September 1936 (a crime fiction post)

You may remember that a few months ago, I rewatched The Sting, one of my favourite crime movies and probably my favourite heist film of all time. I'd say it might be the greatest heist film of all time. But I digress. Every time I rewatch an old classic I love, I try to pay attention to things I had not noticed before. I posted about one of these details back in May. Something else struck me on my last viewing: The Sting starts in September 1936. So it's a movie set in autumn. And it struck me that it had a very September, autumnal atmosphere through and through. For those who don't like horror but love crime fiction, this could be a film to watch in autumn.

Blessed September!

It is September at last! So happy September everyone! And happy first day of autumn. Because yes, I don't care what other people say, the season starts with the month, not the equinox. It's my favourite season and it cannot come too early. And as a yearly tradition on this blog, I celebrate the beginning of the month and the start of autumn with this picture of a sort of horn of plenty. My parents made that basket arrangement back in 2008 and took a series of pictures of it. I think it looks perfectly seasonal, with apples and crab apples and homemade jellies. What do you think?

On "holidays" until September

Here's a bit of news about my job, not much to say, but it made me muse a bit. So it has been extremely quiet on the job front during most of summertime, so much so that I have been virtually on annual leave for a third of July and almost the entirety of August. I did not work except for a few meetings here and there. I will get back to work in a week time, on the second of September. Not much to report, you may say, but it means that I will get back to work at the beginning of the school year. In my psyche, September is truly the beginning of the year and the month of new beginning. Far more than January, or indeed any other month. So I find it is fitting that I get back to work in September.

Fauda in September

This is a quick post to give you a bit of cool news for amateurs of spy and crime drama (and an even cooler news for people who like Krav Maga and like to see it and violence in general depicted realistically). So Israeli actor Lior Raz recently announced that season five of the thriller series Fauda, was meant to start on the 8th of September of Netflix. Seriously, it's the best thriller series on Netflix, bare none. It's my favourite anyway. I am so looking forward to it and I recommend that you watch it. It's suspenseful, it's gripping, it's brutal, it's so believable, it's absolutely beautiful.

Des Santons de Charlevoix pour septembre

Tiens, ça faisait un bail que je n'avais pas visité la page Facebook des Santons de Charlevoix. La photo que vous voyez date de septembre 2023. Je me disais que ce serait bien de pouvoir ajouter à mes décorations d'automne quelques santons. Je trouve que cette photo fait très automne, d'ailleurs.

Sisters July and September

 If you are looking for horror to read during Summerween, something to get you ready until the real spooky season officially starts, I have a suggestion for you: Sisters by Daisy Johnson. This is what I'm reading at the moment. It's very much psychological horror, there is no monster or maniac lurking in the dark, unless you count the demons in the minds of the protagonists.  Before writing this post, I learned that it's been adapted into a film titled September Says in 2024, so pretty recently. I will try to find it online. The plot is about two sisters, July and September, born ten months apart, who are living in a remote family home with their single mother after an incident of school bullying. I don't want to give anything away, but said bullying is so far the most chilling part of the novel. You can tell why it's a perfect read for now, with the names of the protagonists. Halloween is also featured briefly. Otherwise, it's very much in the line of Shirley Jackson, a slow burn, slow built horror thriller that relies on unease, atmosphere and corner-of-eye occurrences to create terror.

L'Opéra du Royaume

Photo prise sur la page Facebook de l'Opéra du Royaume,qui a annoncé dès début juillet que, ben, la saison 2026-2027 sera annoncée en septembre. Pour ceux qui peuvent.

Farewell to the local autumn fayre

 I learned some sad news recently, which I wanted to blog about: as you may know, there is a local carnival held every year in September, the third or fourth Saturday of the month, in the biggest park in town. I blogged about it often before, like here. To me, it's like an officious autumn fayre. Sadly, for whatever reason (not sure if they were made public) the organisers cannot organise it this year, so there will be no local September carnival. No autumn fayre. This is one of the public event in our community I look forward to the most in the year. I'm really gutted.

September Witches

 I am not the only one thinking about Halloween already: my father took this picture recently, someone is my home town of Chicoutimi has decided to go grand for Halloween and to start early. But September is, after all, Halloween eve. I also read somewhere (in this book, to be more specific) that one of the dates for witches' sabbath is the 23rd of September. So here it is, I think that's what it was. Do you see the witches, raising the dead and greeting the dead? Ghosts and skeletons, there's even a ghostly Jack O'Lantern in the background. I love this display. Anyway, I must remember to do something special every 23rd of September to remember that witches gather on that date.

"Welcome Autumn"

 Today is the equinox, which means, well, that we are officially in autumn, by any standards and measurement, and that nobody, and I mean nobody, can claim otherwise. For me, of course, it doesn't start on the 22nd of September, but the first, as it should anywhere. Be that as it may, summer is gone, dusted, buried until next year. And to celebrate, I am sharing a photo of a decoration my wife bought me last year. With a pumpkin on it to remind us of harvests and of Halloween which is getting closer.

Le 22 septembre, c'est aujourd'hui

Bon, plus personne ne pourra dire que nous ne sommes pas en automne: nous sommes le jour de l'équinoxe. Comme c'est la tradition, je partage Le vingt-deux septembre de Georges Brassens. Petit air automnal bien mélancolique qui devrait vous mettre dans l'ambiance.

 

Windy and Autumnal September Day

 It is getting a bit warmer and it should get borderline Indian summery soon (albeit we did not really have a frosty day), however, I cannot complain too much, as we have been blessed so far with a very autumnal September. It has been suitably cool and we even had two days ago a very windy day, enough so there was a yellow warning of winds. Nothing to worry about, it was just really nice and it allowed me to wear for the very first time a thick jumper, because temperatures had gone down with the wind. We had a perfectly autumnal September day and I was in seasonal heaven.

Question existentielle (399)

 Une question existentielle inédite jusqu'ici, enfin je crois:

-Qu'aimez-vous faire en septembre? 

J'aime faire bien des choses en septembre, mais je suis curieux de lire vos réponses.

9/11... again

I always commemorate the anniversary of 9/11. I am doing it this year again with this post, although I don't write long posts about it. From my thoughts and memories about it, read this post from 2008 and that post from 2009. However, I will say one of thing of what happened in the USA since. On the 11th of September 2001, democracy in the West and in the USA in particular was attacked. Islamic fundamentalism showed its ugly nihilistic head. Sadly, nowadays democracy in the US is falling apart, not because of an alien force of Islamifascists, like almost a quarter of of a century ago, but because of the Xian fascists who took power. So yeah, I am feeling a tad cynical and gloomy today, thinking about it.

Blood Moon

Tongith is a full moon, the one for September, and it is also a Blood Moon. I know it was a full moon (I do because I'm a werewolf, no just kidding), but I did not know it was a Blood Moon. My wife informed me and, at her suggestion, we all went out when evening had started falling to see the Blood Moon. We could not even see the moon. All the same, it was nice being outside when the sun was falling down. It is a simple pleasure we need to enjoy more often. Oh, and a question about full moons: are there any "normal", regular full moons? It seems that each and every one of them is a Blood Moon, or a Strawberry moon, or a Blue Moon, or a Whatever Moon.

Mushrooms Sighting

Two of our neighbours, an Italian couple I blogged about before, have got themselves a brand new lawn. As I walked by their place recently, I saw that it already had mushrooms on it. No dandelions, no daisies, but mushrooms. I don't know if they'd like this sight, but I was quite happy about it. Because mushrooms are one of the signs that autumn is here, or at least on its way. I love to see mushrooms come September. Less so to eat them. But I thought this looked quite nice, soberly elegant.

September Bucket List

I found this bucket list online and I thought it looked very nice. There are so many things I want to do this month, only a few of them on that list, so many ways to enjoy this month and my favourite season. Because make no mistake, we are in autumn already. So yes, I want to press leaves in a book, buy a knit piece of clothing (in a thrift or not, try a recipe with apples and go on a walk.

"The dirty golden mustard of September"

And I stop by a gateway
To smoke a cigarette
And stares across the fields and remember
The gypsy fairs of August
And early evening haze
The dirty golden mustard of September

Martin Newell, Black Shuck
 

I quote this poem every year or so, but not this specific stanza. I do the previous one, but rereading it yesterday as I often do during my reading ritual in preparation for Halloween, the last line struck me. This is what it has started to look like now outside, the trees have dirty golden mustard spots in their branches. Dirty golden mustard is the colour of September. Oh and you can most definitely feel (and enjoy!) the early evening haze too.

First autumnal walk

As it is today the first day of September, which I consider the first day of autumn (see my post from earlier on, and in the meantime enjoy a gorgeous seasonal picture), I made a point of going out today after work for a quick walk. I finish work early, so it allow me to have more fun and more active end of afternoons. Wolfie went out with me. We did not walk very far, just to the nearest corner shop and back, but it was a long enough walk to last fifteen minutes and back. Enough to get a feel of the atmosphere. It was not cold, but we put on light coats to be comfortable. It was a really lovely moment.

Être d'accord avec Régis Labeaume

J'ai lu aujourd'hui la chronique de Régis Labeaume dans la grosse Presse. Je la lis parfois, mais pas très souvent. Je n'avais jamais pensé avoir beaucoup d'affinités avec l'ancien maire de Québec, mais ô surprise, il aime l'automne comme moi. Avec un titre qui dit "L'été est fini, enfin!", je constate qu'il a les mêmes sensibilités par rapport à la chaleur, mais aussi qu'il considère que l'automne commence avec le mois de septembre. Enfin bref, j'ai bien aimé ma lecture.