Its been a while since I did a life update but over the past few months I've now collected enough random pictures and ideas to finally provide one, so here it goes. Don't get too excited.
Its autumn and the leaves are turning red and falling.
Its a pretty time of year, though the shorter days and the darkness in the mornings and evenings can be a little challenging on the psychy.
Something a little strange is that the leaves on this Norway maple tree started to dry out and fall to the ground super early this year, like around early August. I googled it and learned that its caused by a type of mold/fungus that creates a black tar spot and effects just a few species of maple trees. The mold slowly kills the leaves but generally isn't damaging to the tree because it happens late in the year after the tree has gotten a lot of energy from photosynthesis. Even with the spots the leaves still continue to work before they fall off entirely. Its mostly just annoying having to rake leaves super early in the summer.
Like I said, the days are shorter and darker now. Its practically still dark by the time I get to work these days.
I do like checking out the sunset before starting the work day though. Thats one nice benefit this time of year.
I'm still learning Dutch on Duolingo, for no particular reasons. I'm over 1 year into it now and probably couldn't carry on an actual conversation with someone. Nonetheless, its a short daily activity and maybe a good exercise for my brain, so I'll continue to do it indefinitely.
Try saying the sentence above. Thats a lot of Z words, right? The one below just sounds odd as well. "I says pardon me?!??"
I like to show some of the funny or difficult sayings that it tries to teach me.
I saw these plates at a thrift store and thought that they were fun. They look Dutch or maybe German to me. They fit the theme for now.
I find it so funny when squirrels take breaks throughout the day to rest.
I see them laying on fences and rails like this periodically, like they are taking a moments for themselves for a few minutes. It looks so funny to me.
Here is a random meal that I burnt in the oven.
Somehow brussel sprouts are actually still quite good when they are burnt. You just need to add salt and they turn into a crispy chip like snack or add a sweet sauce like hoisen. Quite good.
I'm backed up in my book reviews again so I'll add one here that I finished a few weeks ago. It was about the early 2000s K2 climbing tragedy where several climbers lost their lives. I love a good survival story, especially ones about mountain climbing. This one was quite good but I had already read another book on the event a few years previous, which made it a little repetitive for me this time around. Nonetheless I gave it 4 stars and would recommend it if you like these sorts of survival tales.