Happy Labor Day, friends!  If you’re American, I hope that you’re having a great holiday weekend (if you get Monday off – I do, yay!) and for my friends around the world, I hope you’re having a wonderful start to your weeks.  Funny story about Labor Day: when I was in college, this holiday was the holiday for my major.  I majored in Industrial and Labor Relations and we got the day off when everyone else had to attend classes, but there were events all day long.  We had trade union leaders and organizers who would come to speak to us, and a big picnic where we all ate coleslaw and sang solidarity songs.  It was good times.  These days, Labor Day is more about the end of high summer, looking back on golden days of fun and gearing up for the busy back-to-school season ahead.  I usually find myself really conflicted at this time, because I love summer and fall almost equally (fall barely edges out summer into the top spot) and I’m always finding this particular seasonal change a little bittersweet.  But this year, for whatever reason, I feel like I’ve had my fill of summer fun – we really lived it up – and I’m pretty unreservedly excited about fall.  Bring on the puffy vests and pumpkin spice; I am ready!  And just in time, too, because we had a weirdly cool weekend.  I think we’ll have a few more weeks of hot temps, but at least for Saturday and Sunday, it was chilly enough for flannel shirts and cups of tea in the evening.  Of course, that didn’t last even the whole three-day weekend; by the time our Sunday-evening walk rolled around, I’d traded my flannel in for a bike race t-shirt, and today is supposed to be pretty hot and sunny.  We have a fun activity planned for the day, which I’ll tell you about soon, but for now, a look back at last week.

Reading.  Very, very little to report this week.  I’ve slowly continued making my way through Mollie Panter-Downes’ London War Notes, and it’s a really lovely read.  Ponderous and haunting, but with little bits of humor sprinkled in – like Mollie’s wry recounting of the PR machine’s effort to get the British public on board with the Soviet Union after they became unlikely allies, which was finally achieved by the newspapers noting that the USSR Ambassador’s wife is a keen gardener who avidly tends her rose garden. A rose garden is the way to the British heart.

Listening.  The parade of podcasts continues.  I really need to get back to Audible, but I’ve been making such good progress toward an empty podcatcher that I kind of can’t stop won’t stop.  The best, clearly, was the “Sorry/Not Sorry” episode of Sorta Awesome.  I laughed so hard that I was almost sobbing, and the people on the metro probably thought I was a complete loony tune.  But metro people, you just don’t understand.  Sorry, not sorry!

Watching.  Saturday night couch dates continue!  It was my turn to pick this week, and after I hemmed and hawed and gave serious consideration to Captain Ron (it’s a thing and if you haven’t watched it you just won’t get it) we watched Wonder Woman.  Finally!  I’ve been dying to see it and was really bummed I missed it in the theaters.  Also, I totally called who Ares was, and between that and knowing that the Indominus Rex was still in the cage in Jurassic World, I’m feeling pretty pleased with my movie intuition these days.

Moving.  Kind of a slow week, because early in the week I was starting a Whole 30 (never a good time to also be doing a lot of activity – all my energy goes toward managing the metro queasies) and still coming off of Pacific time.  (It’s been a slow transition.)  But at the end of the week I bit the bullet and set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. power yoga, and it was so nice to be back on the mat.  Saturday I made it to my vinyasa class, and on Sunday we hiked at Piscataway Park (pictures coming).  Looking forward to a good week of yoga and hopefully a run or two.

Loving.  My front porch!  I did a quick little makeover for fall and I’m delighted with it.  Picked up a cutesy little pumpkin sign for the front door at Michaels (yes, I am That Lady, apparently) and two little pots of mums, which I plopped right into two ceramic planters I already had.  I love the color combination of the orange mums against the blue and green pots – I tend to be drawn more toward neutral colors that can be found in nature, and greens, blues and oranges are my favorites.  I also checked a lingering porch task off and bought a shepherd’s hook for the front yard so I could move the bird feeder off the porch.  Surprising only me, the birds have been a little bit… disrespectful… of my space (while eating the food I so generously provide every day).  I was the only one who didn’t see that coming, apparently – anyway, the feeder is now over to the side of my front walk and I like the new spot much better.  I have a better view of the feeder from my favorite chair, and it’s just all-around more pleasant.  Looking forward to some long evenings sitting out on the porch watching the birds this fall.

Blogging.  Some good summer content coming your way this week – a wrap-up of my summer list on Wednesday, and another California recap on Friday, this one doubling as my August contribution to my 12 Months of Trails project.  It’s a good one, so do stop by!

Asking.  What are you reading this Labor Day weekend?