Making a Pie for the County Fair

or, please enjoy this wild ride of a newsletter

Happy September, friends! As an unabashed summer girlie, as discussed previously, I’m obviously mourning the closing of the season, but honestly, this cooling weather feels pretty ding dang nice. During run club last night, I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse from overheating ONCE, and that’s a pretty easy sell on fall for me. (I did, of course, almost eat dirt on a hard trip where I missed an entire tree down on the ground, but I saved it, so whatever, the scratches are just battle scars.)

Run club last night was also the home to another important milestone in my life - the man server at our local hot dog place (#justPittsburghthings) recognized me OUT OF CONTEXT when he saw me sitting outside of the run club meeting place in my work clothes and asked, concerned, if I was running. Some people might hate this sort of recognition, but boy, there is nothing I love more than a routine, you know? And yes, this routine is hot-dog based, but still! What a great sign of Pittsburgh integration!

And so, naturally, I’m currently considering taking the next Pittsburgh-localizing step and entering a pie in the county fair.

I know, what year is this, 1832? But this is apparently a fairly new tradition, and I do love a pie, so it’s an easy sell. The problem is that the competition is strictly apple pie based, and that’s never been either my favorite pie OR my best pie. So do I enter an embarrassing baked good??? Either way, the plan is to spend next week trying out a couple of different recipes, so I’ll report back on how it goes!

I do usually try to tie these stories about my day to day life into the book recs or a lesson or something, but the fact of the matter is that my brain is, indeed, as all over the place as this newsletter indicates - school has started in earnest, I’m deep in revisions on a project, we’ve been traveling a ton, I’m getting into high mileage in marathon training… but you know, sometimes a little friendly ramble is a nice way to know that other people out there are losing their minds just like you.

(See? Pulled it together at the last second.)

Anyway, here’s what I’m into right now!

AUSTRALIAN SURVIVOR

Is this the most inaccessible recommendation I’ve ever given? Sure is! Is that stopping me from giving it? It is not! Australian Survivor is what happens when you take regular American Survivor and offer it to people whose regular life is already basically the level of intense that American Survivor is, so in order to make a show that seems extreme to them, they need to turn it up ten thousand notches. The game lasts 49 days instead of the American 26, it’s got way more starting contestants, and the physical challenges are so hard that it will change your understanding of how the human body works. Also, they air three episodes a week, which is absolutely buck wild. Dustin and I are currently working through the most recent season, which aired this spring, and having a blast. I can’t actually tell you how to access this show, but do yourself a favor and track it down. (And if you haven’t followed me down the rabbit hole into American Survivor, what are you doing? It’s on Netflix! That’s so easy to watch!)

THE ORNITHOLOGIST’S FIELD GUIDE TO LOVE by India Holton

Okay, first of all, is this not the most stunning cover you’ve ever seen? It’s even better in person, which is why I grabbed it on sight at Fountain Books a few weeks ago. Luckily, the inside content is even better. This is a hilarious historical fantasy rom-com that it, indeed, actually funny, an enemies to lovers romp between two rival magical ornithologists as they traipse around England looking for an elusive bird that may or may not be a gigantic PR stunt by the academia-industrial complex. An amazing send-up of academia and university culture that still has fantastic chemistry and genuine ‘aww!’ moments. A can’t miss that is the perfect transition from summer to fall!

The Paralympics

Sports isn’t over, friends!!! The Paralympics are streaming on Peacock, and since they’re doing the same Gold Zone-style coverage they did for the Olympics, we can all have the same amazing adventure of discovering new sports and super cool new people. If you need a specific person to cheer for, why not check out Noelle Lambert, who was the first above the knee amputee to compete on Survivor? That’s right, it always comes back to Survivor, people. Try and stop me!!!

That’s all for today, friends - who even knows where my head will be at a couple of weeks, but I promise you, it’ll be interesting!

Peace, love, and all the books,
Amanda