Happy Monday, Happy President’s Day, and Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day to my friends!  How were your weekends?  Ours was lovely – not as lazy as I wanted; I’d really been hoping for a weekend of full-on sloth – but really lovely.  Saturday we devoted to chores and errands, and we’e gradually chipping away at the mountains of boxes in our townhouse.  Sunday we dedicated to some family fun – a visit to the Botanical Gardens.  Last year we went quite a few times when the temperatures got really ridiculous, but this year we’ve been enjoying a mild winter and this weekend was the first time (I think) that temperatures got down into the single digits.  So between the weather being decent and a bunch of social engagements – birthday parties for Peanut’s friends, mostly – plus moving, we just haven’t found our way over to the botanical gardens yet this year – until yesterday.  It was as warm, fresh and beautiful as always.  I’m not feeling nearly as beat down by winter as I did the past two years – between the mild temperatures, relatively sparse snowfall, and crazy-busy-ness making the weeks fly by, it actually seems like spring is around the corner.  (Please let that be true.)  But I’m not one to turn down a visit to the Botanical Gardens, and we did have a wonderful time.

As for reading this week, it’s been pretty good.  I finished up Welcome to Braggsville and enjoyed it, although the language never really seemed to flow for me.  It was clearly excellent writing, just for some reason my brain didn’t want to get into a rhythm with the words.  But the characters were wonderful, the story was riveting and the writing really was good.  Then I moved on to March: Book One, the first installment in a three-part graphic memoir by Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.  I have heard so many amazing things about this comic and it lived up to the hype, and then some.  It also made for perfect Black History Month reading.  I immediately checked the second volume out from the library, so hopefully I will get to that this week.  And then I turned my attention to the new release from Life of Pi author Yann Martel – The High Mountains of Portugal.  The story is intriguing and I’ll read any new Yann Martel that comes out, but so far my favorite part of the book is the cover.  I can’t stop staring at it – it’s so incredibly beautiful.  As for the rest of the book, well, I’m actually having a little trouble getting into it.  But it’s a seven-day library book, so I have to either push through or return it unfinished.  I’m pushing through.

On the blog this week: more 2015 catch-up – a recap of our fall hike at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve on Wednesday, and 2015 book superlatives on Friday.  At some point, I swear, I will be caught up.  I probably should call a spade a spade and forget about trying to catch up on everything, but I actually like clicking around and looking back on my own hiking and reading posts, so whatever – I’m just going to continue forcing the absurdly late content.  It’s my blog; I make the rules!

What have you been reading this week?