Had a busy weekend with lots of adventures in the New York City area. I took the train to Hoboken to meet up with a buddy for a nice meal and an outdoor band. (Pictures on Instagram). And Steve and I took Ian into the city to see Dune on the big screen and had a nice meal at the bar at one of our favorite little restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen. (Pictures on Instagram). Ian might not have friends, a job, college, or much of anything else in his life, but we’s got us and, together, we have lots of fun.

We cut our heating bill by 50% with the new siding and insulation wrap. Here’s the house with the mums in the ground for fall.

For the first time in months, I’m in the mood to go back to research and writing, but schools are too sad and boring right now, so I have a couple of other pitches floating around with editors. I’m planning a new long term project for the newsletter. More later.

After I finish jotting down this blog post, I’m going to hit the running trail in town. I’m determined to get stronger. Here’s what I’m wearing lately: running tights with side pockets (I’m a fan of DSG brand, because it iss affordable and cute. These pocket-tights on Amazon are good, too.), Brooks running shoes, and Goodr sunglasses.

So sad for Alex Baldwin and the family of the cinematographer. The gossip blogs are saying that things were pretty chaotic on the set. Lots of drugs.

I’m a huge fan of alternative housing.

Watching: Succession is back, and it’s awesome. Dune.

Cooking: The Insta-Pot is Steve’s baby. I don’t deal with it. But I do tell Steve what to do with it. This afternoon, he’s going to turn a bag of beans into cooked beans. It takes an hour. Soaking beans doing the old school method takes 24 hours; our hard water makes the process even more difficult. After he finishes the beans, I’ll turn them into a huge pot of soup. It’s rainy and cold today, so it’s a bean soup sort of day.

Picture: On the walk to the restaurant after the movie this weekend, we paused to take some pictures in front of Lincoln Center.