5 Quick Things #342 🎃

a love of learning, Texas getaways, the worst candy, & All Hallowtide

Hey there,

For several weeks now I’ve been saying, “this will be quick because I’m currently [fill in the blank with particular event],” and alas, such is the case again. Kyle and I are currently out of town in a little secluded cabin just outside a little secluded town in the Texas Hill Country in order to celebrate our twenty-second anniversary. Huzzah!

Hopefully we’re enjoying drizzly autumn weather, a few good steaks on the grill, some classic Texas sunrises and sunsets, and perhaps even some good ol’ Texas German food (if you know, you know). I’m grateful!

And soon enough, I’ll be home again on a Friday… for two weeks.

Fall Texas Ranch, by Warren Hunter (1904-1993) #

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. New episode of A Drink With a Friend! I’m chatting with my new friend Regina Gravrok, who was homeschooled K-12 and then (recently-ish) earned her degree in English at Hillsdale College — her passion for education and literature led naturally into a position at Classic Learning Test. In this chat we talk about the gift of a traditional, individualized education, the beauty and power of reading great books, and how to foster an environment at home where everyone loves to learn.

2. In case you missed it, earlier this week I shared nine things I’ve learned (and re-learned) this past year in our twenty-two years of marriage: “Either together or separately, take in good, ennobling things — both for reason #1 and because it’s fodder for good conversations. This pairs beautifully with those Saturday morning coffee dates; even when the week is bonkers-full and you feel like ships passing in the night, you can share that one thing you heard in a podcast over americanos and breakfast tacos at your favorite table in the corner.”

3. Looking back, I wonder if our childless selves would have chosen two days after Halloween for our wedding… It really hasn’t been a big deal, but there have been times when we moved a getaway to the weekend after, or had to make it a quick one, so that we wouldn’t be gone for Halloween (which I know isn’t the most significant holiday on the calendar — but from a kid’s perspective, it’s basically a high holy day). We were also pre-Catholics and had no idea we’d chosen All Souls Day as our day of betrothal, the day after, of course, of All Saints Day, comprising the beautiful three-day liturgical season of All Hallowtide — again, not the biggest deal ever, but now it definitely means spending time at Mass somewhere new when we travel. It’s become a lovely thing, actually! I’ve grown to enjoy it. …But I do wonder whether we’d chosen this date.

4. Speaking of, I really appreciated Joe Heschmeyer’s recent unpacking of the actual, real history of Halloween and why Christians should enjoy the day. …No, it wasn’t a Christianization of Samhain (here it is on video if you’d like to see Joe’s costume — I want to guess he’s maybe his Protestant doppelgänger Charles Spurgeon?). Even though Halloween has now passed as of this publication, this is well worth the listen.

5. And finally, in case thinking of this weekend as All Hallowtide is new to you, I just love

Kristin Haakenson

’s simple explanation from last year — along with her gorgeous watercolors, of course — in tandem with her thoughts this year about St. Luke’s Day, which was earlier this month but is still delightful to read about! I had no idea of its connection to oxen. The liturgical calendar is cool, y’all.

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📚

My First Light & Eventide journal…yeah, a shameless plug, but I really am grateful for this space for morning and evening gratitude — especially for November!

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Quotable 💬

“This is the month of nuts and nutty thoughts — that November whose name sounds so bleak and cheerless — perhaps its harvest of thought is worth more than all the other crops of the year.”

― Henry David Thoreau

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Rhine River: Summer 2025 ⚓️

Join us next summer as we float down the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Zurich in our own boat — I’d love to have you on board!

The Windmill on the Onbekende Canal Amsterdam (1874), by Claude Monet

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What’s the worst Halloween candy? 🍭

For the third year in a row (I think), Good & Plenty takes home the prize with this question. Personally, I’m team Tootsie Rolls as the worst, only because I’m such a fan of high-quality chocolate and they taste like a rubbery plastic facsimile of whatever it is they’re doing (…are they even trying to taste like chocolate? I can’t tell).

• Good & Plenty: 38%

• Candy Corn: 22.90%

• Necco Wafers / Smarties: 15%

• Tootsie Rolls: 12%

• Twizzlers: 12%

Find next week’s poll here.

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Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

• 🛶 Join me along the Rhine River

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

To kick off November: what are three small things you’re grateful for right now?

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Have a great weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. - I feel you, little buddy.