Happy new week to my friends all over the world, and happy Memorial Day to my friends celebrating here at home!  (And thank you, of course, to the brave men and women who serve in the armed forces.)  We’re having a lovely holiday weekend here.  We kicked off our celebrations on Friday when Steve’s mom arrived for a visit – yay!  She lives in Florida and works full-time, so any time we have together is such a treat.  The kids were beyond excited that Grandma was visiting, and we planned a weekend full of fun.  On Friday evening, we drove down to our favorite pizza joint, with which Grandma is well familiar.  We needed to bank lots of energy because Saturday’s plans involved the zoo.  Grandma loves the zoo, and especially ours – because we have pandas, which are her favorite animal.  So anytime Grandma is in town, a zoo visit is mandatory.  This was a good trip – we saw Bei Bei the panda, plus lots of other animals – including some of our new residents: Spike the elephant and Moke the baby gorilla!  (You guys.  Moke was the cutest little guy.  I think I squealed out loud.)  The only disappointment was that the water wasn’t on yet over at the pinnipeds’ splash pad – and it was a hot one, so the kids would have loved to cool off in the waves.  On Saturday evening we rode the trolley down to the waterfront and braved a fancy restaurant with the kiddos – Chart House, Grandma’s request.  We set them up with iPads, the restaurant gave us a table overlooking Nugget’s fire boat and we got to visit with the kids’ babysitter, who is a server at the restaurant.  On Sunday we made the rounds of the playgrounds and fire station before Grandma had to catch her plane back to Florida (sniffle) and we spent the rest of the day chilling at home.  I’m looking forward to a fun family day today – not sure what we’re going to do.  I’d love to squeeze in a hike, but the kids are also clamoring to get out on the river now that the boathouses are open for the season.  So we’ll see.

Reading.  Last week was a bit of a slow one in the book department, although I really enjoyed every moment I spent in Brensham and on Apollo 8.  I finished up Brensham Village on Wednesday, and perfect timing too, because the third volume of the trilogy – The Blue Field – just came out in a lovely Slightly Foxed Edition – to match my copies of the first two – and should be en route from England to my doorstep any moment now.  (I can’t wait!)  After reluctantly leaving Brensham behind, I picked up Rocket Men, which has a long wait list at the library, and dug in.  And loved it.  There are a few sub-genres that I can never get enough of, and “dad books about the golden age of space exploration” is one of them.  I finished Rocket Men shortly before crawling into bed last night, but since I can’t be between books for a whole night, I started and read the first few pages of Scenes of Clerical Life, by George Eliot.  I have a small pile of library books demanding my attention – as usual – but couldn’t wait any longer to break into this one.

Watching.  I recorded and watched the kickoff to The Great American Read and it was a lot of fun, even if PBS does think I don’t read enough because I only scored 43/100 on the “how many have you read?” quiz.  I’m definitely inspired to seek out some of the ones I haven’t yet gotten around to (although not all – 50 Shades of Grey is not going to be my speed, no matter what) and I am pretty impressed with the variety of the choices.

Listening.  I’m sort of everywhere, as usual.  Some podcasts, although nothing stands out as particularly memorable, and some music – mostly my normal Decemberists/Offa Rex/showtunes circuit – oh, with a little Rusted Root thrown in there to make me feel like it’s the 1990s again and I’m back at Camp Little Notch dancing on the dock with the rest of the Mariners.  Send me on my way…

Blogging.  I have a bookish week ahead for you – a funny conversation I had with Peanut on Wednesday, and my May reading round-up on Friday.  Do check in with me then!

Loving.  I’m always going on and on about Instagram, I know, but it’s my favorite social media channel and it gives me such joy.  One of the most consistently delightful things on Instagram is Angela Kinsey’s stories.  I have been a fan of Angela’s since her days on the office – don’t @ me, but buttoned-up accountant Angela Martin was my favorite character – and while Kinsey couldn’t be more different from her character, I adore her too.  The adventures of Angela and the Vending Machine Jacket are not to be missed, and the story she posted when she was accidentally looped into a group message exchange with a bachelorette party was comedy gold.  Recently she posted a picture of her daughter dressed in unicorn pajamas, hands clasped and an expression of pure delight on her little face as she took in a new baby doll, and then recorded a story about how emotional it made her to see her daughter’s innocent joy in that moment.  It was a lovely, lovely story and a good reminder to appreciate that sweet sense of wonder before they grow up.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?