October feels a bit like a cackling murder of crows, sort of delightful but then it won’t frickin’ shut up already. So here are some bits and bobs from the season.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware is a deliciously spooky novel straddling that line between mystery and haunted house tale. My favorite thing about it is that Ware knows the plot she’s working in—new nanny isolated in a lonely country estate—but she’s also updated it entirely for circa now, as if Jane Eyre went to work in Steve Job’s remodeled home in the Highlands.

My very dear and talented friend, Rachel Bash, writes a series on what it means to digest—as in food but also to digest life and imperfection and writing itself. I love Rachel’s ability to hold up a thing and look at it, turn it over, understand it from a different angle, and all with compassion and a love for the odd, the unique, the doesn’t-quite-fit. You can read the first entry in the series here and follow all of her work @rachelmbash.

For me, October means these apple-cheddar scones by Smitten Kitchen. Unfortunately I don’t think I will get to savor them before the end of the month this year but I remain convinced they will be equally delicious in November. (Sidebar: I love making scones because a) they’re less sweet than other baked goods and thus feel more acceptable as a breakfast food and b) they freeze, unbaked, like a dream, which means that on random Sundays or Tuesdays you can have scones for breakfast just like that!)

Last, all hail the seasonal release of Jubelale, the brew for which this knuckle-head gets his name! Cheers!