Reading: I picked up a free copy of Joyce Carol Oates’s We Were the Mulvaneys, which I’ve somehow never read before, and it fits my autumn mood pretty well.

Audio: Lots of R.E.M. lately.

Video: Magpie Murders on PBS. And, for the above-mentioned autumn mood, a string of sad movies about sad people, filmed and/or set in the 1970s: The Ice Storm, Christine (the one about the reporter, not the one about the car), Ordinary People.

Tr(eats): Some chocolate that our friend T brought back from a visit to Denver. And some Neuhaus chocolates that a lovely guest gave me as a thank-you at work.

Drinks: Chamomile tea, every evening.

Beauty Products: Phoenix Botanicals Wild Rose Serum. Korres Pomegranate Shower Gel.

Garb: I just got a new pair of basic black gloves and I really need some new earmuffs, now that the weather has suddenly turned frigid.

Pleasures: Spotting some downtown-NYC legends at the opening party for Thierry Mugler: Couturissime. So much more interesting, to me, than most present-day celebrities. A visit to Olfactory Art Keller for their latest show. Coffee chats with colleagues. A few really lovely recent emails from aroma-acquaintances.

Plans: Family time over Thanksgiving weekend. Making my Christmas-shopping list? Writing Christmas cards! Working on a new lecture for January.

How about you?

Image: Lippincott’s November by Will Carqueville. American, 1895. Chromolithograph. The Victoria and Albert Museum.