September is a really lovely month here on the northern hemisphere, don’t you agree? It’s sort of like the best of both worlds, a little bit of summer still lingering, but also the start of fall. Add my birthday into the mix and it’s no wonder September is one of my favorite months. But alas, now it’s over, so let’s look back at my September, shall we?
Like I mentioned above, my birthday is in September (on the eleventh. Yes. That day.) and the month started out strong with an early birthday gift for me: a new Macbook Pro. My husband had grown tired of listening to me whining and groaning about how terrible my PC was, and when a big electronics store in Sweden held a huge sale on Macbook Pros (reduced price by $350-ish) he bought one for me. I love it! And instead of threatening to throw my stupid computer in the pool, I’m now hugging my Macbook and telling my hubby how much I love it, so we’re both happy 😁
I’m never buying a PC ever again. That’s a promise.
My team at work decided we should go out and have dinner together one day after we got off work. The sun was shining so we enjoyed our food and drinks outside. This carpaccio was my appetizer, and it was yummy. It was also nice to get to know my coworkers outside of work, too. They’re a good bunch.
“The weather varies between heavy fog and pale sunshine; My thoughts follow the exact same process.”
Virginia Woolf
I wonder if Virginia Woolf wrote about September when she wrote that? Even if she didn’t, it describes the past month perfectly. This was the road passing by my house one foggy morning in September.
My birthday on the other hand, was full of pale sunshine. It was so lovely and warm, we ate my birthday lunch outside on our patio: Italian cold cuts and bubbly, which has become the traditional meal for my birthday (see for yourself in this post from last year.) Lots of people called to wish me a happy birthday, my mother-in-law sent me flowers, and I got another fabulous gift from my family: a concert ticket to one of my absolute favorite artists. It’s a Swedish artist called Thåström, and I’ve written about him here on the blog before (he was my inspiration for Cinnamon Eyes for example) but even though I’ve loved him for about 40 years, I’ve never managed to catch him live. But come May 2022, that will change. I can’t wait.
Someone else has a birthday in September; my darling granddaughter who turned 1 on September 17. Of course we had to go see her and celebrate this momentous occasion. She’s a ray of sunshine and broke out in a wide smile when we arrived, held out her arms, demanding a hug. I absolutely didn’t cry when she wrapped her tiny arms around me after not seeing us IRL for over a month. Nope, that was all allergies 😂
The answer to the question how many birthday presents does a one-year-old need? is apparently “a lot.” But in our defense, she’s all the grandparents’ first grandbaby, so she’s gonna be spoiled. ❤️
When it was time for the young lady to go to bed, the hubby and I went back to our hotel and had a beer at a pub before we went to bed. It was nice but weird. And isn’t sad how something that was completely normal two years ago now makes you feel weird and guilty even if you follow all the rules? Ugh, can we have our lives back now, please? Anyway, we found a quiet corner of the pub, endured the crappy music, and enjoyed each other’s company. And the beer was yummy, too.
One sunny Saturday, I decided to pick apples from our trees and bake apple bread. Coincidentally, that day was apparently National Apple Day in Sweden, which I didn’t know at the time. The apples were really good, tartt but yummy, and the apple bread was fantastic, if I may say so myself. If you, like me, have a garden full of apples, may I suggest you try this recipe? You won’t regret it 🙂
This crow kept me company one morning when I waited for the train to take me to work. I wondered if it was Grackle the Crow who was there to see me off, but he flew away before he ever told me his name.
I end this blog post with the picture that most represents my September: a collage of pictures of my fireplace (one of them at least). I’ve spent so much time by the fire, reading by the fire, drinking tea by the fire, writing by the fire, chilling by the fire, listening to music by the fire, speaking on the phone by the fire, sleeping by the fire…I’m sure you get it. The fire nurtures my soul and makes me happy, and I can’t wait for chillier weather so I can enjoy it even more.
And that, my friends, was my September. Tell me something that happened to you last month in the comments, please. 🙂
Nell Iris 