The Sunday Post: 🍁Hello October and Welcome Spooky Season 🦇

Hello, My Fellow Spooky Season Lovers, I hope you’re all doing fang-tastic! What have you all been up to? I’ve been away for far too long and I need to know all the things!

There’s been some things going on.

The porch saga continues…The front porch redo has been a drama of its own. What they poured last year didn’t set up right, they had to come back and jackhammer it up, pour new concrete, and set the posts and rails. Well, they’ve done everything but set the posts and rails. It’s the easiest part of the entire job but they’ve failed to showed for 2 ½ weeks. So, it’s been a fight with the construction company and the city since they had to grant an extension on the bond on the grounds that they were actively working. I’m really not sure why they won’t show up because it would only take them about an hour to completely finish the job.

Mosquito bites are no joke…Most of the summer I was feeling a bit off, I attributed it to the smoke from the wildfires triggering more migraines than my normal (I have chronic migraines) and stirring up my allergies. I ended up calling the telenurse and based on my symptoms she thought I had West Nile Virus and suggested I go to Urgent Care. Thankfully, I didn’t have West Nile but something called Skeeter Syndrome. Apparently, there’s two types, one is where you’re allergic to the venom injected from a mosquito bite and you have a localized reaction, which I am allergic to mosquito bites (mine usually swell up to the size of a softball). The second form of the syndrome is where you have so much mosquito venom in your body that your immune system views it as a toxin. They said the symptoms and the way your body

reacts is similar to having a bad case of mono, which I’ve never had but feel sorry for anyone who has. The only treatment for this type of Skeeter Syndrome is oral steroids, which I cannot take so I was prescribed high dose Vistaril and lots of rest. I’m on the mend but I still have days where I’m exhausted. I did find that spraying Cutter Skinsations (directly on my clothing and shoes) and rubbing the STEM onto my exposed skin (not my face) has been keeping them away.

In other news…

I went exploring recently and stumbled across this place called The Black Barn in Lebanon, Ohio. It’s a lovely sunflower field and produce market. The produce market is housed in a rustic barn that’s decorated with antique farming equipment. They had so many tasty looking treats—and I really wanted to take their fresh pressed apple cider home—but I had a long trip home and wouldn’t be able to keep them cold. I did pick up a ½ peck of honeycrisp apples. Freshly picked honeycrip apples are the best and these are delicious.

The sunflower field was massive. It was so relaxing to stroll through and hear the bees buzzing by and watching the crows pick at the seeds. I was surprised to see a fully-grown Jamestown weed (a.k.a jimsonweed, Datura, thorn apple, devils trumpet) that already seeded hidden amongst the sunflowers. I always think it’s fun to spot historic plants, especially ones with fascinating histories.

If you don’t know, Jamestown weed (modernly known as jimsonweed) was originally brought to Jamestown by the first English colonists to grow and make into

a healing salve to treat burns, it didn’t really go as planned as all parts of the plant are poisonous. The Celtic tribes would soak their arrowheads in what they called Datura (Jamestown weed) to ensure their enemies would die in battle. While you do need to absorb a certain amount to be fatal, the smallest trace can cause delirium. In fact, there’s a recorded history about a group of British soldiers that consumed parts of the plant during Bacon’s Rebellion and spent 11 days in various states of delirium.

I have a few things I want to check out in the next few weeks so I think I’m going to become an autumn exploration girly. I just need to remember to bring my camera this time! There’s also a few local events I want to check out as well!

Here’s what been going on blog/reading-wise…

Last week on the blog…

The Last Word by Taylor Adams—audiobook review

Chasing Dreams by Carolyn Brown—audiobook review

Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland—arc review This is an autumn must read!!!!

Books that’s arrived…

From authors/publishers

Death and the Sisters: A Mary Shelley Mystery by Heather Redmond (finished review copy)

The Cry of the Banshee by Heather Graham (finished review copy)

Better Hate than Never by Chloe Liese (e-arc)

Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovise (e-arc)

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violent Marsh (e-arc)

From the library

Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter (audio from Libby)

Pumpkins in Paradise by Kathi Daley (audio from Libby)

Purchased

I won an Amazon gift card and picked these up. I’m still wanting on theme to arrive.

Belladonna and Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

On my ‘To Buy’ list

Gallop Toward the Sun by Peter Stark—this is about the fight between Tecumseh and Harrison during the War of 1812. I’m definitely buying this one, I want to check out to see if I can pick one up at one of the Hopewell or heritage sites. If not, I’ll see if Wheatberry Books, in the neighboring town, has a copy to buy. I want to try locally before I head to Amazon.

Here’s what I read last week…

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (audiobook, reread)

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (audiobook)

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose (audiobook)

Currently Reading/Listening to…

The Witches At the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen (e-arc)

The Betrayed (Krewe of Hunters #14) by Heather Graham (audiobook)

*I still need to pick up a print book for this week so I’ll draw something out of the 23 books in 2023 jar.

Bookish things I need to do…

-Update my reading journal—I’ve been actively updating as I read but I have some extras I need to fill out as the journal is nearly filled.

-Pull books for Fraterfest Readathon—I’m really tempted to start The Cry of the Banshee but I’m going to be good and keep it to start off the readathon with. Starting with a novella always make me motivated.

-Update GoodReads—I’ve been using my private StoryGraph account to keep track but I really need to update GoodReads before I forget.

-I need to do an un-haul of 10-20 books—One of my 2023 goals is to un-haul books that I didn’t like, won’t read, won’t read again, or have duplicate copies. I’m a bit behind on that so I’ll either tackle my old romance books (I know I have several duplicates here) that I have stashed away or go through some of my old TBR totes.

Bloggish/Bookish happenings

-Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer is hosting her annual Fraterfest Readathon October 12^th—16^th

-Blogtober—I will be participating all month long over on Instagram, so stop @simplyangelarenee and check out what I’ll be posting.

-Banned Books Week is October 1^st—7^th—there’s a few online and in-person events that I’m hoping to check out. I’m also going to be picking up a few banned books this week.

I managed to snap a few pictures of the harvest moon. 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up.