Hello, and Happy Mother’s Day (belated) to all of my friends!  To those of you who are moms (biological, adoptive, foster, grand, fur, mentoring, expecting and any I’ve missed) I hope you had a lovely day and felt celebrated for all of the hard work you do and the love with which you do it.  I had a lovely weekend and felt very celebrated by my little crew.  On Saturday, we were greeted with bright sunshine, blue skies, and temps that felt like the low 90s – YES.  (I know that’s too hot for some, but not for me.  I have never met a summer day that was too hot, and I live in a swamp.)  We kicked off the weekend of celebration in the best way we know how – with a hike.  As it was Mother’s Day weekend, I got to choose the park (within reason – Joshua Tree National Park was rejected despite requests from both Nugget and me; something about choosing a hike within driving distance?).  Anyway, we went to my favorite Virginia State Park – Mason Neck.  I love that park so much; I could hike there every day and not get tired of it.  Saturday was a particularly busy day; there was some sort of festival going on and there was something for everyone – birds of prey (for Peanut), fire trucks (for Nugget) and an REI tent (for the parents).  We wandered the trails, spotted turtles, I experienced a new mom milestone (the first time I told off a kid that wasn’t mine – he was shooting a nerf gun at the turtles and needed a dressing down) and Peanut learned a bunch of facts about falcons.  Pictures on Wednesday.  On Sunday, I woke up early and squeezed in an hour or so of work before the boys and the girl came downstairs bearing homemade cards and the most beautiful necklace – the very first shell Nugget ever picked up off the beach and gave to me, which Steve had dipped in gold and turned into a gorgeous and meaningful pendant for me.  (Sorry, ladies, he’s taken.)  We spent the morning at the garden center, where the kids stomped in puddles and harassed the koi and I picked out cherry tomato and herb plants, then we went home and planted our summer garden – a bit later than last year, when we jumped the gun and planted in late March.  I took a glorious nap while the kids snoozed the afternoon away, and woke up feeling a bit more human after 70-hour workweek.  We ended the weekend curled up on the couch, re-watching The Crown and eating takeaway from my favorite local seafood joint, Hank’s Oyster Bar.  I felt very loved and celebrated indeed.

Reading.  Surprisingly good reading week, given that I worked 70 hours (no kidding; it was actually probably more, as I had 68 and change entered on my time sheets).  On Monday I finished Second Class Citizen, which was well-written but had a really unsatisfactory ending, and was also suffering from the syndrome of being under a library deadline and therefore not quite what I was most hankering for at the time.  The same day, I finally finished Sailing Alone Around the Room, a collection of poems by Billy Collins.  I didn’t love it.  More when I recap my month’s reading, but suffice it to say – I’m picky abut poetry and I don’t love the quotidian as a topic for single poems, let alone entire anthologies of poems.  Give me Tennyson, please.  The rest of the week, up to Saturday night, I spent with The Last Watchman of Old Cairo, which was as lush and gorgeous and spellbinding as the author’s previous (debut) novel The Oracle of Stamboul.  (I highly recommend them both, but I think The Last Watchman is probably the stronger of the two.)  It was the kind of book that I would open when I got on the train in the morning, sink into, and then not realize where or who I was until I had to bolt out of the train door eight stops later – it’s that engrossing.  Ended the weekend with Sing, Unburied, Sing, but I’ve just started it, so no coherent thoughts yet.  Hoping for a slightly quieter week with more reading time.

Watching.  We’ve fallen back into the first season of The Crown, as noted above, just sort of randomly but we’ve been completely sucked back in.  On Sunday evening we watched the “Act of God” episode, about the great London fog, and were quite literally weeping with laughter when the characters started talking about Churchill’s behavior demonstrating his incapacity to lead.  I said “Incapacity?  Lemme tell y’all how we do incapacity to govern in Murica!” and Steve added “HOLD MY BEER!”  [Insert cry-laugh and sobbing emojis here.]

Listening.  Just random podcasts; nothing is really sticking out as particularly memorable.  In music news, both of my kids are completely obsessed with China Anne McClain’s Calling all the Monsters and I think we listened to it about thirty times this weekend.  It is now in my head forever.  Get your body shakin’, wishing you would just awaken.  Tonight all the monsters gonna dance, comin’ to get ya.  I can’t even sing it out loud to get it out of my head, because they’ll want to watch the video (again) and embed it even deeper into my brain.  (It is catchy.)

Moving.  Hardly at all, because – see above, 70-hour workweek.  I did get in about 13,500 steps on Saturday between hiking and two playgrounds, so that’s something.

Blogging.  May hike coming for you on Wednesday, and breaking ground on the 2018 garden, which has been affectionately nicknamed “Squirrelbait,” on Friday.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  I have to apologize, because this might be The Most Southern Lady Thing I’ve Ever Written Here, but I’m sort of obsessed with Princess Eugenie’s Instagram.  (There, I said it.)  It’s half promoting women and great causes, and half pictures of herself and her family dressed in hilariously outlandish outfits in the 1990s.  The York sisters in their Easter bonnets was a particular classic, but Fergie’s fabulously loud blouse and acid-washed jeans at what appears to be the fair, coupled with the Bea and Eugenie’s denim dresses might just take the cake.  I literally cannot get enough.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?