Good morning, friends.  I’d like to stick my head in the sand and pretend that it’s not Monday.  And while we’re on the topic of sand – confession time.  I snuck away for the weekend!  If we’re friends on Instagram, you already know that we packed up the kiddos and headed down to Virginia Beach for the weekend.  (New friends: my best friend, Rebecca, lives there.)  It was a perfect way to kick off the high summer season – three days on the beach, and lots of time spent with our “framily” – a.k.a. friends who are as close as family to us.  Nugget got to drive the golf cart, we ate fresh tuna caught by Uncle Eric during the Virginia Beach Tuna Tournament, and we even made it for an all-too-brief visit with Elissa at little Hudson’s second birthday party.  It was a lovely weekend with people we don’t see nearly often enough, and with the summer trifecta – sun, sand, and saltwater.  And a lavender latte at the end of it all.

Reading.  So, I did absolutely no reading at all this weekend – unless you count some documents for work that I read in the car on the way down to the beach.  I don’t even bother to pack a book in my beach bag these days, because it would just be taunting me from the bag while I chased Nugget around.  And the rest of the weekend, I was hanging out and chatting with Rebecca – or chasing Nugget around.  But I made up for a light (read: nonexistent) reading weekend with some good reading over the week.  I finished Northbridge Rectory on Tuesday (and it turned out that I jumped the gun on that one and went out of series order – oops; still good, though) and wrapped up The Chilbury Ladies Choir two days later, on Thursday.  I started Lincoln in the Bardo on Thursday night and brought it with me in my tote bag, but never ended up taking it out until I was back home on Sunday evening.  So I’m still getting into it now.  It’s a two-week library book, though, so I’ll be putting some time in over the next few days.  After that, the new Maisie Dobbs is waiting for me on library holds, so – onward.

Watching.  Last week we only watched one thing, but it was a GOOD one.  Still trying to scrub the first episode of Anne With An E from my eyes, I decided that Steve needed to be acquainted with the glory that is the Megan Followes/Jonathan Crombie 1985 adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.  Of course he loved it and acknowledged its greatness.  The sequel is on deck for our next television evening.

Listening.  My podcatcher is out of control because I’ve been making a real push to get through The Great Courses: Classics of British Literature on Audible.  I’m up to Mary Wollstonecraft.  Still wondering WHEN, exactly, Dear Aunt Jane will make her first appearance.  Less than 13 hours to go now…

Moving.  I had a great hike over the weekend, but don’t want to tell you anything about it now because I’m going to recap the whole thing on Wednesday.  I got that June hike in just under the wire…

Blogging.  I hope you’ll indulge a non-bookish week around here, because I am really committed to not getting behind on recapping adventures like I did last year.  I want to stay current if at all possible, and I know that’s just going to get harder as the summer goes on.  So on Wednesday I’m going to tell you all about my June hike (with a couple of different hiking buddies!) and on Friday, I’ll share the rest of the weekend with you – just in time to go into the Fourth of July weekend.

Loving.  On a Monday morning after a trip to Virginia Beach, what could I be loving more than time with friends?  One of the (many) reasons we moved back here was the network of friends we have – friends who are more like family.  That network extends all the way down the coast to Virginia Beach, and it felt like coming home to be back in Rebecca and Eric’s house again.  I’m also loving the fact that just a few days before we left to visit them, we got THEIR WEDDING INVITATION in the mail!  So much joy ahead in the next few months…

Asking.  What are you reading?