One of the things that my reading friends find most surprising is my confession that – up until very recently – I’ve never belonged to a book club.  The closest I got to a book club-type environment was in college, junior year, when I volunteered to lead a freshman book discussion group as part of a pilot program that my university was rolling out with the idea of having every freshman participate in a class-wide reading event.  The book was going to be provided to each freshman as part of their admissions package, and I didn’t see why they should get a free book and I didn’t, so I signed up as a discussion leader.  The joke was on me, because the book was Guns, Germs and Steel, and I spent the better part of my summer slogging through it.  The only fun I had with that book came when I brought it on vacation and my friend Adam attacked the “Speedboat to Polynesia” chapter with a red pen, crossing out the word “speedboat” everywhere he saw it and writing in “jetski” instead.  But I digress.

Anyway, I’ve never been in a real book club – one that meets regularly, drinks wine and dissects popular fiction and nonfiction titles.  My mom is, and her book club has been going strong for more than seven years now.  Those ladies have it figured out.  Sometimes I pass them a recommendation through my mom and wait eagerly to hear whether they liked my choice or not (generally, they do).  But I’m not local to the area, so I’m not in the club – alas.  I’ve considered asking if I could join from afar and participate by FaceTime, and I bet they’d let me.  But it just wouldn’t be quite the same.

So as you can see, I’m not opposed to the idea of a book club.  I love the idea of a book club.  But it never seemed to be an option for me.  I didn’t know how to find one, and the introvert in me didn’t particularly want to start one – nor did I know how to go about recruiting members – or to be in charge of things like setting rules and expectations, admitting (or not admitting) new members, or anything else that might make me unpopular.  So I participated in online readalongs when I could and dreamed of a book club falling, fully formed, into my lap.  They’d be wine-drinkers and classics-readers.  We’d sip rosé and debate things like “Henry Tilney: mansplainer or not?”  This was never going to happen.

Then along came the Buy Nothing Project.  For those not in the know, BN is a national network of hyper-local neighborhood gifting economies.  It’s generally managed through Facebook, and in order to get into your local group you have to prove that you live in the neighborhood.  Without getting too deep in irrelevant details, it’s basically a gift exchange where people give and receive gifts – of time, goods, instruction.  Some people do more giving (seeing the group as a way to purge and declutter), and others do more receiving.  There is a very defined set of rules for how gifting is supposed to work, and a pretty particularized culture that grows up around the gifting economy.  I was a little nervous about getting involved, but I wanted to unload baby gear and a number of other things, and I liked the idea of giving to – and hopefully getting to know – my neighbors.  We had just moved back to the DC area after three years of feeling very isolated in western New York, and I was craving a community – and that’s what I found.  My first “Buy Nothing friend” was a woman named Allison.  I gave her a set of bookends and we were fast friends after that – we took long neighborhood walks while she was pregnant, she accompanied me to a friend’s jewelry trunk sale, and we enjoyed many sessions of tea, banana bread and marathon chats.  I delivered four large boxes of toddler girl clothing to her after her daughter was born.  She loaned me her expertise as an educator when I needed to bounce school-related frustrations off of someone, and she picked up and held mail for me when our family went out of town unexpectedly.  She’s a terrific neighbor and an even better friend.

What does this have to do with book club?  Okay – I’m going on and on about Buy Nothing.  But you see, it’s inextricably bound up in our neighborhood book club.  One day I logged into Facebook and navigated over to the BN page for my neighborhood to post a gift.  Longtime readers may remember that I used to have a subscription to Book Riot Quarterly boxes: one month, I somehow received a duplicate box and that box had moved with me twice now.  It was time for it to go.  So, I posted it.  BN encourages participants to have a little fun with choosing to whom they will gift an item, so I asked interested neighbors to tell me their favorite book – and the responses poured in.  In the end, I chose a woman who said her favorite book was The Master and Margarita, which is a book I also love – but I had never met anyone who shared my appreciation for it.  (I only know one other person who has read it, and she disliked it.)  After I chose my gift recipient, I made the offhand remark that there were so many readers in the group, we should start a book club.

The idea took off immediately, and the Buy Nothing book club was born.

We met for the first time back in April.  I hosted the meeting, which was a get-to-know-you meeting.  We gathered on my couch, sipped wine (just like in my dreams!) and talked about our families, our jobs, our other interests, and our reading lives.  We agreed on certain parameters for the group – we’d rotate hosting, the host would choose the book that we’d be discussing at her meeting, and we’d try to stick to books that were older so that people could get them at the library easily, or at least obtain an inexpensive paperback – since forcing people to buy a $27 hardcover each month in order to be part of the book club went pretty directly opposite our gifting economy ethos.  (The library system in our town is wonderful, but we’re a city of hardcore readers and any popular new title is guaranteed to have a waiting list no matter how many copies the library orders.)

The book club took off immediately.  I hosted the second meeting as well, and we discussed Northanger Abbey.  (The club mostly hated it.  I cried into my wine a little bit.)  We spun out into a separate Facebook group after our group chat became too popular and unwieldy for me to manage.  Little traditions started to emerge.  One woman brought rice krispie treats to every meeting – now we all look forward to them.  Someone always has a gift to exchange.  One member brought a “Pete the Cat” puzzle for my kids; another loaned me some mason jars (which I need to return – oops).  I handed off two big bags of toddler boy clothes at the third meeting.

This is not to say we haven’t had our hiccups.  We’re a new club, still getting our feet under us as a unit and getting to know each other as individuals.  Our preference for inclusivity has led to something of a revolving door of new members who come and go while the core of the group stays relatively stable.  We’re still figuring out our system for choosing books – we’ve had one book that needed two meetings, because it was so long, and a couple of new releases that violated our self-imposed rule against $27 hardcovers.  (Including this month’s pick, Educated, by Tara Westover – a 2018 release.  It’s excellent and I know our discussion is going to be really rich – I’m especially interested to hear what the other girls have to say about unreliable memory – but we’ve had to scramble to make sure no one had to purchase a copy if they didn’t want to do so.)  We also have a hard time staying on topic and the conversation often veers away from the book and on to neighborhood issues, the BN community, decluttering and parenting talk – shared areas of interest for many of us, but not what we are meeting to discuss.  (I often am the one struggling to keep the group on subject.  My mom mentioned that her book club has a rule that they eat first and talk about whatever they want to discuss while they eat, but once the food is put away they only discuss the book.  I may propose that to my group, but I don’t want to seem dictatorial.)

Which brings me to wonder: how on earth am I in this position?  Yes, I’ve wanted to join a book club for years – but as an introvert (and one who is generally retiring with people I don’t know well and especially in groups) I wanted to slip into a fully formed book club, spend a few meetings just listening, and not be in charge of anything, ever.  My working life requires me to counsel managers through personnel matters on almost a daily basis, and while I love what I do, I didn’t want to boss my book club.  I wanted to ring the doorbell with a book and a bottle of wine in my hand, curl up on someone’s couch, and let other people run the show.  So that’s what I’m allowing myself to do now, and it’s nice to cede control.  When it’s my month to host, I try to keep the group focused, but otherwise I am content to sit and enjoy my neighbors’ company.  Sometimes we veer off subject – okay, we always veer off subject – but I couldn’t find a better community.

Are you a member of a book club?  How do you keep them on subject?  (Asking for a friend.)

Monday, you’re showing up too soon as always!  I am particularly sad to bid goodbye to this weekend.  Nothing especially exciting happened – it was just a nice, relaxing couple of days.  I decided that I wanted to be mostly analog, so I almost completely unplugged from my phone and it was glorious.  On Saturday morning I took Nugget out to run errands – we got him a haircut, returned a jacket to Target, and did a big grocery stock-up run at Wegmans.  Once we got home, I spent a few hours doing a big batch-cooking marathon, then we headed out for a family walk.  We’d intended to walk down to the river, but only made it as far as the playground.  Oh, well!  Sunday was more of the same – with the addition of a hike in Rock Creek Park in the morning.  A few of the trees are just starting to show color, but our peak foliage is still a week or two away.  In the afternoon – more batch-cooking (the fridge is loaded) and then I took Nugget for a bike ride to the playground.  It was very simple, and just right.

Reading.  It was a pacey reading week, even for me.  I started the week back in John Moore’s Brensham, visiting with old friends like Mr. Chorlton and Pistol, Bardolph and Nym, and meeting new ones like William Hart – The Blue Field is the final volume of Moore’s Brensham trilogy, and I’m sad to leave that world behind.  Next up, I blazed through the latest Lady Georgianna mystery – Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding.  Georgie can’t seem to make it through a month without stumbling on a dead body or a conspiracy!  Finally, over the course of Saturday and Sunday, on the recommendation of my friend Zan, I read the heartbreakingly powerful The Girl Who Smiled Beads, a memoir of life as a refugee after the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s.  At press time, I’m not sure what will be next – but I’m definitely looking for something lighthearted.

Watching.  We’re still working our way through The Good Place, season two.  It’s just as fantastic as the first season (except for not enough Bad Janet! the people demand more Bad Janet!).  My brother told me that he and his wife tried to watch and couldn’t make it through the first episode.  WHAT?!?!

Listening.  I was switching back and forth between Audible and podcasts this week.  I’m listening to Educated on audio, as it’s my book club book and the audiobook was the only free (well, I spent a credit on it) version I could get ahold of.  We’ve definitely fallen off the wagon of trying to pick things that are in the public domain or at least out for a few years so that folks don’t have to spend money to get the book.  It’s hard to listen to, but I do think we’re going to have a lot to discuss at book club.  The rest of my earbud time has been spent with podcasts – mostly Speak Up for Blue, but I also listened to the fall top ten list from Sorta Awesome.

Making.  Per the above, it was a very cooking-heavy weekend.  Maybe it’s the arrival of cold weather (which I can’t celebrate – I know lots of people are jumping for joy, but I like heat and I’m in deep mourning for my flip-flops) but I just felt compelled to stock my fridge this weekend.  In addition to the usual chopping of cucumbers and fruit for the week, I made red wine-braised lentils; coconut tofu curry; roasted butternut squash; tofu, apple and butternut squash breakfast hash; and homemade cinnamon applesauce.  We will be eating well this week.

Blogging.  Talking about book club on Wednesday, and then (hopefully) sharing pictures of our final hike of vacation on Friday.  (They’re all still in my camera, and I need to dig out the USB cord so I can get them uploaded.  Here’s hoping.)

Loving.  After my marathon cooking weekend, I have to give shouts to my favorite All-Clad soup pot – similar to this one.  It’s my go-to cooking vessel and it’s called into service several times a week and still looks brand-new.  This weekend I used it for the braised lentils, the tofu curry and the applesauce.  It wasn’t inexpensive, but I’ve been using it regularly for almost ten years now and man, do I love it.  There’s something about the sight of soup, stew or curry bubbling away in that gleaming stainless steel – it’s as comforting as it gets.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Yawwwwwwn.  I’m even more unready for Monday than usual.  I stayed up late on Saturday night (well, late for me, which means a little after 11:00) and on Sunday-into-Monday I was up for a few hours in the middle of the night – so I’m feeling extra sleepy this morning.  It was a lovely weekend, though.  My birthday fell on Saturday this year, so we had a big weekend of celebrating on the trails.  I don’t love having a big deal made out of my birthday these days – all I want is a day or two of quality time with my three favorite people, bonus points if it’s mostly outdoors.  And that’s exactly what I got, so I was well contented.  On Friday evening, I came home and the kids gave me my birthday presents early – an(other) adopted southern resident killer whale (J-26 Mike! he’s always been one of my favorites; he’s GIGANTIC) from everyone; the 25th anniversary Automatic for the People on vinyl from Steve; and a homemade card from Peanut (“HAPPY BRTHDY FAMLY MOM”) which I absolutely loved.  She was upset that she didn’t have a present for me, but I assured her that cards are my favorite presents, this one is the best one I’ve ever gotten, and I’ll treasure it forever – all true statements.  On Saturday, we were up and out the door to Shenandoah National Park – my birthday request.  We packed a picnic of homemade vegetable and bean soup, fresh baguette, sliced veggies, my goat cheese and sundried tomato pesto spread, and apples from our apple-picking trip last week – yum.  We knocked out two hikes in the park – Big Meadows and the Story of the Forest Trail – and it was chilly but beautiful.  We started Sunday with another hike, this time at Fletcher’s Cove, where we like to go kayaking in the summertime.  Turned out there was a beautiful trail down by the river – beautiful, but insanely muddy.  We all fell in the mud, then rushed home to clean up and welcome Zan and Paul over for football and friend time.  The guys watched the Bills game while Zan and I ate soup, caught up, and took Nugget to the library.  Ended the weekend as I always do – curled up on the couch with a book.  It was all delicious.

Reading.  My reading week went from charming to interesting but unnerving, and back to charming again.  I finished my re-read of Queen Lucia last Tuesday, then turned to Fear: Trump in the White House (the new Bob Woodward book for those who’ve been living under a rock).  It may be different elsewhere, but in my community of Washington, DC and NoVA, everyone is talking about the new book and I felt compelled to read it.  It was chilling.  After that, I obviously needed some comfort reading, so I picked up the final volume in the Brensham Trilogy of lightly-fictionalized memoirs about English life in a country village in the middle of the last century.  It’s basically the literary equivalent of a thermos of hot tea, and I’m loving every minute.

Watching.  The second season of The Good Place dropped on Netflix, so all other viewing has been pretty much suspended while we laugh until we cry at the antics of Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, Michael and Janet.  (“No, this is good!  He’s having an existential crisis!”)  I did branch out one night last week when Steve had plans, and watched the fall kick-off episode of The Great American Read (yes, I’m woefully backlogged).

Listening.  The best listening was to my vinyl of Automatic for the People on Saturday night!  That was a very cool gift.  Other than that – lots of podcasts, mainly Speak Up for Blue and Marine Conservation Happy Hour.

Making.  Is there anything more comforting than starting the week with a huge container of homemade soup in the fridge?  I threw together one of my odds and ends soups and it ended up particularly good, featuring tricolor carrots, broccoli, orange cauliflower, brown rice and navy beans, and lentils.  Yum!  A very good way to fuel up before hiking and to welcome friends over, and I’ve got enough left over for a week’s worth of delicious lunches.

Blogging.  Mixing it up this week.  I’ll have my third (and penultimate) 52 Hike Challenge update for you on Wednesday, and on Friday, instead of sharing our sixth and final day in Lake Placid, I’ll show you a few snaps in town and on the water.  (We’ll do the last day of vacation next week – I’m not ready to be done!)

Loving.  Like I said above, birthdays aren’t really a big deal to me anymore (at least, not my birthday – I do make a big deal out of the kids’ special days).  But I felt really loved all weekend.  Between lots of time on beautiful trails with my family, the thoughtful gifts my sweet ones gave me, tons of love on Facebook and an absolutely hilarious card from my work wife – it was just a nice way to celebrate surviving another trip around the sun.  I feel pretty great about the people in my life, and that’s a nice place to be.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Loooooooooook at that adorable face!  Oh, and happy Monday to all of you, too.  (That FACE!)  Happy Columbus Day to my friends who are lucky enough to get the day off, as well – but the kids’ school is closed, so I took the day off and we’re going apple-picking with friends.  Hey-o!  Steve has to work, so it’ll just be me, the munchkins, and my friend Katherine and her daughter.  We’re planning to pick a couple of bushels and then take the kiddos for a hike.  That should burn the whole morning, so hopefully Steve is able to get some work done.  This weekend was pretty low-key.  We hiked both days – at Huntley Meadows on Saturday, where there were so many herons and egrets that I lost count, and at Piscataway Park on Sunday, where we visited with turkeys, chickens, and the most darling bunch of precious piglets.  I was hoping for a hike a bit farther afield – at least to Sky Meadows, if not Shenandoah River or Bull Run – but we were too slow in the mornings and it didn’t happen.  We still had fun – more fun than I was anticipating, as it happened.  Afternoons were spent puttering around, digging in the sandbox, running errands and reading – nice and slow.  And actually really relaxing.  I’m still me, so I spent a decent amount of time panicking over a decision I’m going to have to make soon (tell you all about it once it’s a done deal) and hiding in the bathroom while the kids bickered.

Reading.  I’ve had a nice, relaxing reading week.  On Monday, I finished up The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and then I dove into some good, old-fashioned comfort reading.  I picked up Miss Mapp, the second in the Mapp and Lucia series – which I’ve been meaning to get back to, and which is on my rebooted Classics Club list – and enjoyed every second over the course of the week.  I finished it up on Saturday, then realized that I’d also intended to re-read Queen Lucia, the first of the series.  So I’m reading a bit out of order for the moment, but once I finish with Lucia, I’ll be back on track to read in the proper order.  I’ll have to take a short break from E.F. Benson though, because my library holds came in – and I have Fear, the new Bob Woodward book.  There are about 800 people on the wait list after me, so renewals are not going to be an option.  I think that’ll have to be my next read.

Watching.  I don’t think I actually watched anything until Sunday night, when Steve realized the second season of The Good Place is now available for streaming.  Yes, please!  We watched two episodes, and it’s just as much fun as the first season – moving at a breakneck pace, though.  I can’t wait to see where this is going to go…

Listening.  Lots of podcasts again this week.  The highlight was an old episode of Speak Up for Blue, in which Andrew interviews a fellow marine biologist about the experience of researching orcas in the Antarctic.  WOW.  I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I’d like to go to Antarctica someday, and now it’s sort of in the front of my mind.  What an amazing experience that would be, huh?

Moving.  Well, there were those two hikes I mentioned above, and I also registered for Barre3 online.  At $29/month after I finish my free trial, it’s not free, but it’s a heck of a lot less expensive than actually attending classes (I do love Barre3 classes, though…) and hopefully this will be the sweet spot of not too expensive, but enough of a financial outlay to motivate me to try and get my money’s worth.  I’ve done a couple of workouts through the online system and I’m definitely sweating!

Blogging.  September reading recap coming to you on Wednesday; I read more than I realized in the moment!  October is shaping up to be a good reading month, too – here’s hoping.  And on Friday, I’ve got a hiking recap to share – a beautiful, but very unlucky – hike from our Adirondack vacation

Loving.  I’ve certainly talked about my neighborhood before, but I’m feeling especially in love with it this week.  Fall is starting to appear in little nooks and crannies, and it’s just such a nice, relaxing place to be right now.  It’s recently hit me anew that we’re probably not going to live in this neighborhood forever (maybe…) and I’m really glad that I get to enjoy it while I can.  I love living in a walkable area and being able to just step out my door and pop in at the bookstore, grab a coffee from a local independent cafe, walk to the library and playground, or metro in to work.  Our neighbors are a joy, and this just feels like the right place for us to be right now.  Maybe knowing that something probably isn’t forever makes me appreciate the sweetness of it while I have it – I’ve been thinking a lot about that concept lately.  Anyway, enough rambling – I’m just really happy to live where I live.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Monday, Monday, Monday – it’s here again.  This Monday starts a fresh new fiscal year for me – it’s been a long, exhausting and stressful road, but it’s done and now we’re on to a new year and back to zero on the billable hours clock.  Unlike many of my colleagues, I didn’t have to work through the weekend to meet my hours requirement – I hit it last week.  So I got to soak up the first gloriously sunny weekend we’ve had in what feels like eons.  On Saturday, we were planning a trip to the farmers’ market and then a hike at Mount Vernon, but we were so slow to get going that it ended up a one-or-the-other situation, and we decided on the hike.  And a nice one it was, if a bit muddy.  The rest of the day was spent hanging around the house.  I made a quick run to the natural foods store for some fresh produce and specialty ingredients that I can’t get through Amazon Fresh (which Steve is still using despite my constant complaints about it), and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the back patio while Nugget dug in the sandbox and Peanut took pictures of my dying tomato plants with her pink camera.  We walked out to our favorite neighborhood pizza joint and hit the waterfront park in the evening, and other than the lack of ice cream (too full) it was perfect.  Sunday was, if possible, even more chill.  I did a little bit of work, but spent the rest of the day bumming around the house with the kids.  There was more sandbox time in the morning and random stories and playing all afternoon.  Somewhere in there I polished off two books, too, about which more below.  In general, it was just a nice, laid-back, do-nothing weekend.  I get down on those sometimes because I want to go out and have adventures, but sometimes I need to cave to the rest of the family and just be lazy.  So that’s what I did.  But I hope next weekend is as beautiful, because my fall agenda isn’t going to adventure itself.

Reading.  Last week was such a slow Monday through Friday on the reading front that I was beginning to wonder if I was in a slump and didn’t know it.  I was just more interested in podcasts than in books on my commute, and kept getting sucked into mindless scrolling after the kids went to bed.  So it took me the entire workweek to finish The Fortnight in September, even though it was an absolute joy to read.  I know!  What is the matter with me?  Whatever it is, I guess it’s fixed (fingers crossed) because I slammed two books in two days over the weekend – started Astrophysics for People in a Hurry on Friday night after finishing Fortnight, and finished it on Saturday evening.  I’m pleased to report that I understood two whole sentences in it!  Between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, I read Class Mom, the October selection for my book club.  I’ll say more in my September reading recap, but – meh.  Finally, ended Sunday night curled up on the couch with The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which has been on my to-read list for years.  I’m just getting into it, but so far, so good.

Watching.  An actual, honest-to-goodness, MOVIE THEATER movie!  Steve and I lined up a babysitter for Friday evening – our beloved former nanny, Kelly – and went to see Crazy Rich Asians.  I’ve been dying to see the movie ever since I read the book, and it didn’t disappoint.  Steve had no idea what to expect, as he hadn’t read the book and was completely unfamiliar with the plot.  After the movie, he said he liked the shots of the Singapore skyline and all the fancy cars.  Hopefully he enjoyed more about the movie than that!  (I think he did.  Peik-Lin cracked him up.)  As for me, I loved every minute.  The cast was perfect and it was such a fun depiction of a book I really enjoyed.

Listening.  All week, all I have listened to is back episodes of Speak Up for Blue.  If you’re not listening, and you’re at all interested in environmental issues – and particularly ocean conservation – give it a try!  I really like the focus on sustainable living.  It’s easy to get down about all the damage human beings have done to the planet, but Speak Up for Blue is relentlessly positive and encouraging.

Making.  It’s homemade soup season!  On Sunday I whipped up a delicious squash and chard puree using veggies from the farmers’ market and the natural foods grocery, and it’s filling without being too heavy – perfect for the summer to fall transition.  I love having a big container full of homemade soup in the fridge to start the week.

Loving.  Last week I found a new-to-me blog, Going Zero Waste, and I can’t get enough of it.  It’s full of great ideas, practical tips and encouragement on how to live a greener, more sustainable life, with a special focus on reducing plastic consumption – something that I have been bugging Steve about for ages.  I’ve been clicking through the archives, working my way through lots of fantastic back content, and I love it.  As I said above, it’s easy to feel depressed and hopeless about the direction we’ve taken the planet, but I’m encouraged by listening to and reading the words of people like Kathryn and Andrew.  I’ve quietly tried to live as planet-friendly a life as I can for many years, and it’s been a lot of fun to have some new ideas to peruse.  (Also, I realized that although green and sustainable living is a passion of mine, I write very little about it.  Any interest here?)

Blogging.  Going to be a fun week!  On Wednesday I have my fall list coming to you, and let’s hope I have more success than I did with the summer list.  And on Friday, I’m recapping my August hike – parents’ day out in the Adirondacks!  Check in with me then.

Asking.  What are you reading?

Here we go again – Monday.  They just keep rolling around.  I’m not ready – am I ever?  This weekend was just busy.  On Saturday, we walked down to the farmers’ market to stock up on produce, because we had literally none in the house.  (I have Thoughts, capital T, about our current grocery situation.  It’s causing a lot of strife in the house at the moment.)  On the way to the farmers’ market, we were brought up short – imagine Scooby-Doo ruhhh? noises – when we realized that our favorite Buffalo-based artist, Sean Huntington, had a booth at the King Street Art Festival.  Of course we had to stop and have a good catch-up session with him.  We exclaimed over his new paintings, he exclaimed over how much the kids had grown, and we promised to swing by on our way back from the market (we did, and bought a print from him – a full-scale original painting wasn’t in the budget this time, although we do have several of his originals at home).  Seeing Sean was the highlight of the weekend, and just a completely delightful surprise.  The market was lovely too, and we came home stocked with all kinds of green goodness.  Also – it’s Asian pear season!  My favorite.  The rest of Saturday was a mix of fun and blah.  A short but fun hike and playground session at Jones Point – fun.  Several hours of work – blah.  A first birthday party for a friend’s little girl – fun.  More work after the kids went to bed – blah.  On Sunday, we woke up to gloomy skies and drizzling rain: perfect weather for getting things done around the house.  Steve’s and my bedroom had become one of the dumping zones for miscellaneous crap, and there were mountains of clean clothes to fold and put away.  I spent the morning tearing through the mess, and it’s much better now.  The rest of the day was spent puttering around.  Steve watched the Bills’ game; the kids bickered.  The usual.

Reading.  I have surprisingly little to report this week; it just hasn’t been a reading-heavy week for me.  I’m still working my way through The Fortnight in September, which is starting to seem like it’s going to take a fortnight to finish.  That’s not a reflection of the book at all – it’s a joy to read and I am having so much fun peeping in on the Stevens family and their late-summer seaside vacation.  I just have zero attention span for printed material, apparently.  I am close to being done, though, so I expect to wrap it up in the next few days, and I think the next book on my agenda is Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.  I’ve heard great things about it.

Watching.  So, it seems a complete series re-watch of Parks and Recreation is a thing that we are doing now.  I can’t lie, I’m not sad about it.  We’re into season 3 now, and Chris and Ben have arrived in town – yay! – and the show is really hitting its stride.  I think it might be officially my favorite show of all time.  It’s just so perfect in every respect.

Listening.  As much as I have not been reading much, I have been listening to ALL the things.  Podcasts, actually. All the podcasts.  Every day on my way in and out of work, and for hours on Sunday as I tornadoed through the bedroom cleaning.  Some of the usual suspects – Sorta Awesome, The Mom Hour – but I recently added a few new-to-me podcasts to my rotation.  Last thing I need, I know.  The podcatcher is already bursting at the seams.  But I subscribed to a few ocean conservation podcasts: A-Pod Cast for Killer Whales; Speak Up for Blue; and Marine Conservation Happy Hour.  I’m particularly loving Speak Up for Blue, which is an approachable podcast about marine conservation issues, mixing science topics with issue-oriented coverage and content about how to live a more sustainable life.  There are a few years of back episodes and I went through the entire archives, downloaded everything that I wanted to hear, and have been listening in fascination all week.  The production is super professional and the content is really timely and relevant.  I love it and I predict you’ll see me mentioning it many more times in this section.

Moving.  I’m trying, as always, but it’s tough – especially in this busy season!  I went to my old favorite 5:30 a.m. yoga class on Friday and it just… wasn’t the same.  The instructor seemed nice, but I didn’t love the class, and there were some things that just felt weird about it.  I am cooking up some plans to get back to barre and running, though, and I’m excited about that.

Blogging.  Sorry I flaked on you last week – I know I promised a post about my book club and I didn’t deliver.  It’ll have to wait a few weeks, because this week and next, I’m planning to go through my summer list and share my fall list, and there are still vacation recaps to post.  But do keep checking in with me!  I’ll get caught up eventually.

Loving.  I’ve been exclaiming over kid art for a few years now, but I’d forgotten about the transition from scribbles to actual recognizable figures.  Peanut’s art skills have been steadily expanding for awhile, but Nugget has been a scribbles guy.  But lately he’s started drawing cetaceans – because he knows I love them, and can we just take a moment over how sweet and adorable it is that he wants to draw me pictures of something I love and not just whatever is in his head? – and I’ve received pictures of whales and dolphins that, dare I say, actually look like whales and dolphins.  Maybe I wouldn’t think “oh, that’s clearly a Pacific bottlenose” if I saw the picture with no context, but knowing what it’s supposed to be, I can totally see it.  And I just love it.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Does it have to be Monday?  I need one more weekend day, just for relaxing.  We were super busy this weekend – Saturday, especially, because we were throwing Peanut a sixth birthday party.  But I thought she turned six last month?  If you’re confused, so was Peanut; she thought she was turning seven, and you should have heard the caterwauling when I broke the news to her that: nope, still six.  We like to wait to throw her party until a couple of weeks into the school year, so that more people can make it – someone is always on vacation if we do the party in the summer.  This year, Peanut requested a “cheetah tea party,” so that’s what I delivered (although no one drank the African Autumn iced tea – the best laid plans).  We had originally planned to have a picnic down at one of our favorite waterfront playgrounds, but last week the area flooded due to non-Florence-related rainstorms.  (We had such a wet summer that the Potomac was straining at its banks, and I guess last week’s rain was the final straw.)  So the party moved to our house as the backup location, and it was kind of better, because at least that way I didn’t have to haul all of the food down to the waterfront.  We invited all of the girls in Peanut’s class, plus some non-school friends, and the kids had a great time wearing cheetah ears, watching The Lion King, and tearing apart Peanut and Nugget’s rooms.  After everyone left, Nugget was desperately in need of some running around time, so I took him (and my sore party-throwing feet) to a block party (the fire trucks were there) and then to the playground and to ride his bike around a basketball court for awhile.  On Sunday, we wanted a low-key family day, but we were still on the go – down to Mason Neck, one of our favorite local parks, for a hike and some playground and turtle-watching time.  We made it home in time for lunch, and then the kids and I hung out on the patio – the kids digging in the sandbox and playing with Peanut’s new stamp set (a birthday present) while I made some headway on weeding the patio – it was horribly overgrown – and periodically yelled at them to stop bickering.  Good times.  And now – another week.  I’m already wondering if next weekend is apple-picking weekend.  Maybe?

Reading.  I started off fairly intense this week, reading When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir, which was hard to read but so important.  After finishing that and returning it to the library, I finished up The Modern Guide to Witchcraft and then turned to a book I’d been saving, the meditative and charming The Fortnight in September.  I’m reading it slowly and savoring it – and, to be honest, I was super busy all weekend and didn’t have much spare time for reading – and loving it, as I knew I would.

Watching.  Jumping around here and there.  I only watch TV about every other day at most, and then only one episode at a time.  This week, I think I watched one or two episodes of Parks and Recreation (which can cheer me up when nothing else can) and one episode of The Crown – my favorite, “Hyde Park Corner.”  I told Steve, “I keep forgetting how sad this episode is.”  In my mind, it’s all just Liz and Phil go to Africa and see elephants!  Liz wears jammies and amazing sunglasses! and I somehow forget that this is the episode where King George VI dies.

Listening.  I’m down to two hours left to go in my audiobook of Nick Offerman’s Paddle Your Own Canoe.  I’m still enjoying it, but am kind of getting ready to move on to something else.  And he still hasn’t mentioned Parks and Recreation, except briefly and in passing.  Come on, Nick!  Inquiring minds want to know ALL about that show!

Making.  I made an indoor safari birthday party this weekend, and that sapped pretty much all of my creativity for the week.  But it was a hit!  We had animal print tablecloths, a lion head made out of hummus, cheetah ear headbands and more.  The kids all had a great time, which was the most important thing.

Blogging.  Dishing about starting a book club on Wednesday, and then another vacation recap post on Friday – we climbed a mountain for Peanut’s sixth birthday!  Check in with me then.

Loving.  Okay, this has been public information for ages, but I just found out and it BLEW MY MIND: did you know the actress who plays Caroline “There Is No Enjoyment Like Reading” Bingley in the classic 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth, wet shirt) is DESCENDED FROM JANE AUSTEN?  (Sixth great-niece.)  And also from Mary Boleyn and the first Duke of Marlborough, but focus on the Austen.  HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS FACTOID?!?!  I feel so out of the loop, but also kind of ridiculously (and irrelevantly) excited about this piece of trivia.  As I did whenever I have exciting bookish news to recount, I immediately emailed my fabulous Janeite friend Susan, and she was similarly all-caps SHOCKED and DELIGHTED and ASTONISHED.  So, why am I “loving” this?  Well, Firth of all, I just find this piece of information (which everyone except for Susan and me probably knew already) completely delightful.  Caroline Bingley is my favorite Austen baddie, and Anna Chancellor plays her to perfection, and I can’t love enough the connection she has to Dear Aunt Jane.  You know how sometimes you just learn a little fact that completely delights you?  This completely delights me.  And then there’s the fact that I have a friend who – I knew – would geek out about this too, and everyone needs That Friend Who They Geek Out With.  The best.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

All right, here we go again – another trip on the weekly merry-go-round.  This weekend was good, although we didn’t do much.  On Saturday, we had the first in a three-week string of birthday parties to attend – this time, a school friend of Peanut’s.  The party was at a local bounce gym, and man was it loud.  Peanut was a bit overwhelmed to start, but she found her groove soon and enjoyed hanging out with her friends, and especially her BFF, who transferred schools and is no longer a part of our daily orbit (sob).  Dad and Mom had a treat later in the evening – dinner out with an old friend who we don’t see nearly enough.  We went to Virtue Feed & Grain, a favorite neighborhood spot, and enjoyed a delicious dinner and even more delicious laughter with our friend.  The dinner out was made possible by our beloved nanny, who came over to babysit the kiddos, and it was such a joy to see her.  Now that both kids are in school, she’s also not part of their daily orbit – lots of changes this year – and there was much rejoicing at the reunion.  Sunday was kind of a blah day.  Steve was watching the first football games of the season (it begins) all day, and the rest of us bummed around the house and looked out the windows at the rain.  I did some reading and some blogging and a whole lot of playing with the kids, and Nugget and I baked sourdough biscuits; they came out pretty well but I don’t know that they’re going to become a regular rotation item.  And now off to work again – another busy week ahead as I work my way toward the end of the fiscal year.  Is it October yet?

Reading.  All non-fiction this week – unusual for me!  I read Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race on my commutes throughout most of last week, and it was an interesting perspective, as it was focused on the experience of being black in England.  Being American, I’m more attuned to what’s going on over here.  So I felt that it was important to broaden my understanding, and it was an excellent book – I learned a lot.  After that, I felt the need for something lighter, so I picked up the sixth issue of Slightly Foxed – I’m still working my way through the back issues.  I’m finishing the weekend with When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir.  I’m only a couple of chapters in, but it’s excellent so far.

Watching.  Nothing really – just glances at whatever happens to be on the screen for someone else.  Sunday, as I mentioned, was all-football, all-day.  I didn’t really watch, but it was impossible to help noticing that the Bills got creamed.  The rest of the week and weekend, I just watched a little here and there as the kids took in The Blue Planet and BBC Earth: Africa.  Unfortunately, they also discovered a super creepy cartoon movie about some undersea creatures who go on a mission to save their colony – sounds cute, but there is some irksome language and really unnerving imagery (we’re talking skeletons, terrifying homicidal fish, a vampire octopus (???) and a submerged New York City, among other weirdnesses).  They can’t stop watching, and it’s really freaky.

Listening.  I’m almost halfway through Nick Offerman’s Paddle Your Own Canoe on Audible.  Definitely not family-friendly or suitable for work!  But it’s really fun to hear Nick describe, in his own words and voice, his salt of the earth upbringing and his escapades early in his theatre career.  I’m hoping for some good Parks and Recreation talk to come…

Making.  Took a break from bread-baking Sundays this week and whipped up some sourdough biscuits instead, as noted above.  They were good, but not spectacular.  It could be that I’m working my way through my white whole wheat flour, and I don’t think it’s especially fresh.  Muffins next weekend, maybe?

Blogging.  I flaked on you for the promised vacation recap last week, huh?  Let’s change that this week.  The first of the Adirondack posts is coming on Friday – for real this time.  On Wednesday, I’ll have the promised book review for you – another Classics Club entry.  Speaking of which, I’ve added a new page tab at the top of the window, where I’m collecting my Classics Club reviews.  So you can check that out and I’ll update it as I work through the list.

Loving.  With the school year swinging into gear, I’m actually really excited about both kids’ classes. Nugget is spending his days with three really sweet and loving ladies, and both of Peanut’s teachers seem super fun and engaged.  I’m one of the room moms in Peanut’s class this year, and I’m also helping out with “green school” initiatives this year (any ideas for us? keep in mind it’s a small school and the building is old) – I’m feeling inspired and hopeful for a great year ahead.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Happy holiday weekend to my American friends, and happy new week to my friends around the world!  Here in the States, it’s Labor Day, which is usually a bittersweet holiday for me, because it marks something of a demarcation between my two favorite seasons – summer and fall.  I love fall with all my heart, but I love summer almost as much and am usually sad to see it go.  (It helps that here in Virginia, we have a couple more months of summer weather headed our way before the jeans, puffy vests, and boots come out to stay.)  But this summer has been so off that I’m kind of ready to bid it goodbye and turn my attention to fall fun – apple, blackberry and pumpkin picking, fall sunflower festival, foliage, cider, hiking, and Hallowe’en, I’m coming for you!  Anyway – this was a pretty low-key Labor Day weekend.  We spent it at home, which was just what I needed after either solo parenting or traveling most weekends in August.  On Saturday, we spent a very relaxed morning at home.  Nugget and I walked out on an errand in the neighborhood – taking my bike for a tune-up at a local cycling shop – and then went to REI to buy him his first two-wheeler (with training wheels).  It cost way too much money for a child’s bike, but he was smiling so big I couldn’t say no.  On Sunday, we spent the morning hiking at Lake Burke, one of my favorite nearby parks, but it was a bit of a dud of a hike.  The kids were just in a really belligerent, uncooperative mood, which makes it hard to relax and soak up the trail.  Peanut also wanted to loudly declaim on all the particulars of a character she had just invented, “Aloha Lahalo,” and while I love her imagination, she scared most of the birds away.  Sunday afternoon meant more errands – Target for dress-code compliant socks and a water bottle for school; Whole Foods for lunch goodies and a kombucha re-stock; and Lowe’s for my annual orange mums and some more birdseed.  We’re spending this morning hiking at Great Falls with some new friends, and I’m sure we will just chill at home – maybe Nugget will ride his new bike – this afternoon as we get ready for a short, but busy week and the first day of school.  How is it upon us already?

Reading.  Pretty fun reading week.  At the beginning of the week, I finished up Canoeing in the Wilderness – read my thoughts here.  For the rest of the workweek, I worked my way through The Woman Next Door, by Yewande Omotoso – after hearing Rebecca of Book Riot describe it as “Golden Girls, but woke and in Africa,” I was sold.  I wouldn’t say it’s destined to become a favorite, but it was good.  This weekend I blazed through one of my favorite books of all time, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which I chose for this month’s book club selection (I’m hosting on Wednesday).  Finally – ’tis the season! – I picked up The Modern Guide to Witchcraft.  So don’t make me mad, because soon I will know how to hex you.  Just kidding!  (Or am I?)

Watching.  Kind of all over the place this week.  The latest season of The Great British Baking Show dropped and I am doing my best to reconcile myself to no Mary, Mel or Sue.  The new judge seems like a good not-Mary, but I don’t know what to do with the new hosts.  One looks like a glam rocker, so I’ve decided to call him Decibel Jones.  We’ve been alternating TGBBS with Making It – if you haven’t heard, same concept, but with crafts, hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman.  (I saw a thing on Twitter saying, basically, “There should be a category of Netflix recommendations for after you finish The Great British Baking Show and it should basically be, ‘you’re clearly going through some stuff, so here are more shows with people being nice to each other over low stakes things.'”  Making It would definitely fall into that category.)

Listening.  After watching the first episode of Making It, along with an episode of Parks and Recreation, which is almost a nightly occurrence in my house, I decided I needed more Nick Offerman in my life, so I downloaded Paddle Your Own Canoe on Audible, and I’m a little more than an hour into it.  (What is going on with me and canoes lately?)  You know how I loved Nick Offerman before?  You didn’t know?  Well – I did.  And now, multiply that by a thousand.  I don’t mind my commute at all as long as Nick is in my earbuds, talking about fishing and doing his Nick Offerman giggle (Ron Swanson fans, you’ve heard it).  Also, I might be getting old because I find Nick Offerman surprisingly handsome and I especially love his shaggy grey beard.  25-year-old me is shocked.

Moving.  Back to the usual hiking and walking – nothing much to report.  I did take my bike in for a tune-up (see above) this weekend, so once I have it back I’m hoping to get back in the [bike] saddle soon.  I mapped out my route to work and I could do almost the whole thing on car-free bike paths in about the same time it takes me on the commuter rail, so I’m thinking of trying bike commuting once the heat breaks a little bit.

Blogging.  I’ve got an outdoorsy week coming up for you; what with a vacation in Lake Placid to recap, you had to have seen that coming.  On Wednesday, I have another update to share on my 52 Hike Challenge, and on Friday, the first recap from my Adirondack vacation.  Check in with me then, or if you’re all, look, lady, I’m here for the books, I’ll have a book review for you next week.

Loving.  I’ve finally found my perfect kombucha brand!  I’m totally obsessed with Brew Dr. – finally, a kombucha that is tea-forward, not too sugary, readily available near me and doesn’t break the bank!  My favorite flavor so far has been the Strawberry Basil – the summer seasonal – but I’ve also really enjoyed the Clear Mind, and I’m digging the Harvest flavor – the autumn seasonal just released – too.  I got my BFF, Rebecca, to give it a whirl too, and she’s a fan.  It’s the best-tasting, least expensive kombucha I’ve found and I’m starting to get a twitch if I don’t have a week’s worth stocked in the fridge.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

It’s a Monday reading post, post-vacation edition – and I wish I was still on vacation.  We spent last week in Lake Placid, New York, with my parents, doing all the Adirondack things – lots and lots and lots of hiking, swimming, and some (not enough) kayaking.  It was exactly what I have been needing: lots of time outdoors, with trail under my feet and smelling the scents of pine trees and fresh mountain air.  We knocked off another high peak (Big Slide – recap coming soon) and plenty of other ADK trails, although there were quite a few more on my list that we didn’t get to.  Something to save for next time!  I grew up playing in these mountains in every season, and it was so much fun to introduce the kiddos to this special place.  Of course, I ended up having to do a little work most days of the vacation – isn’t that always the way it ends up?  But there was enough down-time and enough family time that I still feel refreshed.  And good thing, too, because I have a loooooong and stressful week ahead of me.  (It’s only Monday and I’m already wishing for Friday.)  I know one thing; I’ll be clinging to memories of mountain vistas and giggling kids splashing in a crystal clear lake to get me through the week.

Reading.  I know that I flaked on you for a Monday reading post last week – sorry about that.  I was in such a rush getting everything ready to go on vacation that I didn’t have time to start a draft, and then, well, I was on vacation and I didn’t get to it.  So let’s blow past that and talk about vacation reading.  The joke was on me for a little bit there, because before the trip I put together a huge stack of books to take along, even throwing a giant doorstopper of a Victorian novel onto the pile at the last minute.  The realistic part of me knew I wasn’t going to get through everything, but even I was surprised that it took me almost the entire week to get through Portage: A Family, a Canoe, and the Search for the Good Life.  It’s no fault of the book, which is completely lovely.  It was just that I found myself squeezing work into the after-bedtime hours that I thought would be my prime reading time.  It happens.  Anyway, I enjoyed every moment I got with Portage and then moved on to The Summer Book on the final day of vacation.  It was lovely, and I finished it up in the car on the way home to D.C., then blew through all of Be Prepared, a lightly fictionalized graphic memoir of summer camp – so fun! – on the same car ride before finally turning to Canoeing in the Wilderness.  (What was it with me and canoes last week?)  Anyway, it was a summery, nature-heavy week of reading as it turned out, and I did enjoy myself rather a lot.

Watching.  I didn’t watch any TV at all last week – I usually don’t watch very much, but none at all is unusual even for me – and it was glorious.  Instead, I watched: birds (chickadees, blue jays, and several gorgeous loons); my boots on the trail (ADK trails are notoriously rocky and rooty); my kids splashing and laughing in Mirror Lake.  And it was all wonderful.

Listening.  As with TV, it was a week of earbud detox, and I can’t even say I missed them.  I listened to the Moana soundtrack a lot, on CD in the car driving to and from hikes.  And I listened to the sounds of nature – birds calling; kayak paddles splashing; twigs snapping under my hiking boots.  I’d like some more of all of those things right now.

Moving.  I’m not really one for sedentary vacations, and this one was no exception.  Lots and lots and lots of hiking – including up a high peak, which was a tough climb – and some water sports, although not as much as I’d have liked.  But we were on our feet every day, and our wanderings ranged from the very easy (a stroll through the Wild Center on our one grey day) to the crazy challenging.

Blogging.  In the spirit of just having gotten back from an Adirondack vacation, I have a tribute to my favorite hiking boots ever on Wednesday.  And for those of you who will groan at the hiking-heavy content that is on the way, I’ll return to the books on Friday, with my August reading recap.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  It was so much fun to be on vacation with the family last week!  We managed to see my Grandma at her assisted living facility on our way up to the lake, and of course the kids ate up every second they got with Nana and Grandad.  I just wish that my brother Dan and sister-in-love Danielle could have been with us, but we were all together in June and that’s good too.  With every year that goes by, family seems to get more and more important.  I’m glad I lucked into such a close one.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?