Enjoying September

I'm enjoying the month. September has so many lovely things going on.

Last Sunday, I made grape juice from the grapes that grow in our backyard. Timing the juice is often tricky: If you pick the grapes too early, they aren't quite ripe and flavorful; but if you wait too long, they disappear. We only had a small quantity of grapes this year. Not wanting them to disappear, I picked them. After I began picking, I realized they weren't quite ripe. But there were so few that they all needed to be one batch, so I just finished picking them all and juiced them. They made a partial pitcher of juice. It wasn't super flavorful. But fresh grape juice always makes it feel like fall. 

I also made oatmeal cookies with yellow squash (zucchini) and chocolate chips. I'll have to remember that this isn't my favorite recipe; I'll have to try incorporating the squash into a different cookie recipe.

On Monday, I received the Over the Garden Wall cardigan I ordered. 

I took some mirror selfies, and Google Photos compared it to a picture from 2009. Some people worry about aging, but I think I look better in my mid-thirties than I did in my early twenties.

On Tuesday, while I was doing my BYU job, I realized I didn't remember all the digitized sources I used to use when I worked at the Church History Library, and that made me sad. Less than two years ago, I was still working there. I no longer have the sticky note with the call numbers of the sources I used. The next day, I went downtown to the CHL to look at some books I don't have copies of. I miss the fun projects I got to work on, the easy commute, and being downtown. I'm also glad I don't work there, in case I ever get a husband, and I get to be as unorthodox as I want. But I do miss it sometimes.

On Friday, I joined my parents at Wasatch Mountain State Park. We have been camping there in the fall since 2018 (but not in 2019 and 2022). I really like this camp: The leaves are beautiful at this time of year, there are nice bathrooms and showers, and there are miles and miles of trails nearby. My parents got a new trailer this year; it's their fourth trailer in seven years, as they decide they don't like certain aspects of their trailers. It was my first time in this trailer.

On Friday night, I went running on the Lower Phosphate Trail. As I was running, a flying insect flew into the palm of my hand, and I think it stung me. I have wondered if my hand has been itching because I scraped it against a branch the other day. (When I'm running on the sidewalk, I try to snap low-hanging branches of untrimmed trees. Trim your trees, people!) But today I have a small bump on my hand, so I think I got stung.

Then on Saturday morning, I ran on the Birdie Shot Trail, which, as you might guess, goes near a golf course. Much of this trail was not shaded, and parts were just an open field of wild grasses. I much prefer tree-lined trails. But it still had lovely views.

Yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of Super Mario Bros. for NES, and it kind of amazes me that such a playable game existed that long ago. That was before my time, but my siblings used to play it when I was a small child. I used to think the Blooper squids were cupcakes, Koopa's fire breaths were hot dogs, and the clouds Mario rides were beads.

See, how can that not be beads?

A few weeks ago, I decided it was worth the twenty dollars a year to pay for Nintendo's subscription to old NES, SNES, and Game Boy games on Switch. Mario games are the only video games I play, and even then, I don't play that often. Last night, in honor of the anniversary, I took about an hour to beat the original Super Mario Bros. twice (first and second quests). 

It's easy to do because Switch lets you rewind, which means you don't have to worry about losing lives or starting over at the beginning of a level. Maybe it's cheating, but there are better ways to spend my time than repeating video game levels over and over. It's easy to get nostalgic for those old games—but, honestly, they are dated. Modern game play is more dynamic and interesting.

It's been a while since I've posted AI dream images, so here are some of my dreams from the last couple of months. 

Mark's foot goes through a hole on the pool deck, and it fills with partially digested food

Mark finds a large frog and a small frog in his lunch bag

Feral cats wrap raw bacon and ham around Mark's ankles

The Iranian man tells Mark he can't uncover the storm drain

volunteers build a hiking bridge with a broken statue of Clifford the Big Red Dog and other junk

Mark puts a sprig of myrtle spurge in lemonade

a large, shiny, red spider with black spots lands on Mark's pretzels, so he traps it in a cage with brown stuffed animals

a little girl is mad at Mark when her wrist hurts. She turns into a small mammal and gets chased by a fox

toddlers play in melted ice cream in a refrigerator that has tipped over

Mark watches cars slide down the slushy road from his front window

Mark buys a yellow Peeps-themed pool ring

a TV channel has a "Ginger's Labor Day" marathon of Gilligan's Island