekend of getting to know the city of her birth, for no real reason other than why not? And it was a good time. The Friday party was at a combination wine bar/cookbook store, a market niche I am confident is filled by this business and this business alone. The wine choices were incomprehensible to me, although just fine, and the cookbooks were not Martha Stewart or Mark Bittman, but titles like “My Palestinian Kitchen” and “A Very Vegan Thanksgiving.” (Don’t go googling for those titles, as they’re from memory.) There was a small patio outdoors, and I’m told I left moments before a car crash at the corner had one vehicle close to hurtling into the Philadelphians and Detroiters enjoying the fresh air there.
Saturday’s finale party was at a still-under-construction grocery store in a gentrifying* neighborhood, and there was a fire ring outdoors we all enjoyed. Then home to catch up on “The Great British Baking Show,” which is disappointing so far. So far all the bakes look revolting, especially the “American-style cookies.” They looked like hockey pucks, and who told them American cookies are all frosted? Adding Nigella Lawson to the judging team was brilliant (as the Brits say), but let’s step up the bakes, people.
*Gentrifying, not yet fully gentrified. One of the guests had recently had all four wheels stolen from his car in that very neighborhood.
And now it’s Monday, and I kicked it off with a Covid/flu vaccination combo. A quiet normal life.
Let’s skip to the bloggage:
If you read “Edie,” George Plimpton’s book about Edie Sedgwick, the Warhol muse who died young, you’ll want to read this sensitively written obituary of her something-or-other relation, John Sedgwick, in yesterday’s NYT. Gift link, of course, worth your time.
Annnnd I just went through the recent clips on the political scene, and they’re all the same. You can find your own. I’m gonna go make some apple turnovers instead.
Jeff Gill said on October 5, 2026 at 5:02 pm
Sounds like fall. Hmmm, what kind of dough for the turnovers? I have apples…
Just made some banana bread. Apple turnovers would be a good move.
149 chars
Suzanne said on October 5, 2026 at 6:13 pm
I have watched the first 2 British baking episodes and found them underwhelming as well. One of the contestants annoyed me immensely (personal thing but she is very flaky and her voice sounds like a small child) and I have a hard time understanding several of them when they speak. Nigella doesn’t do much for me but I am not sure why. I agree about the cookie thing. Maybe the show has simply run its course.
I do want to watch the new Netflix rendition of East of Eden but haven’t found the time yet.
510 chars
Julie Robinson said on October 5, 2026 at 6:54 pm
DIL and I discussed the show while consuming the apple cider doughnuts she made, and she agreed with these comments, especially the cookie episode. It’s yet another show that our resident grouchy grandma won’t watch, so I rarely see it in my otherwise limited personal viewing time.
Over the weekend the totally skeevy looking president of Cornell issued an infuriating and insincere CYA statement. Now comes a recorded phone conversation between Jane Doe and the original perpetrator, in which he gaslights her about what she remembers. My fury is incandescent.
So I indulged in some self-care with a deluxe pedicure, along with a friend. I’m normally a DIY girl but the broken shoulder is a good reason to outsource.
727 chars
Brandon said on October 5, 2026 at 10:55 pm
Jim Bakker, born in Michigan, has died.
https://www.tmz.com/2026/10/05/televangelist-jim-bakker-dies-at-86/
108 chars
David C said on October 6, 2026 at 5:52 am
Jim Bakker and Denny Hastert in the same week. Isn’t that what they call a good start?
86 chars
Icarus said on October 6, 2026 at 9:05 am
Julie, as someone who watches scary movies that my kids aren’t ready for yet, I find the iPad with a headset works great. They do the same with their desired content.
In fact the big TV in the living room is mostly for SportsBall, the occasional movie/tv show we all enjoy or watching a YouTube video of a roaring fire to create some ambiance this Fall/Winter.
364 chars
Dave said on October 6, 2026 at 10:01 am
The actor, Kyra Sedgwick, best known for “The Closer”, a show I’ve started watching on Netflix, is also a member of that family. She’s also married to Kevin Bacon and they’re noted for staying married.
I’ve been trying to remember if I read “East of Eden” years ago, when I was on a Steinbeck kick but I’ve no idea.
319 chars
ROGirl said on October 6, 2026 at 11:55 am
I read East of Eden and remember being astonished at how much the Kazan movie left out (the whole back story of the mother) and how soapy and over the top it was.
162 chars
Peter said on October 6, 2026 at 12:14 pm
David at #5 – if you believe these things happen in threes, I’m keeping my fingers crossed…
I rarely watch the British Baking Show, but my lovely spouse and I saw the cookie episode, and Suzanne your comments about one contestant were really mild compared to what my wife screamed at the TV. Then when the other yahoo won the contest with a half assed half finished entry she went into orbit.
396 chars
alex said on October 6, 2026 at 12:32 pm
Jim Bakker and Denny Hastert in the same week. Isn’t that what they call a good start?
David C for the win! I’m hoping they’re the hip, hip to one big fucking hooray.
I adore Nigella Lawson and swear by some of her recipes, although she can be quite imprecise at times when it comes to ingredients and timing. I’m not sure how her devil-may-care cooking style will make her a good judge on a baking show, but it’ll be interesting.
Got my flu and COVID shots yesterday and I strongly recommend getting that out of the way. A friend’s partner who works in a hospital brought them home a particularly nasty flu bug this week; both of them thought there would be plenty of time yet to get vaccinated.
715 chars
Julie Robinson said on October 6, 2026 at 2:33 pm
We got our flu shots in early September after a nurse friend who works at a hospital told us the flu season had started early. The new covid formula wasn’t available yet so we had to go back a couple weeks later.
Not sure I’ve ever read East of Eden and I know I haven’t seen the original movie. Movies always have a hard time cramming an entire book in, so perhaps the mini series can do better. I’ll wait for reviews before I commit my time.
Re the orange one, I’m reading reports that medical people believe he’s had a stroke. Wouldn’t be surprised.
559 chars
Sherri said on October 6, 2026 at 4:33 pm
I got my flu and Covid shots last week.
My husband had his first monthly infusion for the kidney cancer last week, and started the daily pill. So far, he still feels fine, and is able to play squash and exercise, so that’s good. The infusion is immunotherapy, and the pill is a targeted therapy, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which target the enzyme in cancer cells that tells them to grow.
395 chars
Sherri said on October 6, 2026 at 4:39 pm
The Los Angeles metro area has a population of close to 13 million, more than all but five states. The President of the United States insinuated that it would be okay if Iran “took out” Los Angeles.
Compare and contrast the reaction to Trump’s comment vs Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” comment.
313 chars
susan said on October 6, 2026 at 6:59 pm
Isn’t what Drumpf said about proposing Iran take out LA and San Diego, treason? From wikipedia:
These traitors, rubes, vipers, quislings, boors, bigots, and fuckups can’t vanish fast enough.
736 chars
alex said on October 6, 2026 at 7:20 pm
Compare and contrast the reaction to Trump’s comment vs Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” comment.
Well, I’m not sure how the deplorables are taking it, but the legacy media seem to be sanewashing and downplaying this latest offense. In 2016 they acted as if Hillary had tortured a kitten to death.
316 chars
basset said on October 7, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Drove through part of rural southern Mississippi last week and was reminded of the concealed carry conversation on here a few days ago… I normally don’t go armed anyplace except parts of Atlanta, but I definitely will next time we go that way. Imagine a highway rest area with dim lights, nobody around, and a big “No Security Provided” sign on the way in.
And why would we make that drive again? Well, we had some surprises this time. Took Mrs. B down to New Orleans to see the WW2 Museum, stay in the nice hotel across the street from it, enjoy the local cooking, the usual. Just after we got there, though, she took sick and had to spend the next four days in the hospital getting a bleeding ulcer stabilized. So we’ll try again, prob in January, and see if we can get through it without incident.
And, as it turns out, there’s a slight connection to New Orleans trad jazz. Back in the late 30s, a cornetist named Muggsy Spanier collapsed on stage during a show at one of the big downtown hotels. He was taken to a hospital, Touro Infirmary, and found to have a GI bleed which prob would have killed him if it hadn’t been immediately repaired. He survived, and later wrote a tune in recognition , “Relaxin at the Touro,” which was a hit in 1939:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zubO4l5K1vQ
We had heard “Relaxin'” and were aware of it, never expected to find ourselves in the Touro though, let alone for the same reason. And I see by some of the descriptions that it’s a foxtrot, gotta go look up the steps for that.
1535 chars
diane said on October 8, 2026 at 10:39 am
If only Hilary had been right and it was only a basket full.
60 chars