Yawwwwwn. How was your weekend? This one felt fast to me. And speaking of feeling fast – how is it already August thirtieth? Where has the summer gone? Sigh. Anyway – it was a good weekend. Steve’s mom came up from Florida for a short visit; we hadn’t seen her since pre-pandemic, so way too long. She was only able to stay for two nights, but we made the most of the time! She arrived on Friday evening, just in time for our usual weekly takeout night. The kids were over the moon excited to see Grandma! On Saturday, we drove up to Baltimore and showed Grandma around one of our favorite spots – the National Aquarium. She loves animals, and we usually take her to the National Zoo when she visits, but everyone wanted to mix it up this time. We all had a fabulous time – the highlight (for me, at least) was this stunning scarlet macaw in the rainforest section. Saturday afternoon, we just spent relaxing at home and catching up, and then first thing Sunday morning – Grandma was gone after not nearly enough time. (Hopefully she can come back soon!)

The rest of Sunday, we mostly spent relaxing. I had the idea that everyone kind of needed a quiet day to recharge before another full week of school. Nugget and Steve watched Formula One, Peanut read in her room, and I blazed through about two hundred pages in the sunroom. In the afternoon, Nugget and I were getting a bit itchy to leave the house, so we headed to the local garden center and picked up some new houseplants (hopefully we don’t kill them this time…). We brought home Poppy the Philodendron, Severus the Snake Plant, and Stella the Spider Plant (Nugget named them all). Just as I was unloading our new family members, my phone pinged a reminder that Peanut had a “Welcome to Brownies!” pool party in eight minutes. Whoops. We both got changed in record time and rushed across town to meet her new Girl Scout troop – frenetic start to the party aside, it was wonderful. Peanut hit it off with the girls right away, and the other moms were sweet and welcoming. I think we’re going to love being part of this troop! I’ve got to order her uniform today. And off we go…

Reading. ‘Twas a lovely reading week – finally! Over a few weekday evenings, I finished up The Swiss Summer, which was fresh and evocative; I loved it. Spent the better part of the weekend over Summer: An anthology for the changing seasons, from Melissa Harrison’s seasonal quartet (which I just love). I finished it over a long sitting in the sunroom with a cup of blackberry sage tea on Sunday morning – delicious, both the tea and the book. Finally, still trying to work through as much of my summer reading list as I can before August gives way to September, I turned to The Adventurous Summer – a new reprint from Girls Gone By. It’s completely charming; I’m a little more than halfway through at press time and enjoying it so much.

Watching. Did a fair amount of viewing this week – about the usual, I think. We finished up Growing Up Animal (from the NatGeo collection on Disney+) this week; it was such fun and beautifully filmed. And then on Sunday, when Peanut and I got home from our pool party, the boys had just started the Transformers movie. I found it surprisingly fun – seriously, Transformers, who knew? We couldn’t quite finish it before little eyes were drooping, so we’ll wrap it up tonight.

Listening. All The Mom Hour, all the time this week. I listened to a few episodes, and particularly enjoyed the latest episode – on energy levels, and practical tips for managing yours.

Making. Meh, not much. It’s the standard end-of-summer lull. I’m spending my time rushing around trying to cram in all the summer fun. I’ll be back at my kitchen stove and photo editing software when the weather cools off.

Moving. Pretty low-key week, actually. I did get in a couple of runs, but this week was mostly walking. (I’m trying to get the August Walking badge on the Garmin Connect app, and I need 4.2 more miles…)

Blogging. August reading round-up coming atcha on Wednesday, and a hike recap on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. We always love our visits to the aquarium, but this time was extra fun – not only because we brought Grandma with us, but also because brave little Nugget reached into the touch tank and petted a few of the animals! (Seriously, he reached all the way in – his little shoulder was soaked, heh.) He stroked a couple of horseshoe crabs, some moon jellies, and a little ray (which he described as feeling “like Jell-O”). I have never been able to stoke up my courage enough to stick my hand in the touch tank (and I was a little nervous when he did it – especially the jellyfish petting, yikes!). I’m on record as wanting to get over my own apprehension of fish, and I’m so impressed and proud of him for just going for it. I say it all the time, but – he’s just the coolest kid EVER.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

You guys. I can’t believe this day is here – it’s the first day of school! Peanut is off to third grade, and Nugget starts first. And get this: they’re going in person, five days a week. I can barely believe it’s happening. Obviously I’m all tied into knots about this school year. All the usual worries are present – will we be able to manage the schedule? Will the kids make friends, and will their teachers “get” them? And then there’s the COVID worries on top of the normal worries. But I’m trying to stay positive and visualize getting off to a great start, the school year going really well, and everyone staying healthy. Cross your fingers for us.

In addition to this past weekend being the last weekend of the kids’ summer vacation, it was also Peanut’s birthday weekend! Can you believe it? She’s nine. I really don’t know where the time goes. Unlike her brother – who always wants to be out doing things – Peanut really enjoys chilling at home, so when we asked her how she wanted to spend her day, she wanted to open her presents early and then have a quiet day communing with her new stuff. So that’s what we did! We all loafed around the house most of the day (Nugget and I did slip out to run some errands and give Peanut a break from the little brother circus) – until it was time for the only outing Peanut wanted: a trip to the American Girl Store for dinner and shopping. One of her birthday gifts was to have a few of her dolls admitted to the doll hospital (she’s quite rough on her toys, and multiple Wellie Wishers needed new heads). Steve and I had a talk with her to the effect of: we’re happy to get these dolls fixed as a gift to you, but this is the only time we do this; any more “dolly makeovers” we’re not fixing. She also got to choose a new American Girl, and she picked Kira, the 2021 Girl of the Year. Dinner at the American Girl Bistro rounded out what was pretty much her perfect day. Sunday was quiet; I picked up groceries, did some prep for the first week of school lunches since March 2020, washed the kids’ new school clothes, and tried to get organized for the week ahead (here’s hoping). Nugget and I did slip away in the morning to test out his new kayak at the local reservoir. He was stoked to be paddling his own ‘yak, and – as I knew he would – he did a great job following my directions and staying safe around the water. His kayak is stable enough to double as a stand-up paddleboard (that’s one of the selling points) and he wanted to try standing up; I reluctantly allowed it, but only in the shallow water around the launch area. He had so much fun – he was a little grumpy and sassy when I said it was time to leave, which is uncharacteristic for him – and I’m excited to have another paddling buddy and to watch his skills develop.

Reading. Okay, same gallery as last week, but I have actual progress to report this time! I finished the James Michener. Praise the reading gods! Seriously, I had started to doubt that this day would ever come. It was engaging and a good read, but just way too long – at least, way too long for me to read in the summer; talk to me when winter darkness sets in and I might be more inclined to pick up another Michener. I’m thinking of writing a blog post about this epic reading journey. Anyway – after I turned off my kindle (with a certain amount of relief), I happily switched back to The Swiss Summer. At press time, I’m a little less than halfway through and enjoying the change of pace immensely, rather like Lucy Cottrell in her Alpine travels.

Watching. Because it was Peanut’s birthday weekend, she got the privilege of dictating what we all watched – MaryEllen’s Extraordinary Christmas on Friday, and Alice in Wonderland on Saturday. (I will admit that I mostly scrolled through my phone during Alice.) We’ve also discovered a new NatGeo series (or new-to-us, anyway) called Growing Up Animal – fun.

Listening. Podcasts are back! And a good variety. I finished up a half-listened episode of Tea or Books, then plowed through the August episode of As the Seasons Turn and a few summer episodes of The Mom Hour. Good stuff all.

Making. Plans, plans and more plans – not especially fun plans, but plans. I’m back on the meal-planning train and have plotted out a week’s worth of dinners (and mostly stuck to the menu!) two weeks running now; well done, me. And there’s so much thought that has to go into back-to-school season; it’s overwhelming. I’ve got quite a few lists running and I’m working my way through them.

Moving. Bit of a light week of movement – I think I’m tired from travels, but I’m ready to get back on the horse soon. I squeezed in two runs, which felt good (my shin is still sore, but improving and definitely runnable now – it only bothers me when someone presses on it, which Nugget does a few times a day; I’d probably be totally healed by now, were it not for that). This coming week, with the kids in school, I’m determined to get back on the daily exercise train.

Blogging. Themed Reads for back-to-school coming atcha on Wednesday (it’s not what you’d think!) and the first of my summer travel posts on Friday. This will be a long series, so buckle up.

Loving. I’m so stoked that Nugget finally has his kayak (he’s been asking for a YEAR) and that we can paddle together! I tend to be an anxious mom, especially where he is concerned. (Peanut generally doesn’t go in for daredevil type activities, so I don’t worry as much about tumbles and bumped noggins with her.) But he’s great about following my directions, especially when I make it clear that it’s about safety, and he’s got pretty decent water skills for a little duffer. I’m looking forward to more mornings on the water with him, as we transition into our long, warm fall days. I’ve loved paddlesports since I was a kid, and it warms my heart that he wants to share that with me.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Here we go – the third in my three-part bookshelf tour (tired yet?). When we moved into this house, my first bookish priority was to get the upstairs shelves unloaded and organized. (Not my first priority in general, of course – that came after getting the kids’ clothes and toys unpacked and put away; the kitchen organized; and our clothes in the closet. Then, and only then, books.) Over the next few months, I both acquired new books and turned up old books – especially those belonging to Steve – that had been in storage for the past few years. We finally had the space to keep them all out where we could get to them easily, so I ordered three Billy bookshelves from IKEA and set them up along the back wall of the family room, next to the kids’ library cart bookshelf (which originally lived in Peanut’s nursery and which I will keep forever).

From the top left:

The top shelf is overflow paperback and some small hardcovers – mostly literary fiction. Some of these, I’d really like to move to the main shelves – especially the Gilead quartet. Once I have a chance to read and whittle down my literary fiction shelf upstairs – and bring a few to the library donation bin, which is finally accepting again – this shelf may shuffle a bit.

I think of the second shelf as the “cozy shelf.” Christmas books on the left, knitting on the right. Does it get cozier than that? (I haven’t knitted anything in ages. Maybe I’ll start up again this winter.)

Finally, the third shelf is roughly divided between beverages (mostly Steve’s books about beer, and some of our joint wine books) on the left, and overflow cookbooks on the right. I keep most of my cookbooks upstairs – on shelves in the kitchen and dining room. These are the few that didn’t fit anywhere else.

On the lower left, this is Steve’s domain. He has half a shelf full of copies of a law review in which he published an article about punitive damages (the red journals are the law review issue in which his article appears, and the blue are individually bound copies of his article and a few copies of another law journal, which reprinted his article). (This is a huge achievement, and we proudly display those journals!) The rest of the shelves contain his fiction and nonfiction books, mostly organized by size.

Shelf two is almost all overflow book storage for me. The top shelf houses children’s books that didn’t fit upstairs – and my favorite old movies on DVD. (In the days when I had more time, I was a little bit of an old film buff – especially when it came to 1930s screwball comedies and anything starring Katharine Hepburn or Lauren Bacall. These days, I am last in line for the TV and the kids hate my old movies.)

Lower shelves – overflow hardcover and paperback classics, and my comics and graphic novel shelf. I need to spend more time with this one – I especially want to get to those omnibus editions of golden age Wonder Woman (I always said I would not be a superhero comic reader, and I’m not, but I make exceptions for Wonder Woman – my favorite – and Ms. Marvel).

The bottom three shelves on this bookcase are more overflow – classics, nonfiction, and oversized/coffee table books. I can’t wait to get to The South Polar Times. Soon!

The last shelf doesn’t have any books on it! I know – you’re shocked. Top two shelves are more DVDs (so vintage!) and underneath that, some of Steve’s Buffalo sports memorabilia and a stack of puzzles that Nugget and I like to work on together (when we have free space on the dining room table, which we haven’t for about a year – thanks to virtual school and workstations – that’s changing so maybe we can get back to our puzzling; Steve and Peanut think it’s a ridiculous activity and refuse to join in).

Finally! Last section of the last bookshelf. Top shelf has more puzzles – mostly adult puzzles that I do with Nugget, but a few of Nugget’s own puzzles, too. (Like the “Search and Find – Arctic Life” puzzle, which is super cute.) And then our board game collection, which Steve and I have added to over the years. Most of these are our grown-up games; we like to pull one out and play a game over wine (after kiddo bedtime) a few times a month. (Most recently we’ve been into Illimat and Marrying Mr. Darcy. Whenever we have guests, though, I agitate for my longtime favorites – Clue and Scattergories.) The kids have a few games in here, too – mostly games that are fun enough for Steve and me to be willing to play the for family game nights. Junior Rangerland, The Scrambled States of America, and especially Charley Harper’s Name That Bird, which Nugget got for Christmas and with which he, Steve and I are all obsessed. This is reminding me that I need to get another family game night on the calendar, and another grown-ups’ game night too.

If you’ve hung with me this long, well done you! That’s ALL of the bookshelves, with the exception of the cookbook shelves (unless you really want to see those, I think we’re done here). So – can we all agree that I need another bookcase or two or ten?

Tap, tap. Is this thing on? Happy Monday… night, folks. Sorry about the sporadic radio silence around here! The truth is – I’ve been out of town for the past two-and-a-half weeks, and computer time has been limited (no complaints here – it’s been wonderful). As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we attended a family wedding; I neglected to let y’all know that it was in upstate New York, and we’ve been up there ever since – we just got back to Virginia today. Because I am still accruing vacation time and saving it all for a big trip this winter, we didn’t have plans to take a real vacation, but it was too good of an opportunity to see family and spend some time in the cooler, less humid air. After the wedding, we all hung around my parents’ house for a week; Steve and I worked and the kids basked in grandparent attention. And then last week, my parents wanted the kids to themselves (to spoil with ice cream, no doubt) so Steve and I were told to make ourselves scarce. We went up to Lake Placid and spent the week in a hotel on Mirror Lake – one of our favorite spots – mainly working, but squeezing in some fun adventures in our hiking boots and our new touring kayaks around work hours, and eating lots of delicious restaurant meals. (Steve reflected one evening that the perk of an active trip is that you can eat pretty much anything you want, guilt-free – we took advantage.) We bagged another Adirondack high peak, explored several new-to-us lakes, rode the mountain coaster at Mt. Van Hoevenberg – and so much more! Stories to come. Saturday was our travel day back to my parents’ house, and Sunday was for easing back into reality. I caught up with my high school BFF, Jenn, over a long walk, and then watched the kids show off their new tennis and biking skills. And then it was early to bed for a zero-dark-thirty wakeup call and the long drive back down south, where work and the start of the school year beckon. Here we go.

Reading. Very slow couple of reading weeks here. When I wasn’t working over the past two weeks, I was adventuring. But I did manage to make a considerable dent in Chesapeake – another day or so ought to do it. And I really wanted to read The Swiss Summer in Lake Placid; I only made it through two chapters up there, but at least I started it!

Watching. We watched the cutest movie last night! “VIVO,” on Netflix – starring Lin-Manuel Miranda as a rapping kinkajou who learns to push his fears aside and follow his dreams (to Miami, obviously). Peanut discovered it and assured us we would love it; I was skeptical because her choices aren’t always universally popular with the family – but this one was; we all loved it. Also over the past two weeks – the last of the Olympics; Jeopardy (at my parents’ house – every night); and part of San Andreas (I love a good cheesy disaster movie; need to watch the whole thing from beginning to end).

Listening. Not much in the earbuds. But lots of listening to the kids’ stories of their adventures chez Nana, which is better.

Making. Plans, plans, plans – for the school year. On Sunday night, I laid awake for hours worrying about it. I won’t bore you with all of my anxieties for back-to-school in the days of Delta variant. But I am planning to make some changes around here. Both kids are having their bedtimes moved, and we’re going to have to put an after-school routine in place for the fall. Plus they still need so much stuff – backpacks, lunch boxes, and all the supplies from their teacher-provided lists (whenever we find out who the teachers are, that is – it’s only a t-minus one week until the first day of school, nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?). Lots of shopping, organizing and cleaning to do this week – all around the regular job.

Moving. The past few weeks have been near-constant on the movement front. Especially last week – Steve and I were on the go basically every minute we weren’t working. We climbed another high peak, did a few more hikes, kayaked five different Adirondack lakes, and I even got some mountain biking in at the Olympic sports complex at Mt. Van Hoevenberg! Totally epic. Lots of stories to come.

Blogging. Well, I’ll have the last of my three part bookshelf tour on Friday; not sure what Wednesday will be just yet. Stay tuned; we’ll all be surprised!

Loving. Can I talk about my hiking boots for a second? I meant to pack my heavy-duty Oboz for the Adirondack trails, and in a moment of indecision tossed in my much lighter Merrell Ontario boots instead. I had my doubts as to how they’d perform on the trail (tbh, I bought them because they’re cute; I never intended them for anything more strenuous than a ramble with the kiddos on a Virginia trail). After a week in the ‘dacks, I was shocked at how well they did. Especially on our high peak day; I’m usually a ball of nerves on the Adirondack granite, but the Merrell boots were much grippier than my Oboz. (Steve did not have the same experience with his newish boots, sadly.) Between the Merrells and my Leki hiking poles (a major upgrade from my old Black Diamonds, courtesy of Steve last Christmas) I felt confident on an Adirondack summit – a new experience for me. YAY!

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Yawwwwwwn. Good morning! How were your weekends? Anyone else need another day? I’m wiped – we’ve been busy. On Saturday morning, Steve and I were out the door early to – FINALLY – demo kayaks. We had wanted kayaks for years and decided that we would buy them as a fifteenth anniversary gift to each other. For those of you doing the math at home and wondering, wasn’t your fifteenth anniversary a year ago? – the answer is yes, just about. (Fifty weeks, to be exact. Sixteen will be on August 13.) We haven’t been able to find anything to demo for the past year until just this weekend. We had planned to go paddle some Current Designs kayaks that we were both interested in on Sunday (Solstice GT for Steve; Solstice GTS or Equinox for me), but changed plans on a dime when we got some updated information about model availability. Taking advantage of babysitters, we rushed out to a different boathouse than originally planned, and each paddled the model we most wanted to try – P&H Cetus LV for me; Current Designs Solstice GT for Steve. We both loved the paddling experience, and the Cetus and Solstice are now lashed to the top of our car.

If finally buying our fifteenth anniversary kayaks – a year late – wasn’t exciting enough, as soon as we got home we had to quickly shower off the lake water, get fancy, and head out for a family wedding. Everyone was emotional and excited about the day. The bride, my cousin Jocelyn, is a hospital nurse who has spent the last year putting her health on the line caring for patients on a COVID floor. The wedding was supposed to happen last year, but Jocelyn and Jason made the hard and sad decision to postpone because of the pandemic. Not wanting to wait to be married, they exchanged vows in a tiny outdoor ceremony last June (we watched on Facebook) – but this weekend was the big and long-awaited celebration. They are a beautiful couple – inside and out – and we were so excited to get to celebrate with them. And the kids were in the wedding (along with Jason’s niece and nephew) which made it extra adorable! (There was a chorus of awwwwww when the two flower girls and two ring bearers came trotting down the aisle in a big clump.)

After all that excitement, Sunday was a pretty low-key day. We spent the morning relaxing and recovering from the wedding, and finally rolled out for a hike mid-afternoon. (Pictures coming soon – this one gets a recap!) Finished the evening with a cookout – not bad.

Reading. Pretty slow reading week – typical. I finished Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer on Friday night (LOVED); it was a busy week at work and around the house and I didn’t have as much evening reading time as usual, even for summer. After saying goodbye, reluctantly, to Mrs. Lorimer and Miss Douglas, I turned back to Chesapeake. I’m determined to finish it! At press time I’m about 40-ish percent in, so progress is happening, albeit slowly. (I can see why my grandmother loved James A. Michener – he was right up her alley – but I’m going to need a good long break and a string of shorter books after this.)

Watching. Well, the best watching of the week was my cousin exchanging vows with her handsome soulmate. Everything else kind of paled in comparison, but we did watch some more Olympics – always great.

Listening. Actually, nothing in my earbuds this week. Guess I’ve wanted some quiet time.

Making. Decisions, decisions! After a year of dreaming of test-paddling a kayak and being foiled over and over again, I found a boathouse that not only had the P&H Cetus in stock, but had two colors. I was rather hoping someone would buy one of them out from under me (but just one, not both) and make my decision for me. But when I arrived at the boathouse, they were both still there: blue with yellow trim, and orange with yellow trim. I’d wanted an orange kayak and thought I’d go that way, but I didn’t really like the look of the yellow trim on it, and the blue looked beautiful next to Steve’s red Solstice (and had a newer, redesigned, seat). So I surprised myself by choosing blue. It was the right call.

Moving. Pretty good week of movement, but could have been better. On top of the above-mentioned hike and test-paddle, I got in three decent runs. I wanted to squeeze in another run or two, but on Saturday morning I fell, hard, and cracked my shin. It’s still achy and swollen this morning, although a lot better than it was. It’s probably runnable, but I think I’m going to give it another day or so, because I want to make sure it has a chance to fully heal before Steve and I leave for the Adirondacks later this summer.

Blogging. Bookish week coming atcha! On Wednesday I have my July reading round-up ready to go, and on Friday I’m giving you the first part of a three-part bookshelf tour. I love creeping other people’s shelves, so I hope y’all enjoy.

Loving. I always love watching the Olympics, but I am especially loving the important conversations that are finally starting in connection with this year’s Games. From the excessive control the (male!) Olympic executives exercise over the female athletes’ clothing, to Title Nine’s decision to contribute $1 million toward equal pay for the women’s soccer team, to the crucial conversations about athletes’ mental health – these are all things that should be out in the open, and now they finally are.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

Good morning! I’m dashing off this post quickly before I have to rush out the door to drive into D.C. for the third time in three days. The locally-based members of my employer’s legal department are having a morning gathering at Rock Creek Park – I’m excited. I haven’t met anyone in person yet, so this should be fun.

But backing it up to Saturday. We woke up slowly and meandered out the door for 10:00 a.m. kayak reservations at our favorite spot, Fletcher’s Cove (just upriver from Georgetown). We switched it up and Nugget paddled with Steve, while Peanut paddled with me. Let me tell you, it was really refreshing to paddle with someone who wasn’t yelling at me to go faster all the time. Peanut and I spotted birds, talked about what we’re reading right now (Beezus and Ramona – a re-read – for her; Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer for me) and soaked up the morning sun. The tide was high, the current was low, and there wasn’t much breeze, so it made for an easier paddle than others we’ve done recently. Altogether – just a nice, nice morning. We drove home for lunch and to shower off the Potomac, and then Peanut and I turned around and headed right back into the District to meet up with my friend Taunia and her daughter, who were visiting from Buffalo on their way to the beach for the week. Taunia hadn’t been to D.C. in sixteen (or twenty-six? she couldn’t remember) years, and her daughter never had – so we started by getting them oriented to the National Mall. We looped the monuments, all the way from their hotel way up near the Capitol and down to the Lincoln Memorial – a looooooooong walk – and then kept going up to Chinatown for dinner. At the end of the day I’d logged almost 24,000 steps – oof!

Sunday was much more low-key. We had planned to spend the day getting things done around the house, but I got a very slow start, frittering away the morning sitting on the couch and scrolling through my phone. (Normally I would feel badly about that, but I’ve been on the go so much lately, I think I needed the break.) Eventually I did motivate myself off the couch and tackle my big project – cleaning out the fridge. It needed it, badly. After three garbage bags and several loads of dishes (ALL the Pyrex) the fridge has space again and everything in there is edible. Great success! I cleaned the rest of the kitchen as well, and folded several loads of Steve’s and the kids’ laundry, then collapsed on the couch to get caught up on some Olympics. Ended up leaving the house only twice (once to pick up dinner, because I didn’t want to dirty a bunch of dishes in my sparkling kitchen) and once for a neighborhood walk after tucking the kids into bed. And now another week begins. Let’s go get it!

Reading. It’s been another busy week in life and another slow week in reading. Noel Streatfeild’s Holiday Stories took me seven days to wrap up (very unusual for me, especially for a short volume of children’s stories – shows you where my head is these days) but I finally finished it on Friday. It was cute, but suffered from my short attention span. I turned to Mrs. Lorimer’s Quiet Summer next, and I am really enjoying it. As of press time, I’m a little more than halfway through and it’s just what I wanted to read right now – light, funny, totally delightful and summery.

Watching. After cleansing our palates for a few days after the Tour de France, we’re back on the sports wagon. On Sunday, we watched the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies and then a bit of the prime-time coverage (we caught Simone Biles’ floor routine – astonishing as always). Looking forward to two weeks of Olympics-watching!

Listening. The usual mixture – music (my summer playlist again; still loving it) and podcasts. I’m nearly caught up on a backlog of Shedunnit and The Slightly Foxed Podcast episodes thanks to my evening neighborhood walks. The highlight this week was an episode of The Mom Hour on “coping strategies for the chronically annoyed.” Sarah and Meagan were as gently validating as ever, and I found myself nodding along with many of their gripes (shoes kicked off in doorways! melodramatic play-fighting!) and wishing I had a notepad to scribble down their suggestions for dealing with the annoyance.

Making. The usual summer stuff here – not a lot of cooking in the kitchen, but plenty of work product and progress (two steps forward, one step back, but that’s still progress) toward getting the house in order. Given the season, it’s a bit of a losing battle – the hall table is piled with sunglasses and sports equipment; I trip over soccer cleats almost every day; and the kitchen counters are (usually) littered with water bottles. But progress is being made, slowly.

Moving. Bit of a lighter week – a few runs, lots of evening walks, and one morning of kayaking. No hikes this week – whoops. I need more yoga in my life.

Blogging. I can’t give you any hints this week because I have nothing planned and no ideas. Something will come to me and we’ll all be surprised.

Loving. It was such fun playing tourist in my own town with a visiting friend. I don’t do that enough! As I guided Taunia, her daughter, and Peanut toward the monuments, I realized that the last time I wandered around this part of the Mall was 2015, when I wasn’t actually even living here (we stopped in town to break up a drive from Buffalo to the Outer Banks and even then, didn’t do too much tourist stuff, preferring to spend our time meeting up with friends all around the city). We do hit the Smithsonian museums on a regular basis when there isn’t a pandemic on, but rarely make time for the monuments. I’m definitely going to have to get back to the Mall sooner than later.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

It’s summer, and I sometimes feel like the only bookish person for whom “summer reading season” isn’t really a thing. (If this is you, too, please tell me so I feel less alone!) I will happily read steadily through the winter and spring, and generally the fall too – but when summer comes my reading slows way down. Not for me the hours of paging through a book at the beach; before kids, I preferred to spend every second I could soaking up ocean views, and these days I’m usually knee deep in water making sure no one gets drilled too hard during wave-jumping activities, or squatting in the sand making drip castles. I still make my way through books, slowly and steadily, but more than any other part of the year, summer is the season I do things instead of reading.

Instead of long afternoons of lounging with a book and a cup of tea, weekend afternoons are spent on the river and the lakes, with a paddle in hand instead of a paperback.

And I always pick up steam on my running, as I start thinking about fall race season. October is the biggest race month of the year in D.C., with the Marine Corps Marathon weekend (I’ve run the 10K a few times, but the full 26.2 is on my bucket list – someday). So instead of a slow, leisurely morning with my coffee and latest read, most summer mornings find me out pounding the pavement in the neighborhood or on the bike path – and frequently dealing with digestive pyrotechnics, darn my weak stomach. As for the evenings, well, there are all those Garmin stats to comb through from earlier in the day.

This is new for 2021, but biking is back on the agenda! Another morning/afternoon weekend activity drawing time from books, and on Monday I did my first group ride (with, I hope, more to come).

Kid sports have started taking up time, too. Tee-ball wasn’t too demanding, but we’re into the season of baseball and soccer camps, and fall will bring Nugget’s first season of house soccer and swim lessons for both of the kids – so summer is about getting ready for all that. This is all about to take over my life in a big way – I can see it coming.

Honestly, I don’t worry about it. There was a time, a few years ago, when I would stress over my reading speed and book totals taking a nosedive for several months out of the year, but not anymore. Instead, I just soak up the summer sunshine, ocean views and salt air, and easygoing river afternoons. Fall will come before I know it, bringing dark evenings and yellow pencils, and books will be there. In the meantime, you can find me by the water.

Do you have a season when your reading always slows down?

Gooooooood Monday morning to you, friends, and happy new week! I’m exhausted, but in a nice way; it was one of those busy weekends that I love so much. In fact, when I sat down to write this post I had to think for a minute in order to remember all the way back to Saturday morning – we’ve been all over the place.

Anyway! On Saturday morning I was up early to squeeze in a couple of miles in my running shoes before the day really got started. I’m in the middle of a few challenges that have me running a lot, and I love it. (I’ve read that the more you run, the more you want to run, and the less you run, the less you want to run – and I definitely think that’s true. I’m on a streak of running 5+ days per week, which is definitely too much, but I am enjoying it so much that I don’t want to stop.) I got home with just enough time to shower and throw on real clothes, and then Peanut and I headed out to a play date with her BFF, S. S and her family recently (well, not that recently – a year ago, so “pandemic recently”) moved into an adorable house in Arlington, and we hadn’t seen it yet, so Saturday was the day. We spent several hours there – the girls rushed off to play Barbies and watch “Gamer Girl,” while S’s mom – my pal Rachel – led me on a tour of the house (while I gasped at everything; it is an absolutely beautiful house!), after which we caught up over La Croix and broccoli quiche. Peanut is definitely old enough that I could just drop her off, but I never will. I think Rachel and I may have had more fun than the girls, which is saying something. Anyway – we reluctantly tore ourselves away mid-afternoon and met back up with our boys for kayaking. Nugget is into racing right now, which I hate. He spends the whole time yelling at me to paddle faster.

Sunday was supposed to be “productivity day.” The weather forecast wasn’t as good as it has been recently, and the house is trashed, so we decided that we were going to spend the day cleaning up all of the camping gear from last weekend, giving the house a major overhaul, building my new desk – all that good grown-up stuff. To get my steps in, I snuck out for four miles on the local bike path first thing in the morning, and came back ready to work. Unfortunately (for my productivity agenda) Nugget was at the door when I got home, whining to be taken on a bike ride. I know I shouldn’t respond to whining, but, honestly, biking sounded more fun than building an IKEA desk. So… I’m sure you can guess what happened next. Six miles on our new favorite trail, followed by climbing on a W&OD railroad caboose because why not? I did put in a few hours of work around the house when we got back – got the laundry folded and some of the camping gear cleaned up and stowed, so that’s better than nothing, right?

Reading. With two weeks of reading to recap, you’d think I would have more to report, but – I don’t. More about this on Wednesday, but summer is my slowest reading season and you can tell. I finished up Landscape in Sunlight on July 5, and started James A. Michener’s Chesapeake the same day – while camping on Chincoteague; it felt appropriate. As with all Michener, it’s hella long, and I’ve had to set it aside to tend to some library deadlines. First up – Arsenic and Adobo, which is a fun mystery about a Filipino family who are suspected of murdering a food critic who’d recently written vicious reviews of their restaurant. I’m nearly done as of press time, and then I’ll turn to my other library checkout, Tokyo Ever After (both Arsenic and Tokyo are non-renewable and due back soon) and then I’ll have to decide whether to turn back to Chesapeake or read through some of my summer stack and save Chesapeake (on my kindle) for travel later in the season. I haven’t made up my mind yet, so if you have an opinion do share.

Watching. It’s been all sports, all the time around here – and mostly cycling, between nights with the Tour de France (I was on the edge of my seat watching Sepp Kuss in Andorra, holy hairpin turns Batman!) and highlights of the Giro d’Italia Donne on my phone during the day. (My all-time favorite cycling team, Team SD Worx, swept the podium! YESSSSSSS!) We did take a break from cycling to watch the end of England’s heartbreaking football loss. That was devastating. Thank goodness for Kuss in Andorra that same evening, or we would have gone to bed depressed.

Listening. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between podcasts (all my favorites – The Mom Hour, Tea or Books?, Shedunnit – have been in my ears this week during evening walks) and my summer music playlist, of which I am unreasonably proud. I’ve covered the true summer classics – Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic”, Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” – detoured to the ’80s with R.E.M. (“Gardening at Night”; “Letter Never Sent”) and Nena (“99 Luftballons”, obv), I have my high school summer fave Rusted Root represented (“Back to the Earth”), made sure to include that messed-up classic of early 2000s hilarity, “Stacy’s Mom”, and so much more. It’s a work of art, really.

Making. Well, not much cooking – I’ve made a lot of salads, does that count? – but I made a good amount of work product last week; things are getting busy, which I love! And I made progress on getting the house in order, but it’s still a long ways to go. My goal is to have it completely clean and organized before summer travel.

Moving. All the moving! According to Garmin, in the last seven days I have logged four runs, three walks, two bike rides, and one “other” activity (that would be Saturday’s kayak “race” on the Potomac). I feel like I ran more, but Garmin doesn’t lie. Also, apparently I make a smirking face when I run? Who knew.

Blogging. I teased this above, but on Wednesday I’ll have a post about summer reading – or not-reading, in my case. And on Friday, the promised Chincoteague pony photo dump! Check in with me then.

Loving. It really is a little soon to declare victory, but so far I am absolutely loving my new job. It’s getting busy, but it’s the kind of busy that I find really engaging – lots of problem-solving and helping people. A friend recently DMed me on Facebook (about something else) and congratulated me again on the new job, and I gushed to him: “I love it! I had no idea it was possible to be this happy!” and I said something similar to my manager during our weekly one-on-one videoconference. Her response, in addition to being delighted that I was so happy with my new role and with the company, was to note that when she tries to explain to lawyers in private practice what this job is like, no one really understands, because they are miserable and hating life but can’t imagine it any other way. But – “For the right person, who likes being busy, this is the best life ever.” I’m only about two months in, but I feel like I have a whole new lease on life. I’m sure there will be stressful moments, as there are with any job, but I can’t imagine ever going back to private practice or ever wanting to leave my current company, I am so blissfully happy – finally – and at peace.

Asking. What are you reading this week?