The Sunday Currently I

This has been the most glorious weekend.  After a few hot days last week, everyone has finally agreed that it's autumn, and we're making the most of it.  We spent an hour at the dog park yesterday, letting Charlie romp with some new friends, and then went to a breathtaking concert of Haydn's The Creation at the National Cathedral in the evening.  I went out to dinner afterwards with some friends, but three glasses of wine finished me off and I was home in bed by 10:30.  This morning, Charlie and I headed out for a long run through the park, and I'm going to spend the afternoon swapping out my warm-weather clothes for my cool-weather clothes.  Dinner will be something nurturing and earthy - perfect!

My routines have adjusted to the change in seasons - does that happen to you, dear readers?  This edition of the Sunday currently feels fresh to me.  What new things are you introducing for the fall?

apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah

currently...

re-reading... the classics.  Emma, by Jane Austen, has reappeared on my nightstand, and I've picked up Brideshead Revisited for my daily commute.  The start of a new academic year always makes me return to my ideal reading list, which really must start with a good period novel or two.

listening... to Birdy, a 16 year old singer-songwriter from England.  Someone on Twitter shared her cover of Bon Iver's Skinny Love and I was entranced.  Her voice is so delicate and yet so fraught - it's exactly how I imagine my tangled emotions would have sounded when I was her age, had I possessed her talent.

observing... the Jewish holidays.  Rosh Hashanah was two weeks ago, Yom Kippur this past Wednesday, and Sukkot starts tomorrow.  It's a great time to reconnect with our communities, our families, and ourselves - I'm unquestionably a bad Jew, but I love the reminder to refocus on our relationships.

braising... anything and everything to make hearty stews that will last us for days.  Mushroom bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen is on the menu for tonight, we've got all the ingredients for this Indian-style stew of chickpeas and spinach, and I've decided that 2012 is the year I finally attempt Julia Child's coq au vin.  Yum!

buying... part one of Jon's Christmas present.  His birthday this May is a big one and I'm going to do something serious for that, which means that he's getting a bunch of smaller gifts for the holiday.  Finding the first now isn't about being superorganized - I'm just trying to spread out the cost of the whole present over a few months!

watching... my favorite TV shows, returned from the summer break!  I'm excited for Law and Order: SVU, Revenge, and The Good Wife to come back on the air with new episodes.  Those three, plus everything else I have to do and my love of early bedtimes, take up most of my evenings, so the only new shows I might try to catch are 666 Park Avenue and Revolution - thoughts?

snuggling... with Charlie in the mornings.  We've settled into a good groove: he sleeps on his bed in the corner of my room at night, and then jumps up onto my bed and squishes under my arm when the alarm goes off.  I hit snooze and we cuddle until it's really time to get up, when we pad downstairs to make coffee (me) and go out for a pee (him). 

drinking... ginger tea.  Everyone else is excited about Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but my favorite part of autumn is reintroducing ginger into my diet.  The best way to have ginger tea, in my expert opinion, is to steep slices of raw ginger root in boiling water and then to stir in some honey, but the Yogi brand tea bags are pretty good if you're feeling lazy.

thinking... about what "gender equality" means in this day and age.  The Huffington Post wrote a piece on chivalry on public transportation recently that garnered over 300 comments, most of them rude and insulting.  It's an interesting question that probably doesn't have one right answer, but I find it a bit ironic that men and women can't discuss this of all things in a courteous manner.

Happy Sunday, dear readers - I hope you've had a lovely weekend, and I wish you all the best for the October week ahead.

linking up with siddathornton

past currently... posts here and here