Farewell to the local autumn fayre

 I learned some sad news recently, which I wanted to blog about: as you may know, there is a local carnival held every year in September, the third or fourth Saturday of the month, in the biggest park in town. I blogged about it often before, like here. To me, it's like an officious autumn fayre. Sadly, for whatever reason (not sure if they were made public) the organisers cannot organise it this year, so there will be no local September carnival. No autumn fayre. This is one of the public event in our community I look forward to the most in the year. I'm really gutted.

September Witches

 I am not the only one thinking about Halloween already: my father took this picture recently, someone is my home town of Chicoutimi has decided to go grand for Halloween and to start early. But September is, after all, Halloween eve. I also read somewhere (in this book, to be more specific) that one of the dates for witches' sabbath is the 23rd of September. So here it is, I think that's what it was. Do you see the witches, raising the dead and greeting the dead? Ghosts and skeletons, there's even a ghostly Jack O'Lantern in the background. I love this display. Anyway, I must remember to do something special every 23rd of September to remember that witches gather on that date.

"Welcome Autumn"

 Today is the equinox, which means, well, that we are officially in autumn, by any standards and measurement, and that nobody, and I mean nobody, can claim otherwise. For me, of course, it doesn't start on the 22nd of September, but the first, as it should anywhere. Be that as it may, summer is gone, dusted, buried until next year. And to celebrate, I am sharing a photo of a decoration my wife bought me last year. With a pumpkin on it to remind us of harvests and of Halloween which is getting closer.

Le 22 septembre, c'est aujourd'hui

Bon, plus personne ne pourra dire que nous ne sommes pas en automne: nous sommes le jour de l'équinoxe. Comme c'est la tradition, je partage Le vingt-deux septembre de Georges Brassens. Petit air automnal bien mélancolique qui devrait vous mettre dans l'ambiance.

 

Windy and Autumnal September Day

 It is getting a bit warmer and it should get borderline Indian summery soon (albeit we did not really have a frosty day), however, I cannot complain too much, as we have been blessed so far with a very autumnal September. It has been suitably cool and we even had two days ago a very windy day, enough so there was a yellow warning of winds. Nothing to worry about, it was just really nice and it allowed me to wear for the very first time a thick jumper, because temperatures had gone down with the wind. We had a perfectly autumnal September day and I was in seasonal heaven.

Question existentielle (399)

 Une question existentielle inédite jusqu'ici, enfin je crois:

-Qu'aimez-vous faire en septembre? 

J'aime faire bien des choses en septembre, mais je suis curieux de lire vos réponses.

9/11... again

I always commemorate the anniversary of 9/11. I am doing it this year again with this post, although I don't write long posts about it. From my thoughts and memories about it, read this post from 2008 and that post from 2009. However, I will say one of thing of what happened in the USA since. On the 11th of September 2001, democracy in the West and in the USA in particular was attacked. Islamic fundamentalism showed its ugly nihilistic head. Sadly, nowadays democracy in the US is falling apart, not because of an alien force of Islamifascists, like almost a quarter of of a century ago, but because of the Xian fascists who took power. So yeah, I am feeling a tad cynical and gloomy today, thinking about it.

Blood Moon

Tongith is a full moon, the one for September, and it is also a Blood Moon. I know it was a full moon (I do because I'm a werewolf, no just kidding), but I did not know it was a Blood Moon. My wife informed me and, at her suggestion, we all went out when evening had started falling to see the Blood Moon. We could not even see the moon. All the same, it was nice being outside when the sun was falling down. It is a simple pleasure we need to enjoy more often. Oh, and a question about full moons: are there any "normal", regular full moons? It seems that each and every one of them is a Blood Moon, or a Strawberry moon, or a Blue Moon, or a Whatever Moon.

Mushrooms Sighting

Two of our neighbours, an Italian couple I blogged about before, have got themselves a brand new lawn. As I walked by their place recently, I saw that it already had mushrooms on it. No dandelions, no daisies, but mushrooms. I don't know if they'd like this sight, but I was quite happy about it. Because mushrooms are one of the signs that autumn is here, or at least on its way. I love to see mushrooms come September. Less so to eat them. But I thought this looked quite nice, soberly elegant.

September Bucket List

I found this bucket list online and I thought it looked very nice. There are so many things I want to do this month, only a few of them on that list, so many ways to enjoy this month and my favourite season. Because make no mistake, we are in autumn already. So yes, I want to press leaves in a book, buy a knit piece of clothing (in a thrift or not, try a recipe with apples and go on a walk.

"The dirty golden mustard of September"

And I stop by a gateway
To smoke a cigarette
And stares across the fields and remember
The gypsy fairs of August
And early evening haze
The dirty golden mustard of September

Martin Newell, Black Shuck
 

I quote this poem every year or so, but not this specific stanza. I do the previous one, but rereading it yesterday as I often do during my reading ritual in preparation for Halloween, the last line struck me. This is what it has started to look like now outside, the trees have dirty golden mustard spots in their branches. Dirty golden mustard is the colour of September. Oh and you can most definitely feel (and enjoy!) the early evening haze too.

First autumnal walk

As it is today the first day of September, which I consider the first day of autumn (see my post from earlier on, and in the meantime enjoy a gorgeous seasonal picture), I made a point of going out today after work for a quick walk. I finish work early, so it allow me to have more fun and more active end of afternoons. Wolfie went out with me. We did not walk very far, just to the nearest corner shop and back, but it was a long enough walk to last fifteen minutes and back. Enough to get a feel of the atmosphere. It was not cold, but we put on light coats to be comfortable. It was a really lovely moment.

Être d'accord avec Régis Labeaume

J'ai lu aujourd'hui la chronique de Régis Labeaume dans la grosse Presse. Je la lis parfois, mais pas très souvent. Je n'avais jamais pensé avoir beaucoup d'affinités avec l'ancien maire de Québec, mais ô surprise, il aime l'automne comme moi. Avec un titre qui dit "L'été est fini, enfin!", je constate qu'il a les mêmes sensibilités par rapport à la chaleur, mais aussi qu'il considère que l'automne commence avec le mois de septembre. Enfin bref, j'ai bien aimé ma lecture.

Long-awaited September!

Happy first of September to all my readers! At last it is here! I have been waiting for it since at least June, if not May. Today is, for me, the true beginning of autumn. To commemorate and celebrate it, I share here a basket full of crap abbles and apples, and their jellies, home-made by my parents. They took this picture back in 2008 I think, took a lot of them actually. I think it makes for a perfect horn of plenty. Boy am I a happy fellah knowing that September is finally here! Be warned: this blog is now mostly an autumnal chronicle.

Isola in Autumn

 I am currently The Mugger, the second novel of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. It's great to be back to it and I cannot stress how much I missed the 87th Precinct and Isola. There is another reason why reading this specific novel is particularly pleasant: it's set in autumn. I generally read seasonal, or at least try to, so I tend to read novels set during the time of year where I am reading them. That said, because I read horror stories from August until October inclusively, for obvious reasons, and because autumn is my favourite time of year, I vary things by reading "autumnal" novels that are not horror ones. It makes me get into the seasonal atmosphere by proxy. And McBain sure knows how to bring the seasonal atmosphere: he romanticises it without making it soppy. I'm also glad that he knows autumn starts with September and not the equinox.

La Saint-Jérôme

Nous sommes aujourd'hui le 30 septembre, jour de la Saint-Jérôme. Je le sais, mais ce n'est pas à cause de mon passé catholique. Saint Jérôme ayant traduit la Bible à partir de l'hébreu, il est devenu le saint patron des traducteurs. Le 30 septembre est donc devenu la Journée internationale de la traduction. J'ai déja blogué sur le sujet en 2018. J'ai pensé le mentionner ici à nouveau, rien que parce que.

Le Salon aujourd'hui

 C'est aujourd'hui que commence la soixantième édition du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. Mes souvenirs ici. Racontez-moi les vôtres dans les commentaires. Ou si vous avez des amis ou de la famille qui y sont allés, faites-moi part de leur expérience.

Le Salon du livre demain

Ultime rappel pour ceux qui peuvent s'y rendre: le Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean débute demain. Un petit rituel de Saguenéen qui me manque beaucoup depuis que je suis expatrié, ça a longtemps été mon évènement de septembre. Et c'est le soixantième en plus. Allez-y si vous pouvez.

The Spooky Autumn Alleyway

 I blogged before about the alleyway behind the house, which I nicknamed the secret passage, because it feels like a secret passage. Come September, it looks so very atmospheric and perfectly autumnal, as I mentioned last year. It's not quite there yet, as there aren't quite enough leaves on the ground (and I hope nobody is blowing them away), but you look at it and you can feel the cool air, smell the season. It also looks eerie and unsettling at any time of year, especially in autumn. There is a scary story to be told about this place, something set round Halloween, I just don't know what story yet.

Le Salon du Livre cette semaine

 Petit rappel pour ceux qui peuvent s'y rendre: le Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean, c'est cette semaine. Il commence le 26 septembre, ce jeudi, il se termine le 29. J'ai ma passe à vie, mais je n'y suis pas allé depuis les années 90, je crois. Dommage, parce que c'est mon salon du livre préféré, dans un temps de l'année préféré aussi. J'ai beaucoup de bons souvenirs de mes passages. Oh, et j'utilise leur ancien logo pour ce billet, parce que je le trouve plus joli.