Author: Jaclyn

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It’s 2022! What Are You Reading? (January 3, 2022)

Good morning, friends – happy New Year! I hope 2022 is off to a roaring (in a good way) start for you. So far, so good here… two and some change days in. Steve and I made it to our midnight kiss on New Year’s Eve, so I think that’s a good omen for the year to come. (I fell onto my pillow and was asleep 0.2 seconds later; he stayed up another hour – pretty standard for both of us.) On Saturday, we kicked off the new year in our traditional way – with a hike. This time, at Riverbend Regional Park – our favorite; we also hiked there on New Year’s Eve because we’re nothing if not predictable – and the trail and river were shrouded in mist, appropriately mysterious for a new year that’s still a mystery, too. I spent the rest of the day cuddled up with my book, so if that’s a sign of things to come I think I’ll be okay.

On Sunday, we hiked again – this time at Rust Nature Preserve, another favorite – and I banged out a 10K later in the afternoon. It was grey and rainy, but warm at least – and now winter is arriving with our first predicted snowfall of the season (we’ll see if it materializes; around here it often doesn’t). The kids’ school has already announced a snow day.

Reading. What a reading week! This is what happens when I’m home on an actual staycation, forced to relax, with work not intruding. I finished The Carols of Christmas – one last holiday-themed read – a few days before the New Year, and then spent most of the week over Patsy, which I had out from the library. (Liked, but didn’t love.) But there was also some New Year’s reading in there – finishing up A Year of Scottish Poems, which was my poem-a-day anthology for 2021, on New Year’s Eve, and starting the year right with Edith Wharton’s novella New Year’s Day on – what else? – January 1. The highlight of the reading week had to have been Welcome to Dunder Mifflin, a spot-on Christmas gift from Steve. I finished it on Sunday (sad to turn the last page, and already itching to re-watch the show) and started A Time to Keep Silence, which I have in a gorgeous limited edition from Hatchards. 2022 reading is off to a very strong start indeed.

Watching. It was a good watching week, too! We’re almost done with Mary Berry’s Country House Secrets – only one episode left, and I’m going to be so sad when it ends. (Steve was skeptical, and I started watching the first episode of the four-episode series one morning, and then he was immediately interested. This tends to happen… wink, wink.) We also watched Ivy and Julie: A Happy Balance from the American Girl movie franchise for New Year’s – Peanut’s choice, although the plot actually revolves around Chinese New Year, not January 1, but details, details. And we finally watched the final Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker. Still processing. I’ll have to watch it again now that I actually know what happens and I’m not tied in knots with anxiety about Chewie, Finn, Poe, Rey and the gang.

Listening. So, not much listening – I did start on Melissa Harrison’s lockdown podcast, The Stubborn Light of Things, named after her wonderful book. Although it begins in the spring, it has a very New Year’s-esque feel to it. I’m enjoying it so much, although I didn’t get much chance to listen, just a couple of episodes while running errands. More next week, I hope.

Making. Our traditional New Year’s Eve dinner – cheese fondue – for starters. Steve said it was the best fondue he’s ever had; don’t tell our friend Stephen who learned to make fondue in Switzerland and used to host regular fondue nights at his house before the pandemic, but I’m dusting off my shoulders. Neither of the kids were big into it, so I was waffling between telling them that their Swiss ancestors are rolling over in their graves and shouting More for MEEEEEEEE, neither of which is a particularly good look, but there you are.

Moving. I was on my feet a fair amount last week – three runs, including a 10K on Sunday, and three hikes, plus the usual walking and getting in my 10,000 steps each day. Strength training needs to come back, so does yoga. But running is feeling fun these days so I’m going with it.

Blogging. December reading recap coming atcha on Wednesday – get comfortable, it’s a long post – and travel recaps are back on Friday. We’re headed all the way across the country, to Seattle. (Slowly but surely, I’m catching up to current. Still a long way to go, though – our PNW trip was in October.)

Loving. One of my sorority sisters posted this screenshot of a tweet on Facebook, on New Year’s Eve, and it’s everything:

That is exactly what I hope for all of us. I hope 2022 is a whole year of Toyota Corolla – for you, my friends, and for me.

Asking. What are you reading to start off 2022?

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2021: A Look Back

Another pandemic year, sigh. 2021 was, as expected, better than 2020. We were better at assessing and managing COVID risk, and we got out and about more – even traveling a few times. I’m cautiously optimistic that 2022 will bring more improvement, maybe gradual, but I have hope.

January got off to a rocky start, as we all know. I was downtown on January 6 – not close to the Capitol, fortunately; I was at my office on K Street, taking a deposition – but we didn’t know what was going on or what parts of the city might be dangerous, and it was a white-knuckled drive through Georgetown before I crossed the river into Virginia and breathed a sigh of relief. I stayed home the rest of the month, with great relief at having the ability to do so. A blanket of snow and a host of winter visitors to my bird feeders brought much-needed peace.

In February we had more snow, but it warmed up toward the end of the month and we cautiously poked our heads out of our den. After a year of almost complete solitude, we began to explore ways to manage COVID risk and get more socialization in. My law school bestie, Carly, drove her kids out to the exurbs for a play date one warm day, and we hit up a new-to-us playground. It was a small thing, but it felt monumental. Also a small thing that turned out to be monumental: at the end of the month I received an email from one of my law firm colleagues, noting that a client of his – a west coast-based tech company – was looking for an addition to their legal department. Dream job! I threw caution to the wind and my hat in the ring.

I spent most of March working on my application – and then on preparing for multiple rounds of interviews – to the tech company. Recently, relating the experience to an acquaintance, I reflected that I’ve never poured so much time or effort into getting a job before. I spent hours almost every March evening, and over multiple weekends, on the project. It didn’t leave much time for adventuring, but we did manage to scoot out for a hike toward the end of the month, to explore a little reservoir in Ashburn, Virginia, where I was hoping to paddle once the weather warmed up. We’d first visited in January, when the rushes in the shallows were crusted with ice, but the trail around the lake was beautiful – a winter wonderland – and I made plans to return again and again.

Here comes the sun! All that work in March paid off, because the first Friday of April brought the news that I landed the dream job! April was another busy month as I started the onboarding process with my soon-to-be new employer, told my firm I was leaving, and worked round the clock to transition my cases to other attorneys. But again, we made time for fun – spring arrived in earnest with the return of warm, sunny days, and our traditional bluebell hike. For the past couple of years, we’ve bluebell-spotted at Manassas National Battlefield Park. We hit the peak just right in 2021!

May was a roller coaster. I started the month with a week of “funemployment” – that delightful period between one job and another. The week coincided with the beginning of really warm weather, so I had big paddleboarding plans (and I did make it out twice), but a death in the family sent me up to New York twice – first with Nugget in tow, to say goodbye to a cherished person, and then a week later for the funeral. Water always helps, so I paddled a lot in May. At the end of the month, a hot weekend drew the kids and me to the beach with my dear friend Carly and her family, and we took turns duffing the kids in the Chesapeake Bay. Meanwhile, amongst all of the upheaval, I started my new job and discovered right away that it was exactly the move I needed to make.

June was wonderful. Looking back, it feels like I spent almost the entire month outside (although I know that can’t possibly be true). Between paddleboarding, the start of our family kayaking season, a new mountain bike, and cheering for Nugget at his weekly tee-ball games, it does seem like I never went indoors. As a die-hard summer fan, this is about right for me.

Joy bookended July. We rang in the month camping on Chincoteague over Independence Day weekend (my favorite holiday). Saw the famous wild horses three times, toasted marshmallows over our own campfire, and charged into the surf at Assateague Island National Seashore – perfect. Most of the month was spent getting used to my new job (and to feeling truly happy as a lawyer for the first time EVER), and playing outside whenever I got the chance – taking my paddleboard to Beaverdam Reservoir as much as possible, mountain biking with Nugget, and hiking and kayaking with Steve and both kids every weekend day. At the end of the month, we drove up to New York State for my cousin Jocelyn’s wedding celebration – it was postponed by a year because of the pandemic, but worth the wait. Both kids were in the wedding, along with Jocelyn’s niece and nephew. It was seriously cute.

August brought adventure! First, at the end of July, Steve and I fulfilled a long-cherished wish and bought touring kayaks (as a fifteenth anniversary gift to each other, two weeks before our sixteenth anniversary – the pandemic had interfered with our plans for almost a year). My parents wanted the kids to themselves for a week, so we took the kayaks off for a week of paddling in the Adirondacks; we hit up Schroon Lake, Lake Placid, Lake Flower, Upper St. Regis Lake, and Spitfire Lake. We also found time to hike almost every day, and knocked off our fifth Adirondack high peak. The rest of the month was quieter, at home, but the hot Virginia sun was comforting and life-affirming to this summer-loving girl.

The start of September brought mixed feelings. The kids were back at school, which is conflicting for me. On the one hand, it’s easier to work without them around (self-evident truths…). On the other hand, I always worry about their safety when I send them out into the world. It’s hard being a parent in 2021. We found pockets of joy, though. Time on our favorite trails – always restoring. And at the end of the month, I made my way back to a start line – this time with my bike, not my running shoes. Twenty miles of car-free biking in D.C. was a treat (despite a flat tire midway through the ride).

October took us all the way across the country! I had a weeklong business trip to my company’s headquarters in Seattle, and since it happened to coincide with my birthday, Steve and the kids accompanied me so I wouldn’t have to ring in the year alone. We made it fun: bookended the workweek with one weekend of Seattle tourist treats (including a ride to the top of the Space Needle!), and one weekend of hiking and beachcombing at Olympic National Park. Back at home, we found the BEST trick-or-treating street in our neighborhood, and the kids both chose to wear costumes they already owned (Peanut was a veterinarian, and Nugget was a baseball player), so I didn’t have to spend a dime on equipping them for Halloween. A treat indeed!

November saw us on the go again, traveling to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and sister-in-law. Uncle Dan loves playing tour guide, and we were treated to the very best highlights of western Colorado (including Uncle Dan’s Dinosaur Tour, parts one, two, and three) and Utah. Three national parks, one national monument, an adorable Alpine adventure town, pizza at a famous spot in Fruita, lots of doggy petting, Thanksgiving with our people – lots of stories to come, but it was all wonderful.

Bringing us to December. Jingle and sparkle, ahoy. Although our celebrations have been curtailed this year – a nod to what feels like a never-ending pandemic – we’ve found ways to make magic. I went back to Seattle at the beginning of the month (alone this time) for work, and got to see Pike Place in its Christmas finery. Back at home, we chose and decorated our tree, walked our old stomping grounds at Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria, and celebrated the fact that as of early December, all four of us are finally fully vaxxed against COVID (and Steve and I are now boosted, as of just this week). Yay, science! And yay us, for making it through another pandemic year and finding SO MUCH JOY along the way.

Here’s to an even better 2022, for all of us!

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Christmas Book Haul, 2021 (Teetering!)

Happy holiday reading to all of my friends – in case that isn’t said enough, right? As y’all know, I am not big on gift-bragging posts, but the one exception I make is for book hauls. I love seeing what new books are coming into your homes any time of the year, and I gladly reciprocate. So without further prelude, here’s my Christmas book haul from 2021 – and it’s the absolute definition of “an embarrassment of riches.” I was spoiled indeed this year.

Everybody fed my nature and gardening book addiction this year. My brother and sister-in-law gave me Earth Almanac, which is broken out by day – I’m looking forward to reading it all year in 2022, in conjunction with Lia Leendertz’s wonderful Almanac, which I pre-order every year. My mom picked up Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life, by the fabulous Marta McDowell. I’ve loved several of her other books, so I can’t wait to dig in (see what I did there? #sorrynotsorry) to this one. And finally, Steve presented me with Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Handbook, a title that has been on my wish list for ages. It’s going to come in handy as I plan my forever garden and putter about in my little rental plot in the meantime.

Some miscellaneous reads – my mom gave me The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse to read to the anklebiters (apparently it’s about kindness?!) and Steve ordered The Carols of Christmas (first one I grabbed off the stack, and I finished it yesterday) and America the Beautiful: Cross-Stitch. I’ve never successfully done counted cross-stitch before, but with so many gorgeous patterns to choose from I might actually pull it off.

When I’m not gardening or cross-stitching, I will be in the kitchen this year. I’ve been itching to get my hands on Martha Stewart’s Vegetables, and the new Dorie Greenspan – Baking with Dorie – looks wonderful. Both from Steve, who always enjoys the fruits of any cookbook gift.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a little murder, right? My mom gave me not one, but two Christies for Christmas – The A.B.C. Murders and Murder in Mesopotamia. I think I read the former back in high school, but I don’t remember it, and I know I’ve not read the latter – so fun times ahead. And Steve presented me with Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, a new study of Christie’s most famous sleuth that looks fantastic, and with the new (ADORABLE) hardcover version of Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village, adapted from a hilarious CrimeReads essay. I can’t wait to curl up with it! Preferably on a stormy winter evening, because mayhem.

Also from Steve, which one is not like the others? Four popular culture books – three absolutely stunning, fully-color-illustrated guides to the fashion of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s; and possibly the most-coveted book on my wish list this year: Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of “The Office” – which looks so great, and my eyes keep straying over to it under the tree. Soon.

I love good travel writing, and Steve delivered with Wanderers: A History of Women Walking (looks fantastic!) and Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Life in Letters. I have several books by “Paddy,” who was a renowned travel writer, sparklingly witty correspondent, and friends with luminaries like Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, and the Duchess of Devonshire. I’ve got a volume of his letters to Debo Devonshire, and I can’t wait to read this – maybe in conjunction with that one, and with some of his travel writing. I may go on a Patrick Leigh Fermor bender later this winter; you have been warned.

Finally, one last – but certainly not least! – grouping: literary classics, my favorite. I’ve been eyeing Olivia Manning’s doorstopping Fortunes of War series (broken into two trilogies, The Balkan Trilogy and subsequently The Levant Trilogy). I’ve been itching to read those; they’ll be a project, but I can’t wait. And both The Feast, by Margaret Kennedy, and Crewe Train, by Rose Macaulay, look fabulous and summery – I think I’ll save them for when the weather warms up; I certainly have enough to keep me going until then.

What a book haul! I was spoiled this year, indeed, and I’m so excited to get through each of these delights this year. Steve half-jokingly, half-seriously, suggested on Christmas morning that we may need another bookshelf, and I think he might be right. The question is: where to put it?

Did you find books under your tree on Christmas morning, too?

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It’s Monday – and I’m ON VACATION! What Are You Reading? (December 27, 2021)

Good Monday morning, happy new week, and Merry Christmas – belated – to those of you who were celebrating over the weekend! I hope your holidays were filled with light and joy. We were up north for most of the week, spending Christmas with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. Dan and Danielle flew from Colorado for Christmas at my parents’ place, and we drove up from Virginia to make sure we were there at the same time as they were. It was a hectic round (y’all, let me tell you that transporting Christmas over several states, twice – up and back – is an EFFORT) but worth it for the chance to see family. I worked Monday and Tuesday, but took the rest of the week off – mostly; there was one work call on Wednesday – and got in lots of time outdoors, breathing the crisp air. We saw Steve’s Aunt Susan for a lovely walk around Saratoga, then spent a few minutes shouting greetings to my Aunt Maria from her driveway, and our dear family friends (who are like second parents to me) came over on the 23rd for an evening of appetizers and catching up – but other than that, we didn’t see anyone outside of immediate family members. Given the COVID numbers, I called off our cherished holiday lights and dinner tradition with our dear friend Seth, and contented myself with a holiday text exchange with my high school BFF, Jenn – sad, but better safe than sorry. There was plenty of outdoor time, at least – walking, running, sending Nugget screaming downhill on my old toboggan, and a hike in the Pine Bush Preserve – one of my favorite Albany spots – with Dan and Danielle. And we were able to keep it magical from the kids, and I think they had a wonderful Christmas – which is the main thing, after all. And now I’m ON VACATION, with a week stretching ahead and absolutely nothing to do – glorious – other than get my COVID booster shot on Tuesday, finally. Here’s to ending the year with some breathing space, much-needed.

Reading. It was a good reading week – Christmas week always is, as I get in the last Christmas reading by the twinkling lights of the tree! At the beginning of the week, before driving north, I got in the spirit with Carol Ann Duffy’s sweet poem Dorothy Wordsworth’s Christmas Birthday. Most of the rest of the week was given over to The Country Child, which I finally finished (it was lyrical and beautiful, but nowhere near as tight and compelling as Alison Uttley’s other well-known novel, A Traveller in Time). I did take breaks for two of my bookish Christmas traditions – The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Correspondence, a hilarious spoof created by John Julius Norwich, on Christmas Eve; and A Country Doctor’s Commonplace Book, on Christmas Day. I always read those, and on those days. And when I finally wrapped The Country Child, I turned to one of my new Christmas presents from Steve (check back on Wednesday for the entire book haul, and spoiler, it’s GIGANTIC) – The Carols of Christmas, a survey of the true history behind popular Christmas carols. Squeezing in one more bit of holiday cheer before the tree comes down and I turn to the new year and all things wintry.

Watching. It was a kid-centric Christmas, and you could tell because (are you sitting down?) we did not watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” AT ALL. We did, however, watch “Home Alone” three times. And the rest of the week – my mom and I found the “Downton Abbey” movie on TV, always a delight, and we pounded two episodes of “Gardeners World” when we got home on Sunday.

Listening. Some Christmas carols early in the week – and lots via my parents’ Alexa at our family party and Christmas Eve. That’s about it. This week, I’m waffling between going back to the mystery novel I was listening to on Audible or trying out a new nature podcast I downloaded.

Making. Spirits bright? I did try. I’m sure I fell woefully short, but I did try. I made some Christmas cookies with the kids, at my dad’s request (Dan and Danielle made some as well – it was a family effort) and I made many, many, many wrapped gifts. And many, many, MANY deep breaths.

Moving. It was a decent week for movement, all holiday things considered. A hike with my brother and sister-in-law was definitely the highlight, but I also squeezed in a few runs, including a 5K on Christmas Day. And there were plenty of neighborhood walks, because there always are.

Blogging. Can’t let a holiday season go by without showing you my Christmas book stack, so I’ll do that on Wednesday! And on Friday, ringing out 2021 with my tradition – a month-by-month look at the old year.

Loving. All right, don’t judge, but ever since I read The Christmas Chronicles a week or so ago, I have had a fancy for Bailey’s Irish Cream. (Nigel Slater makes a throwaway remark about drinking it iced in a little glass, and that had never occurred to me before and I just had to try it.) I told Steve that the next time he went to the liquor store, I’d love a small bottle, and he delivered on Sunday. I had half a juice glass with Bailey’s on ice, and it was delicious. I’m not a big drinker and I can’t remember the last time I had Bailey’s (it was probably a splash in my coffee ten years ago) but it absolutely hit the spot on Sunday evening, after a long week of digging deep for merriment and magic, followed by a very early car ride. So, so good.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

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A Very Virginia Christmas

We’ve trimmed our holiday traditions down considerably in recent years – a nod to COVID-induced realities, sadly, but also a reflection of the current (overwhelmed) state of life. But there are a few traditions in the run-up to Christmas that are just non-negotiable; I’m not willing to give them up, and I will move heaven and earth to make them happen. A visit to Aladdin, the Mount Vernon Christmas camel, is one of them (although Aladdin is around until Twelfth Night, and it’s acceptable to visit him after Christmas, if necessary) and a walk through Old Town, our former neighborhood, to admire the decorations. This year, we combined the two into one thoroughly Alexandrian day.

Starting with Mount Vernon. It was a grey day – not too cold, but damp – and a walk felt good. By the way, if you’re thinking the coloration of the Mansion looks different, it is. The property has gone back to the traditional buff color, removing the historically-inaccurate crisp white exterior. This sandy hue is what it actually looked like in Washington’s day.

There he is! It’s tradition for Mount Vernon to host a camel for Christmas, because Washington used to procure one as a holiday treat for his stepchildren and grandchildren. Aladdin has been a regular visitor for the last fourteen Christmases now and we’ve visited him almost every year, including his first year as the Christmas Camel – when he was just a baby.

He’s so stinking cute. I cannot.

Obviously, Aladdin isn’t the only animal on property. After paying our respects to him, we wandered off in search of other friends. I have never seen so many sheep here before. There must have been twenty of them! Seriously. Where did they all come from?

We walked around the rest of the outdoor attractions, too. Peanut loved stopping by each of the outbuildings to read the explanatory placard – there was much lecturing when Nugget and I failed to keep pace; I had sock problems, and to be honest, we were more interested in the garden.

It might be the fact that I had spent several days reading Nigel Slater’s poetic ode to winter, The Christmas Chronicles, but I was enchanted by the bare architecture of the kitchen garden in winter.

And I’m always inspired by the espaliered fruit trees. I have delusions of gardening grandeur (when we buy the forever house!) involving lots of fruit trees. Sometimes my dreams involve a glorious tangle of gnarled apple trees and a blackberry bramble, but other times I picture espaliered fruit. I guess it’ll have to wait for the as-yet-fuzzy forever house and garden to take shape, before I’ll really know.

Red, green, and purple. Christmas!

After wandering almost the whole Mount Vernon property (we missed the upper flower garden, but Peanut was done with Nugget and me and our Monty Don delusions) we headed to our old stomping ground – Old Town Alexandria.

The residents of Old Town go all in on Christmas decorations, but because it’s such a historic neighborhood, by tacit agreement they do it in a very traditional, understated way. Lots of swags of fresh greenery, tartan ribbons, and fresh and dried fruit – no inflatables or loud colored lights. (Which have their place, but would look alarming on these pre-Revolutionary streets, let’s be honest.)

No baby yet. Check back in a few weeks. (Pssst – this creche is in front of St. Mary’s Basilica, which we just learned was the very first Catholic church in Virginia. Yay, history!)

Wreaths of Old Town, 2021, here we come. I think this door – one of the first we walked past – might have been my favorite.

But I loved this one, too – simple, but gorgeously effective.

Another favorite – a wreath made entirely of oyster shells is a stunning nod to coastal Virginia. Also, I love a wooden door! Over the years, I’ve gotten fonder of the natural wood look. This made me think of the entrance to the Nantucket pub that features in the first few chapters of Moby Dick, where Ishmael and Queequeg meet.

Another favorite – understated, but perfect with the exposed brick and gold stars.

No visit to Old Town is complete without walking by the Spite House. This tiny row house is barely more than six feet in width.

More dried fruit! I love these traditional decorations.

Partway through our walk, we met up with friends – my law school BFF, her husband, and their two kids. In an instant, my kids switched from complaining about the forced march past very grownup door decor, to wild exhilaration at seeing their friends. Running, jumping, screeching and cackling ensued.

We all got a laugh when my friend’s husband leaned down to his son and urgently demanded, “Where are your parents?“

We walked, talked, snapped pictures and berated wild children for almost two hours – until the sun was gone, the lights were twinkling, and carolers were singing their way down King Street. As other traditions have dropped off one by one (there was no Christmas in Little Washington this year, no waterskiing Santa on the Potomac, no Scottish Walk, and no holiday trains at the National Botanic Gardens in D.C.) I’ve hung onto this one, which is simple, and free, but brings outsized holiday cheer.

What is your favorite holiday tradition?

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Ornamentation, 2021 Edition

Over the years, my tree has gone from perfectly curated (and totally impersonal) when Steve and I were first married, to a hodgepodge of kid-produced ornaments, nods to favorite local spots (there’s a whole Mount Vernon collection on there) and ornaments picked up on our travels. The newlywed me would have been horrified, but I prefer it this way. We’ve made a tradition out of buying at least one ornament every time we travel – and picking one up from each national park we visit, whether far afield or close to home – and it turned out we were on the go rather a lot in 2021, so there are quite a few new additions on the tree this year.

I bought this adorable wood slice ornament at a boutique on the main drag in Lake Placid this summer. I like it because the hikers are approximately the same height proportions as Steve and me (heh) and because it’s true: life really is better on a hike in the Adirondacks.

Not purchased in Lake Placid, but ordered from Etsy in the fall – I will always have nods to my favorite state park on my tree. (Also note the Cornell ornament photobombing in the picture on the right! That’s one of three Big Red baubles I have on my tree.) I consider myself a Virginian to the core, but New York has its place in my holiday decorations.

As second homes go, Washington State is newer than NYS, but I’m starting to feel awfully attached to Seattle after traveling there twice in less than three months this year. My employer is headquartered there and I’ve been flying past Mount Rainier a lot. In October, Steve and the kids accompanied me and we spent a weekend at Olympic National Park. The park store actually had no ornaments (how?!) so I ordered this memento from an Etsy seller when I got home.

Our Thanksgiving travels took us to three legacy national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison) and a national monument (Colorado), and I gleefully added to my ornament stash at each one; my brother and sister-in-law were as committed as I was to tracking down the best ornaments in each park store.

It’s such a delight to hang travel souvenirs on my tree every year and reminisce about past adventures. 2021 was a good one for that, as it turns out. (And I think I more than doubled my national parks ornament collection – I already had Shenandoah, of course, and Joshua Tree and Channel Islands.) Wonder where 2021 will take us, and if I’ll be adding any more parks to the stash? I’ve got my eye on Great Smoky Mountains.

Have you added any meaningful new decorations to your stash this year?

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It’s Christmas Week! What Are You Reading? (December 20, 2021)

Good morning, friends! Merry Christmas week to those of you who are celebrating, Yule blessings to my goddessy types, and happy new week to everyone else. I can’t believe that Christmas is just days away now – I’m nowhere near ready; there are still gifts to wrap (and to be perfectly honest, gifts to buy – nothing like leaving it to the last minute, right?). I’m working today and tomorrow and then taking the rest of the year off, as I discovered that I had six days of use-it-or-lose-it personal time scheduled to drop off my account unless I burned it all in one go. (Don’t laugh. I’m used to the law firm world, where “unlimited vacation” means that no one actually takes any, ever.)

This weekend was another busy one, and yet I barely made any progress at all toward holiday preparations. On Saturday morning, I took the kids to Alexandria to get Nugget a haircut with our old favorite stylist – we started going to a new place nearer our current house, but they had no availability and he was desperately in need of getting his mop trimmed, and we thought: you know what? We miss Lety, let’s just go back to her and who cares if it’s a bit of a drive. Steve was off getting his own haircut and exchanging his scuba mask at a dive shop in D.C., so it was just me and the anklebiters until we all reunited back at home and then shoved right off again, this time to Mount Vernon. The holiday season isn’t complete unless we visit Aladdin the Christmas Camel. After a long ramble around Mount Vernon, we drove up to our old neighborhood, Old Town, and wandered the side streets looking at all of the Christmas decorations – gorgeous. We met up with my law school BFF, Carly, and her family for part of the walk, which is always fun. And then we drove home, slammed dinner, and fell into bed. Sunday was pretty much a repeat of last weekend – I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to get stuff done around the house in the morning, Nugget had a swim lesson (Peanut was supposed to go, too, but she threw a fit and we had to leave without her), and then Steve and I pushed off for our second weekend of pool dives for our scuba certification. A whirlwind few hours in the pool later, we’re done with the confined water dive portion of our training, and ready for our open water certification dives in Costa Rica (pandemic permitting, of course – I hope it happens). And I’m EXHAUSTED.

Reading. I may not have made much progress toward my miles-long Christmas to-do list, but I had a good reading week – that’s for sure. Early on in the week, I finished up Tied Up in Tinsel then read Carol Ann Duffy’s lovely Frost Fair in one sitting. Most of the rest of the week was given over to The King and the Christmas Tree, a nonfiction book (written for middle grades, but enjoyable for all) about the World War II story behind Norway’s annual gift of a Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square. I followed that with Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles – read his poetic writing about Christmas and winter, but skipped the step-by-step recipe instructions. Finally, on Sunday evening, after finishing with Nigel, I turned to Alison Uttley’s The Country Child. It’s too early on to say how I’m liking it, but I loved A Traveller in Time, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this too.

Watching. We finished up Will Smith’s new nature/adventure show, Welcome to Earth, this week – and WOW, was it wonderful. We all loved it; only complaint was that it was only six episodes and we could have watched sixty more. To mix things up, we threw in a little bit of Monty Don and a little bit of Miss Marple, and I got all caught up on Christmas content on Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel, which is just lovely.

Listening. Lots of Christmas carols – from the Amazon Music free channel, via Alexa; Laurie Berkner’s Christmas (who are these grinches giving that album two stars on the iTunes store?!) and Noel, because the people demand Josh Groban, and by the people, I mean me – obviously.

Making. Some progress toward my Christmas tasks, but not enough. Some progress toward Peanut’s Christmas scarf, but again, not enough. Several cobbled-together dinners, whoops. The very tiniest of dents in my work email backlog. The usual.

Moving. It was a very non-moving sort of week, for the worst of reasons. Y’all. I threw my back out on Tuesday – or strained a muscle or something along those lines. I think it happened when I picked Nugget up from school early to take him to the dentist, and he jumped in my arms. I didn’t notice anything amiss at first, but it got gradually more uncomfortable over the evening until it was excruciating on Tuesday night; I couldn’t even fall asleep until 3:00 a.m. because it hurt so badly. Knowing I had to dive again on Sunday – including wearing a gigantic (and heavy!) air cylinder on my back, I spent the rest of the week babying it. Walking felt good, so I did that; the rest of the time, I was communing with my heating pad. (Steve bought me a TENS unit, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it.) It got gradually better over the course of the week and was back to 100% by the weekend, so that was a relief. Next week, I hope to be running again.

Blogging. It’s all holiday cheer, all the time, around here – even if I’m feeling a bit grumpy about it all. On Wednesday, I’m showing you a handful of new ornaments I picked up on 2021 travels, and on Friday, a lovely long recap of our Mount Vernon and Old Town Christmas walks. Check in with me then, and a very festive week to all of you.

Loving. Would it be a cop-out to say I loved my heating pad this week? It was literally the only thing that got me through. I cranked it up to the highest heat and sat in bed with it and my book. (Of course: please don’t forget to turn it off before bed, and don’t fall asleep with it on you. It’s a fire hazard and a burn risk. Heating pads are for use while conscious only, okay, friends? Okay.) I have this one and it’s wonderful. I might use it even when I’m not injured, because cozy.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

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Shenandoah 2021: Mary’s Rock

On our last morning in Shenandoah, we awoke to bright sunshine and bluebird skies – finally! After a hearty breakfast at Skylands, we shoved off for home, but with one stop on the way: Mary’s Rock, redemption time.

We’d attempted Mary’s Rock before; in fall of 2016, on our first visit to the park, we’d picked it out as a reach hike to do with two babies in backpacks. The hike starts with a climb up first to the intersection with the Appalachian Trail, and then to a ridgeline, which you follow to the summit. We could have finished the hike, I think, but for a particularly cold weather day. The kids cried and fussed all the way up to the ridgeline, then went into baby shutdown mode and fell asleep. Reluctantly, we decided to turn back rather than subject them to brisk winds at the summit. It was the right call, but we had been itching to try again – and finish this time – ever since. With two experienced little hikers and a beautiful day, Labor Day 2021 was go time.

Although our ultimate goal was the summit, there was plenty to enjoy on the way up.

Like a new friend. See the little one up there?

We stood and watched while a mother and two fawns strolled across the trail, casual as you please. Magic!

Intersection with the famous Appalachian Trail! The kids were proud that they had feet on the AT.

Not long after bidding goodbye to our new white-tailed deer friends, we had another surprise treat in store: this absolutely breathtaking sunlight filtering in rays to light up the trail.

Of course photos don’t even come close to doing it justice. It really was like walking through a hall of lights.

A short ridge walk, and we finally made it – the summit of Mary’s Rock!

Triumphant family! It took us almost five years to get here, but we made it.

Set about enjoying those summit views. The payoff was well worth the climb.

I was so proud of both kids – they had so much fun and really expanded their hiking skills over our weekend in Shenandoah. They pushed themselves past their comfort zones and were rewarded, not only with spectacular views, but also with the knowledge that they could do hard things.

That concludes our whirlwind tour of Shenandoah – but never fear, travel recaps continue! I’ll have some holiday and New Year’s content for you for the next few weeks, but in 2022 we’ll head all the way across the country together.

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Themed Reads: My Holiday 2021 Reading List (Part Of It, Anyway)

Planning out my holiday-themed reading is one of my favorite annual traditions – I love a mix of re-reads and new discoveries at any time of the year, and Christmas is no exception. There are a few books that I always read (or always in the past few years, anyway) – namely The Twelve Days of Christmas on Christmas Eve, A Country Doctor’s Commonplace Book on Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day on, obviously, New Year’s Day – but I’ve always got some new-to-me favorites-to-be on deck in the runup to the holiday. I’m waiting a bit later this year to start my Christmas reading bonanza, because last year I devoted all of December to holiday reading and overdosed a bit. But for all that, I do have some big reading plans ahead for the next couple of weeks.

First up, I pre-ordered this gorgeous edition of Tied Up in Tinsel, by Ngaio Marsh, from Hatchards. (I also ordered Thou Shell of Death and The Case of the Abominable Snowman, both by Nicholas Blake, from the same collection – but I’m not sure they’ll arrive in time to be 2021 holiday reading; they may be waiting for 2022.) Marsh was one of the Queens of Crime during the golden age of detective fiction, alongside luminaries like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, but I’ve not yet read many of her books. Really looking forward to this one.

Nigel Slater loves winter – by reports, it’s his favorite cooking season. I’ve heard wonderful things about The Christmas Chronicles, his Christmas and winter collection of recipes, notes and stories, and can’t wait to curl up with this and a steaming cup of cocoa.

It’s been quite a few years since I read No Holly for Miss Quinn, my favorite of Miss Read‘s holiday stories – but last year, I was lucky enough to find a gorgeous vintage hardback copy. It was too late to work it into my Christmas 2020 reading, so I’ve been saving it for 2021. I can’t wait to reunite with the devastatingly efficient Miss Quinn and watch her holiday spirit grow from a tiny spark to a full glow.

I have plenty of other Christmas reading plans, too. I’d like to finally get to The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories, and to A Literary Christmas and A Children’s Literary Christmas, both from the British Library publishing imprint. And I have a copy of The King and the Christmas Tree on order from Hatchard’s – I hope it arrives in time to read by the light of the tree – and I’m hoping to find time to get back to my last year’s favorite, The Twelve Birds of Christmas, too. Think that’s enough to keep me busy?

What’s on your holiday reading list?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 13, 2021)

Good morning, friends! I can’t believe we’re about midway through December already – how? I’ve barely started my Christmas shopping, and still don’t have my cards out; I need to get moving. This was a fun weekend but I got basically nothing productive done and I’m now totally wiped out; pretty normal for me. On Saturday morning, our dear friends Zan and Paul came over for brunch, a walk in our neighborhood park, and lots of catching up. We hadn’t seen them since pre-COVID (literally just before the world shut down; we saw them on March 7, 2020 when we all went to a St. Patrick’s Day parade together and walked around Old Town – and then not since). It was so good to hug Zan again; it had been too long – another thing COVID has taken from us. Anyway, the morning flew by as mornings tend to do when you’re with people you love, and by early afternoon I had to wave goodbye to Zan at the Metro and drive the kids to a birthday party for their friend K. K was a kindergarten classmate of Nugget’s, and when the kids started riding the bus this fall they discovered that she lives just a couple of streets away, so she’s become both kids’ neighborhood pal. (Peanut loves the glittery headbands K churns out and distributes to her friends; Nugget likes to walk over to her house and drive her mini Land Rover.) The party was a blast – the kids bowled, ate pizza and coconut shrimp, and Peanut got to try soda (hold me). I had to drag them away at the end of the party, which is normal for Nugget (who loves to socialize) but unprecedented for Peanut.

Sunday was a different kind of day – a day spent almost entirely at pools. First, swim lessons for Nugget (Peanut woke up with a cough, so she stayed home; she was thrilled, as she is going through an “I hate swim lessons” phase). As soon as we got home, I had to get in my own bathing suit, because Steve and I had a new adventure planned – we’re getting scuba certified. (There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.) We completed the e-learning portion of our certifications last week, and Sunday was the first of two days of confined water diving. You guys. Breathing underwater is incredible! I was apprehensive at the start of the class – it’s so much information to remember, and it feels like it’s all of life-and-death importance – but I surprised myself by being completely at peace with the very first underwater breath. The sensation of lingering at the bottom of the pool, watching swimmers kick twelve feet above me, was amazing, and every time we were at the surface I was impatient to go back down. I can’t wait for day two – next Sunday – and to experience diving in the ocean in February. I’ll write much more about the experience later, once I’ve gotten a few more dives in (and, to be honest, more pictures – the one of Steve in his wetsuit and BCD, above, is the only one I took; I was too busy in the pool).

Reading. Despite what the above gallery looks like, it was actually a fairly light reading week. Most of my evenings, especially in the first part of the week, were devoted to scuba e-learning; the course was fifteen hours and I did it over five days. But I did get some other reading time in. Early on in the week, I finished up A Single Thread (which I enjoyed, but not overly much) and then read the final, December, chapters in two books I have been reading gradually over the year – The Almanac 2021, and Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden, both of which I’ve read month-by-month since January. Then I whipped through No Holly for Miss Quinn, an old Christmas favorite, in one sitting. The rest of the week, I spent over Tied Up in Tinsel, a Christmas-themed mystery by Ngaio Marsh (one of the lesser-known Queens of Crime – she was a contemporary of Agatha Christie and wrote prolifically, but lived in New Zealand and traveled to England regularly). I have this beautiful limited edition from The Hatchards Library, which is a total delight to read – I just haven’t had the attention for anything, even classic crime, with my brain filled with things like buoyancy control, air pressure management, diving hand signals, safety stops and decompression…

Watching. Well, the main thing I watched last week was the many, many PADI videos embedded in my scuba course. Steve and I also started watching Becoming Cousteau (with Nugget, but it turned out to be not really kid-friendly, and he wasn’t interested in all the old footage anyway – so we’re saving the rest to finish later) and as a family, we watched the first episode of the new Will Smith nature/adventure show, which was FABULOUS. On my own time (very limited last week) I watched a few more Christmas book and #Vlogmas episodes from Miranda Mills – trying to get in the holiday spirit, still not entirely successfully. But Miranda sure helps.

Listening. We’re still on a seventies music kick around here (although I don’t have much seventies music, so it’s the same few songs over and over again). Nugget loves “Escape: The Pina Colada Song.” Follow me for more parenting tips!

Making. Christmas gift knitting continues – I have two gifts nearly done (including one for someone who will read this, so you’ll pardon my being cagey) and started a hat and scarf set for Peanut. I had some very soft pink-and-red yarn with her name written all over it. And I made a banana-walnut French toast casserole for brunch when Zan and Paul came over, which turned out pretty good *dusts off shoulders* despite my total winging it.

Moving. Five-and-a-half hours in the pool with a heavy air cylinder on was quite a workout! Aside from that, the usual walking and running. I need to get a move on with some strength training and some yoga, because I signed up for two December challenges on Garmin.

Blogging. My holiday reading list (or some of it) coming atcha on Wednesday, and then back to Shenandoah hiking recaps on Friday.

Loving. I feel like I say this every time I see friends these days, but it was so wonderful to spend time with Zan over the weekend. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s to value time spent with the people we love, right? It’s never enough, but especially not when we’re all locked away from each other. Although Zan and I text regularly and keep in touch over social media, it’s just not the same. I had a moment when we were walking over to the neighborhood park on Sunday. Peanut was holding Zan’s hand, skipping along by her side and reciting an inventory of all the “makeup” in her Caboodle, and I couldn’t help but think about the fact that Zan and I have been friends since Peanut was one year old. We had tea (at Spot Coffee, a Buffalo institution) the day we met, and Steve came to pick me up with baby Peanut dangling off him in the Baby Bjorn. And now she was chattering away about lipstick and blush. Where did the time go? It’s good to share history with friends, and especially to know that your friendship is still at the beginning – even with all that history – and that you have many more years of laughter and sharing ahead. I know that Zan will be one of my very dear friends for decades to come, and that is such a solid, comfortable feeling.

Asking. What are you reading this week?