Hey, guys.  How were your weekends?  Mine was okay, nothing all that special.  To be honest, I was disgruntled all weekend.  Last week we were trying to be “on vacation” even though we ended up staying home (after first our plans to go to Lake Tahoe with my family were scrapped – months ago – and then our consolation Cape Cod trip was cancelled at the last minute).  Work ended up kind of blowing up on me – not my colleagues’ fault; they tried really hard not to bother me on vacation, but it just happens sometimes – and the weather was gross toward the end of the week, so I ended up just working Wednesday through Friday.  Figured if I couldn’t be out having fun I might as well work.  But – ugh.  I’m going to try for a do-over this week.  Today is shot – I have a bunch of things to do and am actually going to have to go into the office, a rare occasion these days.  But tomorrow I’m planning a morning of kayaking, then squeezing in a tiny bit of work, and then hopefully taking the rest of the week OFF, for real this time.

Anyway – the weekend.  So, like I said, I was disgruntled at my “staycation” – which wasn’t even plan A or B – getting wrecked by bad weather and too much to do.  On Friday I did manage to escape with Steve and the kids for an hour at Mount Vernon, followed by a picnic at our favorite waterfront park in Old Town.  It felt lovely to be back – Alexandria still feels like home and I imagine it will for awhile.  Saturday was decent, weather-wise, so we headed out for a short hike at Riverbend Park.  The rest of the day was more blah.  I did get some unpacking done, but Peanut was in rare form and I just wasn’t having it.  Sunday was gross weather again – other than a neighborhood walk, we didn’t get out at all, and I was just in a crummy mood.  It happens.  Hopefully I’ll actually get some time off this week (staycation, take two?) and have a happier Monday post for you next week.

Reading.  At least it was a good reading week.  I finished up Mary Barton early in the week – once I hit the exciting murder trial scenes, it flew by.  Interspersed with that, on my kindle while Steve shuttled us to activities earlier in the week, I read Molly Wizenberg’s new memoir, The Fixed Stars.  I’ll have more to say in my monthly reading recap post in a couple of weeks, but I had very mixed feelings about it.  It was wonderfully written, which should come as no surprise.  And I recognize the importance of stories about the queer experience being out in the world.  But at the same time, it felt like an intrusion into Molly and Brandon and June’s privacy to read all the details about Molly and Brandon’s marriage.  I reminded myself over and over that Molly wrote and published this book because she felt it was important, and that she got royalties from my purchase, but I couldn’t help but wonder how June will feel about it in ten years.  Anyway – in a huge shift, after The Fixed Stars I turned to one of my favorite books from high school, Delta Wedding.  Am reading it slowly, re-reading for the first time in years, and remembering how much I love Eudora Welty’s writing.

Watching.  A little of this and a little of that.  Actually, I think, a very little.  Hamilton, over three nights.  One episode of The Mandalorian, a couple of episodes of Rock the Park – that’s about it.  Nothing out of the ordinary this week.  I need to get back to Home Fires.

Listening.  Ummmmmm.  I don’t think I listened to anything at all this week?  Even when driving to the supermarket for my grocery pickup time slot, I just had silence.  Guess I needed to hear my own thoughts for once.

Making.  Despite not really getting the staycation I promised myself, I did do a fair amount of cooking and baking.  Nugget and I made blackberry fool with our fresh-picked blackberries, and it was delicious.  We also made a cherry yogurt cake with Nutella swirl, which was okay – not terrible, but a bit dense.  And I did some cooking; most notably, Sunday night dinner – cheesy white bean bake with broccolini and sun-dried tomatoes, served alongside crostini.  Yum. 

Moving.  Welllllllll… not much this week.  A couple of hikes and long neighborhood walks, and chasing the kids around Lake Anna and the zoo before staycation week fell apart.  No formal workouts, though.  Next weekend I have a virtual 10K, so I will need to change that this week.

Blogging.  Asking you a question on Wednesday – I’m mulling over writing about our amateur homeschooling and wondering if there is any interest in that.  And on Friday, a kayaking recap – yay fun!

Loving.  Oh, you guys!  I am so excited about the big news that Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate!  I wasn’t surprised – I sort of expected all along that it would turn out this way.  But I am delighted.  I was seriously considering voting for Harris back when she was running in the primary; she ended up ending her campaign before Super Tuesday (when Virginia votes) so I didn’t get to.  But now I will, after all!  I am stoked.  Just a little anxious about my absentee ballot getting counted.  (American friends, vote EARLY.)

Asking.  What are you reading this week?