Happy Monday, y’all! And November. Shut the front door. How was your Halloween? Are you a trick-or-treater, or more of a door-opener, or do you turn off the lights and hide? By inclination, I am more of a door-opener, but we get exactly zero trick-or-treaters (it’s my curse in life) and I have two to walk around, so we were out roaming the streets. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Halloween aside, it was a low-key weekend. Soccer was cancelled because of weather (we had torrential rainstorms on Friday, which caused soggy messy fields and the league cancelled both Friday practices and Saturday games) and swimming was also off the calendar because it was the fifth weekend in a month, so the swim school was closed. With all that extra time on our hands, we barely knew what to do with ourselves. So we spent Saturday bumming around the house – we were all a little tired, I think. I know I was; it was an especially hectic week at work with two depositions, a mediation, and a big urgent project (a classic “your lack of planning has now become my emergency” situation). I was out of sorts all of Saturday, made worse by a political campaign volunteer (we’re in the middle of a hotly contested gubernatorial election – kill me now) ringing my doorbell to pitch his candidate. I wordlessly pointed to my “No Soliciting” sign, and he then tried to argue with me about whether the sign applied to him. As I told Steve later, I would have been annoyed at being bothered no matter whose campaign the volunteer was from, but I was much more annoyed because the kid who disregarded my sign, dragged me away from my book, and then tried to argue with me was… there on behalf of the candidate I am very much not supporting. Anyway, that minor irritation knocked me out of sorts way more than it should have.

On Sunday, we all needed a break from the lazy Saturday; one day of bumming around the house and we were legit climbing the walls. So we hit our favorite county park for a morning hike (no avian excitement this time, but lots of pretty leaves), and then the kids and I banged out a couple of jack-o-lanterns in the afternoon, before the veterinarian and baseball player headed out to gather up their loot. They did very well, and dragged their heavy bags home in the gathering dusk; a successful Halloween indeed.

Reading. Quite a reading week! I don’t get all in on the Halloween reading the way I sometimes do with Christmas, but I had some spooky reading planned for the weekend, anyway. First up: finishing The Daughter of Time, which I absolutely loved – definitely a highlight of the year. Then I spent the rest of the workweek over The Story of the Country House, a new release that I’m not ashamed to admit I bought entirely because of the cover. (I mean. Look at it.) Really enjoyed it, although it was more focused on the architecture of the different periods in country house history; there was less upstairs-downstairs, food, sporting, and suchlike than I expected. Still great though! As the weekend rolled around I turned my attention to Halloween reading: first up, I scared the pants off myself with The Manningtree Witches (literally, I had nightmares). On Halloween evening itself I curled up with my traditional (for the last few years, anyway) cozy read – Pumpkinheads, by Rainbow Rowell, which is utterly charming. And then for good measure I started Paper Girls, a comic by Brian K. Vaughn that begins on the day after Halloween, so it seemed like a good choice. Plus I’ve been meaning to try it out for ages.

Watching. The usual! Lots of Monty Don, Miranda Mills, and the latest Bake-Off episode. We also watched Black Panther with Nugget, and it was just as wonderful as I remembered. He loved it.

Listening. I’m still on a bookish podcast kick; multiple episodes of Shedunnit – my fave – and Tea or Books. I’m on a kick of taking long rambles around the neighborhood with my earbuds; it’s keeping me going.

Making. I finished my lace infinity scarf – haven’t blocked it yet, though – and started in on my Christmas knitting; hoping I can keep this streak going and have some handmade gifts for my favorite ladies. Also made a few fresh, healthy dinners – as usual – and because ’tis the season, a batch of roasted pumpkin seeds.

Moving. Sigh. I was hoping to tell you that I had finished my virtual MCM 10K, but I just… didn’t do it. There’s still a week to go, though, so I’ll get it done this week.

Blogging. October reading round-up coming atcha on Wednesday, and the last Adirondack recap post on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. My extended disco birthday continues – this weekend I opened a slightly belated gift from my BFF, Rebecca – a sampler of August Uncommon teas. She says she likes them better than Mariage Freres, which is high praise indeed. I can’t wait to try! And I am so blessed to have these people in my life, who send me tea and love for another trip around the sun.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Good morning, friends! What a weekend – actually, what a week. I did a decent job of staying (mostly) current on work while I was in Seattle the week before last, but spending Monday on a plane wrecked it all. I had almost a hundred emails by Monday evening, and with more pouring in every day I spent the week working feverishly to catch up. I finally did, by Friday evening, but the early part of this week is another busy one, which means that by Thursday I’ll be hopelessly behind again. Ah, well – such is life, and at least my job is fun! I’ve certainly had jobs that were just as busy and much less enjoyable, so I’m not insensible of my blessings, for sure.

One of which is the ability to close my laptop on a Friday evening and spend the weekend enjoying family time without worrying about work (most weekends). That’s what I did this weekend. On Saturday, I wanted to head down to Old Town to check out the Halloween decorations and see Old Town Books’ new bigger digs. So we rolled out late morning, enjoyed brunch at one of our old favorites – Virtue Feed + Grain – and spent a few happy hours wandering around King Street and the surrounding neighborhood. When we got home, Steve wanted to watch Formula One and Peanut wanted time to herself, so Nugget and I went out and hit up a fall festival at a nearby garden center (he loved it and I hated it – too many people, made me nervous) and then wandered over to his favorite local playground, where he taught a gaggle of toddlers to play soccer and I read one of my new acquisitions that I plucked off the shelf at Old Town Books earlier that day.

Sunday was, if anything, even more quintessentially fall. After a lazy morning at home, we drove out to the country to pick pumpkins at our favorite patch. Narrowly avoided a pumpkin avalanche (the farm is on a hill), filled a wheelbarrow, and ate freshly baked apple cider donuts on a haystack – how can you go wrong? I ended the day with a late afternoon neighborhood walk while chatting on the phone to my Aunt Maria, followed by homemade shrimp curry with kale and coconut milk – yum. Happy new week, y’all.

Reading. Well! Despite being a busy week of playing catch-up at work, I did manage to do a fair amount of reading. Most of it was backloaded toward the end of the week and over the weekend, but such is life. I finished Come, Tell Me How You Live early in the week, and then spent a few days glorying in Frenchman’s Creek, one of the few Daphne du Maurier novels I’d not yet read. I thought a pirate love story would be a good choice for the lead-up to Halloween, but it turns out the action all takes place at a sultry midsummer – not so much chilly autumn nights. No matter! I adored it anyway. Over the weekend, I steamed through the last seasonal anthology from Melissa Harrison, then polished off Ghostways: Two Journeys in Unquiet Places in one sitting (I loved one of the sections; was less fussed by the other). Finally, on Sunday morning I turned to The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey’s most famous mystery novel, and was immediately swept up in it. I can already tell this is one I’ll be sad to finish…

Watching. More of the usual – you all know what I’m about to say. Some Great British Bake-Off, some Monty Don, and more Miranda Mills YouTube videos while doing the unending round of house chores. All delightful.

Listening. I’m still on a podcast kick. I finally finished going through each downloaded show and deleting the episodes I’m not going to listen to, and now I’m just working my way through my backlog. Still on old bookish podcast episodes, but I’ll start sprinkling some parenting content in again one of these days.

Making. It’s that time of year – creative juices are flowing. I finished up the knitting portion of my sloppy scarf (still need to weave in the ends, block it, and figure out a way to hide all the mistakes I made) and moved on to a new project – an infinity scarf with a modern, simple lace pattern. I’m testing out this idea with the thought that if it works, I might make a few to give as Christmas gifts – stay tuned. (For that reason, I won’t show you the scarf – either on the needles or the finished product – until after I’ve decided whether the pattern is gift material.) Then I’ve made some progress, finally, on a 2020 family yearbook; I’m gunning for a deadline of November 15, because I got some epic Shutterfly coupons that expire that day. Oh, and lots of homecooked dinners, per usual. Maple and mustard-glazed chicken thighs, with maple-roasted carrots were the highlight of the week.

Moving. Sigh. A busy workweek is just the kind of week when I should make movement a priority, to feel good – but (you can see this coming, a mile away, I know) I just didn’t. Next week? Let’s hope. I did at least get out for my daily walks, so that’s something. I’m on a streak of 10,000 or more steps every day and have kept it going since June 3, so I can’t stop now.

Blogging. I have a Classics Club review for you on Wednesday, and the penultimate Adirondack summer travel post on Friday – check in with me then!

Loving. It was so much fun to be back in our old haunts this weekend – I love my little exurb town, but there are so many things I miss about living in Old Town. The best was seeing the new Old Town Books location and all their new square footage. (The classics section seems to have shrunk, though! But the nature shelf grew, so it evens out.) It’s a beautiful, light-filled space with blonde wood shelves stocked with delicious-looking reads, and the mural on the side of the store (reading “Alexandria: City of Readers”) is gorgeous. I wish I’d had more time to putter around in the shop; between Steve and the kids and an army of trick-or-treaters (apparently it was Halloween at the local businesses, a week early – poor planning on my part) the store was crowded and I didn’t really get in the good long browse I was craving. I may have to go back midweek when the kids are in school…

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Well! Hello. Tap, tap. Is this thing on? So – once again – I totally flaked on you yesterday, and I am sorry. In my defense, I was on! a! plane! heading back from a week and a half in Seattle. Last week, I mentioned that I had a business trip; what I didn’t mention was that because my birthday fell midweek while I had to be away, Steve and the kids came too! Major bonus points to my team leader, who didn’t bat an eye when I said my anklebiters would be joining me in Seattle, and major major bonus points to Steve for holding down the fort, parenting on Pacific time and working on Eastern time, from a hotel room, for an entire week – all so that I would have a good birthday. He is the best. Anyway, there will be full recap posts to come once I work through my backlog of travel posts (a very good problem to have, friends) but for a quick preview: after my conference wrapped up on Friday morning, and I finished up a few work tasks that couldn’t wait for Monday, we rolled out of Seattle and headed for two days of exploring Olympic National Park! We hit all three of the ecosystems in this “three parks in one” wonder – a cold and rainy walk down Ruby Beach on the Pacific coast; a snowy (!!!) and very quick visit to Hurricane Ridge in the mountains; and quite a few hikes in the breathtakingly gorgeous Hoh Rain Forest. We saw salmon leaping out of the Sol Duc River, hiked to two waterfalls, ate delicious food, got rained (OR SNOWED) on the entire time, and hated to leave. And since we didn’t see any banana slugs, marmots, or Olympic mountains (Hurricane Ridge was completely socked in) we’re definitely going back ASAP. Spent all of Monday on a plane heading back east and missing the rainforest terribly – but looking forward, rather, to a return to home cooking and running shoes and non-kindle books. And now here I am.

Reading. Well, it was such a busy week – between work and kids and PNW sightseeing – that reading took a backseat. Not a surprise. Agatha Christie’s memoir of her time on archeological digs with her second husband was a slim and engaging read but still took me the entire week to finish (in fact, I didn’t wrap it up until my plane was touching down at Dulles on Monday). I really enjoyed it, though!

Watching. We’re all caught up on the latest season of The Great British Bake-Off and back to staring at each other until the next episode drops each Friday. (What will we watch tomorrow, and Thursday?) And as always, Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel is the soundtrack to my house chores, and a lovely soundtrack it is.

Listening. Still enjoying my clean-ish (I have several shows still to tidy) podcatcher, and catching up on back episodes of Tea or Books? – it’s so much easier to listen to podcasts when my podcatcher isn’t a completely overwhelming morass.

Making. I’m onto phase three of my sloppy scarf. Basically I’m making it out of scrap yarn; phase one was seed stitch with a dusky blue worsted; phase two was a chunky oatmeal cable, and phase three is a very simple and modern lace pattern in a soft, deep purple. I’m on the hunt for some cool patches to sew on to cover all the mistakes when I finish. Do let me know if you have a source, thanks.

Moving. Oooooooof. So, I didn’t have room to pack my running shoes in my Seattle luggage, which means I have an uphill climb to be ready for the MCM 10K in two weeks (it’s virtual again this year; I’m thinking of running on Halloween). But I did a decent amount of walking, and quite a bit of hiking. So I wasn’t a complete conference room potato. But I feel stiff and grumpy and very much in need of a good run to clear the cobwebs.

Blogging. Fun week coming for you – tomorrow, I’m showing you a week’s worth of Whole30 dinners tomorrow, and on Friday, back to the ‘dacks. Almost done with those recaps, but I do have a couple more weeks for you (and then travel posts will continue; after we wrap up in NY, we’ll head south to Shenandoah, good?).

Loving. Y’all know I am not one for gift bragging posts, but can I just send some hearts Steve’s way? The best birthday gift was having him and the kiddos with me in Seattle. Even though I didn’t get to see them much, just knowing they were in the hotel room waiting for me to come back was magic. He had to work hard to pull that off, so hats off. And if that wasn’t enough, he fed my camera addiction… again. A few months ago I told him that after exhaustive research I had decided that I really wanted to go mirrorless (#IYKYK) but was torn between two different cameras. I wanted something to replace my dSLR for everyday photos, and both of the cameras I was looking at had very specific benefits (and very few drawbacks) – I was truly on the fence. So… he bought me both. (Completely over the top, yes, but I love photography and I use my cameras almost every day, so.) Birthday presents are unnecessary but very nice, and it’s lovely to be spoiled with new gear for something that I enjoy so much. I’m lucky indeed.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Good morning and happy Monday – from Seattle! Not a normal Monday morning post, but one that took me all the way across the country. I’m here all week for work – a conference with my team, none of whom I had yet met in person before last night. (There was squealing and a lot of hugging when that changed.) Team activities officially start later this morning, but for various logistical reasons I ended up flying out way early – on Saturday morning – so I had the weekend for Seattle fun and I made the most of it. I’ll recap it all eventually (travel posts are piling up again, a wonderful feeling) but briefly: I hit the aquarium, Pike Place, the Great Wheel, and the Space Needle – and more. And now it’s time to dive into a week of team-building, workshops, and facility tours; I’m excited!

Reading. Good reading week! It was mostly back-loaded, as I was busy preparing for a weeklong business trip – so earlier in the week, there was just less time for reading. I did finish up O, the Brave Music by midweek, and I tore through The Stubborn Light of Things: A Nature Diary (a collection of Melissa Harrison’s Nature Notebook columns for The Times of London, which I LOVED) toward the end of the workweek. I brought a fully loaded kindle with me on my business trip, and read most of Longbourn on the plane (finished it up on Sunday morning) and then turned to Come, Tell Me How You Live, Agatha Christie’s memoir of her time on archaeological digs with her second husband, Sir Max Mallowan. I’m only about 15% into it so far but really enjoying it.

Watching. Not a lot of watching this week – I was just too busy rushing around with business trip prep. There was a little bit of Great British Bake-Off, and several episodes of Miranda Mills on YouTube while folding laundry and packing (Miranda continues to make household chores an absolute pleasure).

Listening. I was back on the podcast wagon this week! I finally figured out how to hide played episodes on my podcatcher (don’t say ANYTHING, it was not intuitive, okay? Apple Podcasts keeps changing things) and it’s all so much tidier and less overwhelming as a result. I’m working my way through a backlog of bookish podcast episodes that I had been avoiding because it was too much to even think about facing the tangle of played, half-played and unplayed episodes before I figured out the hiding function. I still have to go through and delete episodes of parenting podcasts that don’t apply to my kids’ stages (and which I don’t need to listen to as a result) so maybe that will be a project for the plane flight home at the end of the week.

Making. Piles and piles of clean, folded laundry and a packed suitcase – that was the main thing. Also made progress on my sloppy scarf.

Moving. Ugh, don’t ask. It was such a busy week, I didn’t get in anything other than my daily neighborhood walks (last Monday’s was a highlight, as it included Rebecca – gosh, her visit seems like an age ago). And then walking all over Seattle the past two days, some of it schlepping heavy luggage (#strengthtraining). This coming week isn’t going to be any more active, but when I get home I’ll have a couple of virtual races coming up – so running will be very much back on the agenda.

Blogging. I have this month’s Themed Reads coming atcha on Wednesday, and more Adirondack travel on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. It’s so great to have business travel to a cool city, with some time built in for fun – and I can’t tell you how much fun it was to meet three of my colleagues (including our team leader and the teammate with whom I work most closely) last night! I have been loving this job so much, but the one thing that was missing was the chance to spend time with my co-workers. I’ve missed travel, and I’ve missed engaging with people at work (not on a screen – I see their faces almost every day but we’re all in little boxes on the computer screen, which is not the same). This week is going to be fun. 🙂

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Well, it’s Monday again! And October. Shut the front door. Y’all, I am drained today. It was a busy weekend – good busy, but I’m wiped out. Last Wednesday, my very best friend Rebecca arrived in town from Florida. She was here to attend a CLE (that’s Continuing Legal Education for you non-lawyers out there) conference in DC, and squeeze in friend time around the margins. I picked her up from the airport and she was able to welcome the kids home from school before I drove her to her friend Shannon’s house to stay closer to the conference for a few days. She rejoined us on Friday and stayed all weekend – YAY! It was nice to have her company because – another reason I am drained – Steve was out of town for a partners’ retreat with his law firm colleagues, and I was solo parenting for four days straight. I was supposed to attend the retreat with him – spouses were invited and he turned out to be the only one without a date, but all of our overnight childcare fell through. I wasn’t super sad about not traveling this weekend, but solo parenting two feral pandemic children wiped me out. Plus something always happens when one parent is alone. This time, it was a playground injury during soccer practice on Friday. We narrowly avoided a trip to urgent care, and were very happy to see Aunt Rebecca’s welcome face walk through the door. The rest of the weekend was lots of good running around – soccer, a haircut for Nugget, garden center (and bouncy castle!), a Sunday morning hike, swim class, neighborhood walks, cooking – the list goes on. We did a lot, and I’m tired now but I regret nothing.

Reading. Whew! Although I didn’t have much reading time over the weekend, I apparently made up for that during the week. Three print books finished (all total delights) and one audiobook (Richard Armitage reading Agatha Christie is everything, ladies), and I’m now well into O, the Brave Music and loving it. Bodes well for the week ahead!

Watching. I am deep down a Monty Don rabbit hole on Britbox and not even mad about it. I watched an episode and a half while Steve was out of town, and +100 would do it again. Nugget, who loves plants, indulgently watches with me. Everyone else grumbles.

Listening. Most of the week was given over to my audiobook – The Murder on the Links – but I did turn back to podcasts after wrapping that up. And Nugget is more of a tunes guy in the car, so there was a lot of singing along to Decemberists songs on the way to and from his haircut.

Making. Well, Nugget and Aunt Rebecca and I made a masterpiece of driveway chalk. Behold! It got a lot bigger than the above – this was just the beginning. Also made: progress on a rather sloppy scarf I’m knitting; a clean guestroom; a fairy garden with Peanut, and some BIG travel plans. I’ve hinted a few times that Steve and I had a big trip on the horizon in February. I was oddly reluctant to talk about it though, because I had a funny feeling it was going to fall through. It kind of did, and kind of didn’t, but the short story is that over a year ago we had booked – and fully paid for – a trip to Antarctica in February 2022, and we learned a few weeks ago that our trip has officially been pushed to 2023. After spending two weeks trying to find a solution to still travel to Antarctica in 2022, we finally accepted that we’re going to be waiting another year, and we pivoted to thinking about what we could do to make this feel okay. I’m deeply disappointed, but I was not letting myself get too excited about it to begin with, because I did sort of think this might happen. As a consolation we spent last week researching, and this week we booked a different February trip – so we will have something really cool to look forward to in February after all. Our reshuffled travel plans are basically the polar (har, har) opposite of Antarctica: we’re trading in parkas for board shorts and penguins for sloths – we’ll be road tripping around Costa Rica. I think this is going to happen – hotels are booked, and some of the adventures are already arranged, with more to come. I’m taking stock of my camera arsenal and plotting out the best way to see sloths. I love making plans, and the will-we-or-won’t-we aspect of our Antarctica trip (we will, but just a year later than planned) was stressing me out. But I’m feeling good and confident about Costa Rica, which is a strange – but nice – sensation.

Moving. Meh, not much movement this week. No running – lots of neighborhood walks; gotta get those 10,000 steps in – and just one short hike. Must do better next week.

Blogging. September’s reading round-up coming atcha on Wednesday, and back to the ‘dacks on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. Can’t say it enough – I love, love, love seeing my cherished friends! Especially during a pandemic, when we don’t see each other nearly enough as it is. It’s been wonderful having Rebecca for a few days. We’ve been cooking, walking, laughing, and wishing we could do this every weekend.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Monday again – whew! How were your weekends? Ours was another combination weekend – a crazy-busy Saturday and a much more low-key Sunday. On Friday evening, Steve took Nugget to soccer practice; Peanut and I stayed home so she could get a head start on cleaning her room (don’t ask). Saturday came early; I mean really early. My alarm went off at 6:00 sharp so I could make coffee and rush out the door to my first starting line since pre-pandemic: the DC Bike Ride, 20 miles of car-free riding around the monuments. It was a bit of a bumpy ride (entirely my fault – the event itself was wonderful and seamless) – more to come on Wednesday. I rushed home with just enough time to slam lunch and pick Peanut up from Brownies, and then we rolled right back out the door for apple-picking. I’d actually thought ahead and booked tickets at a farm out in Loudoun County; we had to take a major detour to get to the orchard (because of a car accident entirely blocking one side of the highway – hope everyone is okay) but it turns out the farm country around the area is beautiful and we weirdly enjoyed the extra thirty minutes in the car. And of course, apple-picking was a delight, as always.

Sunday was much more low-key. I kicked around the ideas of a long run, and a long walk, but ended up not leaving the house/yard all day – except to take the kids to their weekly swim class, and later, to walk Nugget over to his buddy’s house in a cul-de-sac across the street. The rest of the day, I just puttered around – folding laundry, drafting and scheduling travel recap posts for the blog, making the first pumpkin curry of the season for dinner. I want to get a bit more organizing done this week, but it was a quiet day and I made a start, and that’s what I needed.

Reading. Not a bad reading week! After months of dipping in and out, I finally finished James Herriot’s classic memoir, All Creatures Great and Small, on Audible. Most of my page-turning hours were devoted to The Greek Myths, which I finally finished up on Saturday night. More to come on that, soonish. Sunday’s reading was my reward for finishing an eye-popping trek through the entire landscape of Greek mythology, and about as far from the homicidal, cannibal orgies of ancient Greek gods and heroes as it’s possible to get – Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life. I’m trying not to read too fast, because it’s a total delight and frankly, much more relaxing and enjoyable than The Greek Myths.

Watching. We’ve been letting Nugget pick the evening viewing lately (don’t feel too sorry for Peanut; she had a stretch of about two weeks of dictating TV) and it’s been Shark Central as a result. We did, however, carve out some time for the latest season of The Great British Bake-Off and watched the first episode – which just dropped on Netflix – over two nights. And I’m still keeping company with Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel as I wash dishes and fold laundry; I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself when I finish all the back episodes. I’ll have to go back to avoiding housework.

Listening. I’m on an audiobook jag! After I finished All Creatures Great and Small over several walks and one day of driving to work (!!!) last week I was on such a roll that I immediately downloaded my next Audible listen – The Murder on the Links, read by Richard Armitage (#swoon). I would literally listen to Richard Armitage read the phone book.

Making. Another busy week in the kitchen – par for the course when I’m Whole30-ing. I actually snapped pictures of every evening’s dinner so I could show you what I actually eat on Whole30, but it’s going to be a few weeks before that post goes live; I just have a lot of content pre-planned right now. I’ll get to it eventually, I promise. And with the onset of cooler weather – it’s been almost crisp in the mornings – I am starting to get the itch to take on a craft project. I’ve been eyeing embroidery kits online, although I’ll probably choose to be responsible and knit up some of the yarn I already have, instead. I’d like to make a pair of fingerless gloves.

Moving. Most of the week was light on movement, sadly. No running at all, as I was saving my legs for the DC Bike Ride on Saturday. I had big plans to get out for one more training ride before the event, and to meet my friend Dorothy for another morning of paddling, but weather and work interfered with both. But at least I got in one great workout – those twenty car-free miles through DC! Recap (!!!) to come on Wednesday.

Blogging. See above: on Wednesday I have a recap of the DC Bike Ride for you (just said that, heh). And on Friday, back to the ‘dacks for more summer travel – we’ll be doing that for awhile.

Loving. I’ve said many times that I can’t choose a favorite season; I am truly undecided as to whether I love summer or fall more. Growing up, fall was the clear choice – I’ve grown to love summer more in adulthood. Instead of mourning summer, or feeling bittersweet about the turn of the seasons, I am looking at the transition to fall as another phase in my favorite half of the year (although I adore winter too – spring is really the only season I could take or leave – so maybe it’s my favorite three-quarters of the year). Between apple-picking, pumpkin curry-making, and Halloween costume-shopping, I’ve embraced the new season. Nugget and I even had a grand leaf-stomping yesterday. Bring on woodsmoke, harvest moon nights, red leaves, crackling bonfires, little monsters begging for candy, spiced apple cakes, steaming tea, brisk bus stop mornings, and soft yoga blanket reading nests.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Well! Good morning. So that busy weekend that didn’t materialize last weekend, that I predicted would come in force this weekend? It did. In force. I’m not even sure I can remember everything we did, let alone summarize it all in one to three efficient paragraphs, but I’ll try. We kicked off the weekend with the first soccer practice of the season, after sitting out last week on the sick list. Nugget dove right into soccer as if he hadn’t had a week’s break since camp, and was proclaimed “a baller” by the coach. We got home late – this will be the story of Friday for the next few months – and treated ourselves to Peruvian chicken to celebrate the end of a loooooong week.

On Saturday, we were up early and out the door for Nugget’s first game – Honduras (his team) vs. Australia. I’m pretty sure no one kept score, which was a good thing because if they had we’d have gotten absolutely shellacked. But it was adorable, and Nugget had a fabulous time, which is what matters. No sooner did we arrive home from Saturday soccer than Peanut and I were out the door again – for a stop at the local office supply store to print her requisite forms for Brownies (the girl behind the desk, seeing that we were printing Girl Scout forms, asked us to please promise to come around at cookie time – this is why I love supporting my neighborhood businesses), and then off to Peanut’s Brownie investiture ceremony and first badge activity: a painting class at a local historic mill and museum. She came home with orange paint-encrusted fingers, proudly clutching a baggie with her investiture patch and her first badge. Then – after a morning dedicated to kiddo activities, Steve and I insisted on family time. We gathered the whole crew up again (grousing at not getting to spend the – beautiful, sunny – afternoon watching cartoons) and rolled off to Seneca Regional Park to challenge ourselves with a slightly longer loop than usual. Once they got over their dismay at being torn from the TV, the kids were surprisingly good, and a few miles of river and woodland views were very good for the soul, indeed.

Still with me? If not, I don’t blame you. I was apparently tired after this day of monumental activity too, because I sacked out at 9:30 on Saturday night (party animal) and slept until almost 8:30 on Sunday morning – nearly eleven hours! Guess I needed it. Anyway, I rolled out of bed and immediately laid out adorable outfits for the kids to wear apple-picking, which is what we’d decided to do on Sunday morning before their midday swim lessons. So it was my turn to be dismayed when Steve glumly announced that the orchard I’d intended for us to visit – the only one that doesn’t require advance reservations – was out of everything except Red Delicious. As we all know, Red Delicious is not delicious. (This is a fact, not an opinion.) So we postponed apple-picking until next weekend, reluctantly, and after I’d wrestled both kids into their cute orchard themed outfits, they refused to change and ended up hiking (our Plan B) in a gingham shirt and apple-print dress, respectively. And now everyone knows what they’ll be wearing next weekend. Follow me for more elementary school fashion tips! Anyway – we squeezed in a quick hike at our local fave, Riverbend Regional Park, then tooled off to swimming. And after all that, I felt like I’d earned a lazy afternoon at home, so that’s what I gave myself. I went for a walk, did some work, made Whole30-compliant golumpki for Sunday dinner, and read on the couch for hours. It was good.

Reading. ‘Twas another busy one! After spending most of the week over my re-read of Gwen Raverat’s delightful Period Piece, I blazed through three books between Friday and Sunday: first, Agatha Christie’s debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, followed by the slim but entertaining The House Party, a social history of upper-class “week-end” entertainment in the interwar years in Great Britain (mostly in England, but a dash of Scotland for good measure). And then polished off Business as Usual in a day and loved every word – another contender for the year’s top-ten list. I finished off the weekend by diving into Robert Graves’ doorstopping The Greek Myths (off my Classics Club list) and I do hope I’m sufficiently recovered from James A. Michener for the epic task ahead.

Watching. It’s been an all-over-the-place sort of watching week. We spent three nights over The Lizzie McGuire Movie – I had a hunch Peanut would love it, and I was right. Around Lizzie we tucked some Rock the Park (studying up for some travel we have coming up this fall!) and a “grown-ups movie night” featuring an episode of The Crown, because we’re well behind and need to finish this season before the next one drops. Oh, and I’m still working my way through Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel while washing dishes, and enjoying it so much that I often find myself cleaning unnecessarily just to watch another episode.

Listening. I have to tell you, listening to music in the car with kids is a complicated business. Nugget requested “tunes” on the way home from swimming. I asked what he wanted to listen to, and he said “Classical” so I obliged with Holst’s The Planets. But apparently by “Classical” he meant “something with singing” so I suggested Charlotte Church as the only classical music I happened to have downloaded that also involved singing. Dramatic gagging ensued. (What’s their problem with Charlotte Church, I ask you?) Then Nugget clarified that when he requested classical music “with singing” he meant The Decemberists. I started to quibble – The Decemberists are rock, after all – but decided it wasn’t worth it, and we listened to Your Ghost four times in a row. You see what I mean? Complicated business. Anyway, other than negotiating kiddo music choices, I’m pleased to report that I knocked another hour off my audiobook (All Creatures Great and Small) and listened to several bookish podcast episodes while walking around my neighborhood.

Making. Lots of cooking this week, as always with a Whole30, but the highlight was definitely Sunday evening’s Paleo golumpki. (Turkey instead of beef/pork; cauliflower rice instead of white rice; and tomato puree with almond milk whisked in instead of Campbell’s soup – and it tastes unnervingly like my grandmother’s.)

Moving. Bit of a lazy week, this one was. Just one run and two hikes, plus daily neighborhood walks – usually after the kids board the school bus. Sometimes I see them barreling along through the neighborhood if I time the walk just right.

Blogging. It’s going to be a good week! I have September’s Themed Reads coming for you on Wednesday, and continuing with Adirondack recaps on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. I recently found a new-to-me social media follow – @nattieupnorth on Instagram – and I can’t recommend her highly enough. If you’re an outdoorsy type and you’re around social, do check her out; she posts beautiful photos and stories about life in Minnesota (I’ve never been, but would love to go). I found her through YouTube, actually: her justifiably popular video about how she, one tiny person, hoists a 90-pound fishing kayak onto her car without help. Clearly a force to be reckoned with! I’ve been loving following her posts; they’re bringing so much extra beauty to my days.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Mornin’ all. How were your weekends? This was supposed to be the first busy weekend of the fall – but that will come next weekend, as it turns out. Nugget’s first soccer practice and game were scheduled for Friday and Saturday respectively but… womp, womp… he failed his health screening, thanks to his proximity to his sister and her gross cold and ear infection. He was patient zero and gave her the bugs originally, so I guess fair’s fair – but he was understandably bummed. We were a bit frustrated at the restrictiveness and rigidity of the soccer league when it came to the health screening – safety first, we totally get that, but between Peanut and Nugget they had four negative COVID tests this week, and both were cleared to attend school by the pediatrician, but Nugget was still scratched by the league safety committee. To be honest, it seemed a bit hard knocks that what the pediatrician considered healthy enough to attend school somehow wasn’t healthy enough to play soccer outside – but them’s the breaks. He’ll play next weekend, and I am hoping that other families are as conscientious and honest as we were, because the list of symptoms that the soccer league considers disqualifying (including being in contact with someone with a headache – thank goodness I don’t work in law firms anymore) is so extensive that I’m legit concerned that the league is either going to have (1) a bunch of teams that have to forfeit games due to having NO players; or (2) lots of lying parents. But the league made a decision and we respected it.

Anyway, you’d think no soccer practice and no game would have freed up oodles of time, but we still did a bit of running around. On Friday, my team at work had a virtual murder mystery to start the weekend; we all dialed into zoom, several people had drinks (not me – Whole30, round floppity jillion) and we solved a murder, #nobigdeal. I’m pleased to report that my team WON and I WAS CAPTAIN. You guys can start calling me Young Miss Marple. So – after I singlehandedly caught a killer (okay that’s not what happened) we quickly fed the kiddos and rushed off to their school for the first PTO event of the year – an outdoor screening of The Incredibles 2. It was a blast, although I stood in line for more than half an hour to get the kiddos popcorn. We set up camp chairs, chatted with neighbors and friends, and made it half an hour into the film before everyone got cold and we packed it in for the night. That was the big event of the weekend, as it turned out – other than a hike on Saturday (Nugget got to use his new kidizoom camera) and swim lessons on Sunday, it was a quiet couple of days. I read a lot, did some work on Sunday afternoon, took a long ramble around the neighborhood – the usual good stuff. And now it’s off on another week.

Reading. Hello! I’m sure you must be wondering, so just to be clear: yes, I did other things this week – my job, for one, and putting dinners on the table, and taking the kiddos to activities, and making coffee, and walking. It just happens that I also have my reading mojo back, yippee, and that these are all pretty short books. So – to sum up quickly: I finished The Hour of Land on Tuesday, and it was wonderful to the last. For something completely different, I turned to the summer issue of Slightly Foxed (trying to knock it out before the fall issue arrived, which it did a few days later). That’s always a quick read, and then I moved on to another quick read – Maggie Smith’s slim volume of new poems, Goldenrod. Enjoyed, then snatched a September title off my stack of Girls Gone By paperbacks – Crooked Sixpence, which was good fun. By this point I was on a vintage book roll, so I finally turned to a World War II home front memoir I’ve been saving – Spam Tomorrow, by Verily Anderson. It was absolutely wonderful and will definitely be a contender for my top-ten list at the end of the year. Finally! Finished Sunday off by starting a re-read of Period Piece, which I read a few years ago and loved. It’s been a good reading week indeed.

Watching. Well – not much as you can see; I’ve been reading of an evening and not wandering down to the TV room at all. I did join Steve and the kiddos for “family TV time” and “family movie night” as I always do; Peanut has been choosing lately and we all watched “Home” (a Netflix original about a little alien who learns big life lessons, starring Rihanna, J.Lo and Steve Martin, because why not) and “Leap” (another Netflix cartoon I didn’t like as much). I’ve also been catching up on Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel while washing dishes of an evening; it’s made me actually look forward to loading the dishwasher, so basically it’s a miracle show.

Listening. The usual suspects – podcasts, namely The Mom Hour (loved the episode on breakfasts) and Tea or Books? – always winners both.

Making. Lots of food prep this week! I’m a week into a Whole30 – needed a nutritional reset after a summer of moving a lot but not paying much attention to eating – and that always entails lots of chopping, sauteeing, roasting, braising – basically, my entire kitchen toolbox comes out to play and I’m not even mad about it. The highlight was a chicken and kale stew that I made earlier in the week and finished off on Friday.

Moving. It was a busy week at work and movement fell a bit by the wayside. I still got in my 10,000 steps a day – I’m on a streak since early June and not letting up now. The highlight, though, was sneaking off for a pre-work paddle on the Potomac with my friend Dorothy. I’ve known Dorothy for years through my college alumni club – we both served on the Board of Directors for a few years, and were co-Vice Presidents for Programming, and we’ve kept in touch over Facebook but it’d been ages since we got together in person. Dorothy texted me in August to ask if I would teach her to kayak – obviously, I immediately said (there’s not much to teach but) of course I would. It’s all part of my plan to snag myself another paddling buddy. (Clearly I love paddling with Steve, but sometimes you just want to hit the river with a girlfriend, know what I mean? And yes – that is Steve’s life jacket and paddle; I loaned them to Dorothy, wasn’t that generous of me?) It wasn’t much of a workout, but we had a fabulous time chatting all the way to Chain Bridge and back, and at the end we agreed to make this a standing date until the boathouses close and then switch to hiking. Three cheers for active outdoorsy girlfriends!

Blogging. Continuing with summer catch-up all week! On Wednesday I’m showing off my shiny, newly-finished One Second Everyday video full of summer fun, and on Friday, it’s back to the Adirondacks for some peak-bagging. Check in with me then!

Loving. When we were shopping around for a new hometown in the spring of 2020, I read an article about the exurb hamlet where we ended up. The article painted an idyllic portrait of big yards (and often unreasonably big houses to go along with them, but let’s focus on the yards); neighbors gathering at the local coffee shop for Saturday morning vintage car shows; Fourth of July parades; and outdoor movies on the village green all summer long. After four years of city living (and before that, three years of cold loneliness in western New York) that warmth was just what I wanted. We had to wait for it – for obvious reasons, most of the local town activities were cancelled during our first summer here (and our second, too). But this weekend I finally got a taste of what I moved for (along with outdoor space, cheaper rent and better schools, of course). The PTO at the kiddos’ elementary school hosted its first event of the year – a movie night, discussed above. I thought it was a virtual event and that we’d all watch The Incredibles 2 at home on Disney+… so you can imagine my surprise when Steve told me no, it’s a real event, with tickets and popcorn and everything. We rolled up to the school as the sun was setting and the PTO volunteers were inflating the big outdoor movie screen. We staked out a spot, set up our camp chairs, and not seconds later were attacked with hugs by the mother of one of Nugget’s tee-ball teammates (and kindergarten classmates). (“I’m a touchy person,” she said, rubbing my arm, “I hope you don’t mind!”) She introduced us to her in-laws, nieces and nephews before the whole bunch of them wandered off to find some ground that wasn’t already taken. And I turned around to see two neighbors – and new bus stop friends – waving. Steve and I wandered to their blanket (the kids had long since decamped for the playground and basketball court with a clump of friends) and we chatted about the block party they’re planning – the last one was a dud, apparently, and they have their minds set on redemption. And then it got dark, and we snuggled in to watch the movie under my favorite orange shawl, and I oozed with gratitude for this little town and these warm people, and finally getting to experience the charm that we moved here for.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Good… afternoon! I promise that these Monday afternoon posts are going to stop – very soon – and I’ll get back on a regular schedule. I’ve been trying to eke out every last drop of summer fun and blogging just sometimes falls by the wayside. You know how it is. This being Labor Day weekend, we obviously needed one last hurrah before turning our attention to fall and fall things (although the anklebiters have been back in school for two weeks already…). So on Friday afternoon we rolled out of town and headed for the mountains – Shenandoah National Park, specifically. Shenandoah is one of our happy places, and I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve been there by now. This time, we planned to stay overnight, right in the park – at Skyland, one of the lodges on Skyline Drive. It was a perfect base of operations for an epic weekend – we banged out seven hikes over three days, and I’ve got posts coming on all of them after I wrap up recapping Steve’s and my trip up to the Adirondacks last month. (Travel recaps will be continuing for awhile, guys…) I’m not even sure I could pick a highlight of the weekend; we climbed multiple mountains, challenged ourselves in new ways, and unplugged for three days straight. It was glorious.

Reading. It was a lovely bookish week! I finished up The Adventurous Summer on Tuesday – the last day of August. With time for one more summer read before Labor Day, I decided on Where Stands a Winged Sentry: Margaret Kennedy’s memoir of the summer 1940, when all of England was expecting a Nazi invasion every day. It was fascinating, gorgeously written, and evocative – I flew through it. Finally, a weekend in my favorite National Park deserves some special reading – The Hour of Land, by Terry Tempest Williams, which I’ve been saving for just such a trip. I’m about 100 pages from the end and battling the twin impulses to fly through it and also slow down so I can savor every word.

Watching. The kids haven’t been on a movie jag in ages – maybe even a couple of years – but right now they’re BIG on the Lego Movie, so I’ve watched that several times this week out of the corner of my eye. As funny as that movie is (it’s really hilarious) what I’ve enjoyed more is watching the wind whoosh through the treetops at the summits of Shenandoah’s beautiful mountains, and watching the kids stretch their wings and become stronger hikers over the weekend.

Listening. I had to think back on this, because while I’ve also listened to the Lego Movie several times (in the car to and from Shenandoah) I never listen to music or podcasts on family trips. But there was a bit of The Mom Hour while running errands last week.

Making. Menu plans for the upcoming few weeks – I’m craving a nutritional reset, so starting another Whole30 tomorrow. And fun adventure plans for the fall; I finally decided what I’m doing for my birthday. Stay tuned!

Moving. Alllllll the hiking! Seven hikes – including several mountains. And earlier in the week, a couple of runs. I’ve been going to the bus stop in my running gear and taking off pretty much as soon as the kids climb aboard. They said they’ve seen me through the bus windows a few times.

Blogging. Musing on Michener on Wednesday, and continuing Adirondack travel recaps on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. It was so wonderful to get away, into the mountains, and unplug for a bit. With the school year already underway and fall activities revving up – Girl Scouts has already begun; soccer and swimming both start next weekend – I really needed a couple of days away from it all, to gather my forces. Shenandoah was full of gifts, as it always is: maybe the best was this moment, above, on the trail to Mary’s Rock this morning. The fog was rolling up the mountain and brewing into a cloud, and the sun’s rays cut through the mist in a hundred points of light. We were the only ones on this section of the trail, and all four of us were mesmerized.

Asking. What are you reading this week?