Yawwwwwwn. Morning, friends. Happy Monday to you all – are you coming into this week off a good weekend? I hope so! As for me – we’ve had another weekend of sickness in the house. This time, poor Peanut caught whatever Nugget was fighting off last weekend (was it last weekend? life has been so overwhelmingly busy lately that I can’t remember). I felt so bad for the poor kid – she was really under the weather on Saturday and definitely perking up by Sunday, but not near 100%.

With Peanut down for the count, Nugget was glued to me all weekend. (That’s a normal state of affairs, actually.) On Saturday, while Peanut rode out the worst of her bug and Steve worked, I took Nugget to swimming and baseball. Sat with Nugget’s buddy’s mom, who has the same name as me and was also holding down the fort solo, so we started a club. (Kidding.) And on Sunday, I tore Nugget away from his Nintendo for an afternoon of Mommy-son adventuring. I had in mind a bike ride on the C&O Canal Towpath in Georgetown, but Nugget wanted a four mile hike (from Riverbend Regional Park all the way to Great Falls and back) and I am always down to get my steps in, so we went with his plan. Then hit the garden center on the way home, bought round 1 of vegetables for our container garden, and spent an hour elbow deep in dirt in the garden. It was (1) a good way to wind down a Sunday; and (2) kind of horrifying to see how out of control the patio garden containers had gotten.

Reading. It was another crazy-busy week at work, which always translates to a slow reading week. It was a good one, though, just slow. I spent the entire workweek over Illyrian Spring, and it was time very well spent – definitely going to be one of my highlights of the year. Finished the last few pages on Saturday morning and spent the rest of the weekend missing Grace, Nicholas, and the other characters. Book hangover, hello. For something different (and quicker) I polished off The Owl and the Nightingale (new translation from the Middle English by Simon Armitage) and then turned to The Morville Year, Katherine Swift’s month-by-month account of the life in her Shropshire garden. I’m about halfway through and it’s a delight.

Watching. Well, we finished what is now fondly known in our house as “Obama Parks” – so good, you guys. (Although the butterflies in the Monterey Bay episode were unnecessary. WHY?!) And while we figure out our next family show, Steve showed the kids The Wizard of Oz on Sunday night. (Apparently, he loves that movie, which just goes to show that after almost seventeen years of marriage you can still find out new stuff about your spouse.) Also, it reinforced for me that while I recognize the cinematic achievement, etc., The Wizard of Oz is not my jam. Don’t @ me.

Listening. I’m still laboring under the delusion that I am going to finally listen my way through my entire podcatcher. I know! Crazy, right? I still have sixty hours to go of The Mom Hour and that’s just one show. Send wine, you guys.

Making. Well, the beginnings of a patio garden, at least. An hour’s worth of work on Sunday and what I have to show for it is: two pots cleaned out (you have no idea how overgrown these were – weed central) and planted with cherry tomatoes and pole beans – trying something new. I mixed some wood ash into the soil, because I had some in my fire pit and read it was good for tomatoes and beans, so stay tuned folks. And then I spent the rest of the time hauling spiky, thorny vines out of the ground – I don’t have grand designs on this garden but it would be nice if it didn’t look like Sleeping Beauty’s palace after the gardener had been asleep on the job for a century, ya know? I have more pots to clean out and a few more seedlings to plant, and the whole place needs a good hard clean, but it’s nice to have something to do out there. Other than the hour in the garden – many more of those to come – I made incremental progress on my Costa Rica photo book, but I will have to dial that up because I got another “unlimited pages” coupon code from Shutterfly, this one expiring on May 8, so the clock is ticking.

Moving. Still obsessed with my Peloton! I’ve ridden “with” my friend Amanda a few times – we fire up the same class and give each other virtual high fives – and racked up a bunch more rides on my own. And in between rides, I’m also working my way through Emma Lovewell’s “Crush Your Core with Emma” program. It’s not easy, fam. Oh, and there was that four mile hike with the smol and the gardening has been surprisingly strenuous, too, basically I’m tired.

Blogging. Themed Reads coming atcha on Wednesday, and it’s a fun one for National Poetry Month. (Do you guys like those? I’m thinking of wrapping up the series at the end of 2022 because I have something fresh – and totally different – in mind but if y’all like Themed Reads I have plenty more ideas so I could keep it going, just think about it and let me know.) And on Friday, back to Colorado!

Loving. Sunroom reading season has proven to be short-lived in this house; the sunroom is not climate controlled, so it turns into an oven in the summer and an icebox in the winter. But in spring and fall, it’s totally working for me to sit out there with my tea and book, and I am deep into enjoying it right now. I have these Adirondack chairs and they’re the coziest.

Asking. What are you reading this week?