Today was a jam-packed day that included a half-day in the office, several hours working an expo floor, and a couple hours at an author event/literary bar party. And then I came home to watch the Nats game, or, rather, to completely zonk out during it because my poor introvert brain had used up all of its energy chatting with thousands of strangers. I was definitely awake during the 7th-inning stretch, because we stood up and sang (what, you don’t?), but I do not remember anything after that. I assumed Rudi would have woken me up if we’d won, but I still had to check the score to be sure. I’ve just been dead to the world for the past several hours.

I’m going to write this blog post, wash the supper dishes, and go back to sleep, but this time in bed, rather than curled up under a blanket on the couch.

Here’s what I’m hoping the rest of the weekend includes, after I recharge a little more:

• Watch the Nationals win the World Series. There are two more games in D.C., which are the exact number we need to wrap this thing up. Obviously that cannot be a coincidence. If it looks like we will clinch on Sunday, Rudi and I will probably head down to the Yards to watch on the jumbotrons they’ve set up in the park. (If it doesn’t, our tv does not require our getting rained on, and we’ll save that experience for another evening.)
• Cheer on a coworker who is running her first marathon.
• Do a coffeeneuring bike ride. I don’t know where yet.
• Procure Baby Shark donuts.
• Switch out my cold-weather clothing.
• Finish my shawl. I mean, come on already.
• Send some mail.
• Find Halloween lights (and candy to give out). Also give some thought to a costume.
• Possibly go apple picking. I need to reconnect with Sarah. If not, pick up a pumpkin at the farmers market on Sunday.
• Do laundry so I have clean sports bras. New volleyball league (with mostly friends from my outdoor team) starts Monday!
• Read, because it’s the fall Dewey’s Readathon and there are at least three books I’m reading that I could finish.

What’s on your to-do list for this final weekend of October? (Also, how is it nearly November? Wasn’t it just 90 degrees?)

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I certainly didn’t expect (but am delighted nonetheless) to report that the Nationals have taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series. They return home tomorrow for Game 3 (and left fielder Juan Soto’s 21st birthday).

2. Leftover centerpieces from a summit my work hosted means I have a purple orchid sitting in a bowl on my desk.

3. My trip to the farmers market over the weekend netted a branch of Brussels sprouts, several quince, and a candy roaster squash nearly the length of my arm.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

No knitting. No knitting pictures. I’m definitely feeling stuck, which probably means I need to just pick up one of my projects and put a few stitches in it. And then do it again.

I’m glad to report that while I put aside The Library Book (I was suddenly able to renew it), I did pick up NPR’s Linda Holmes’ debut novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over, which friends had loved. They had said it was a quintessential summer novel, because it takes place in Maine and includes a lot of baseball, but that actually made it a perfect fall book for me, since that’s when I miss New England the most. I can’t imagine it will take me far into the weekend to finish it, particularly since there’s no baseball to watch tomorrow night.

I’m nearly done with Jenny Colgan’s The Bookshop on the Shore, which also seems to fit with my mood, since in my head I kind of assume Scotland is not unlike Maine. If you liked the first Bookshop book, I think you will enjoy revisiting the town in this companion novel (but not really a sequel).

Next up, I think, will be George Takei’s graphic memoir about growing up in an American concentration camp.

I did pick many of the remaining tomatoes over the weekend, but left a few on the vine. While the outskirts of the city were at risk for a frost warning this week, the heat sink of a city keeps our garden a little warmer for longer.

I, do, however, have lots of peppers still growing. They’re always a reliable late-season crop for me.

There are fish peppers:

I grow them because they’re the cool stripey green and white of their leaves as they’re growing and then they turn the red you see below when they’re ripe.

There are lots of banana peppers:

And a few mini yellow bells:

I also still have basil left to harvest and turn into pesto for the winter.

The seeds I planted for fall greens don’t seem to have taken. I may give it a shot again this weekend when I’m there to see if anything comes of a late planting. It’ll all depend on when snow comes…

I wasn’t feeling today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic, so I decided to share instead ten tv shows still currently in production that I like:

1. Stumptown: Down-on-her-luck former military intelligence officer Dex becomes a P.I. & solves cases in Portland, Oregon. (ABC)
2. Magnum, P.I.: Not-down-on-his-luck former military officer Magnum serves as the inspiration for a bestselling thriller writer & solves cases in Honolulu, Hawaii. Better than the original, in my opinion. (CBS)
3. My Life Is Murder: Recently retired and widowed detective Alexa solves mostly cold cases in Melbourne with the support of her former boss and a young police analyst. In between, she bakes bread, pretends not to like a cat that doesn’t technically belong to her, and plays video games. (Acorn)
4. A Million Little Things: A group of 40-something friends deal with being adults, even when it really sucks, in this sort of soapish drama. (ABC)
5. God Friended Me: In sort of a modern Highway to Heaven, three NYC millennials respond to Facebook friend requests from God, featuring people who need help. (CBS)
6. Frankie Drake Mysteries: Canadian women in the 1920s solve murders & kick ass. (PBS)
7. Agents of SHIELD: A futuristic police force in the Marvel Universe peopled by pretty nerds protects the world from otherworldly threats. (ABC)
8. Blood & Treasure: A former FBI agent and a master thief team up to solve religious & historical crimes in this melodramatic caper with great settings. (CBS)
9. Carmen Sandiego: A modern twist on the old PBS show has an animated Carmen trying to prevent crime and reunite relics with their cultural home, while taking down the school for mastermind criminals where she was raised. (Netflix)
10. Mr. Iglesias: A high school history teacher cracks jokes and inspires his underperforming inner-city students at his L.A. alma mater. (Netflix)

How about you? What scripted shows do you currently enjoy?

Our fall foliage season hasn’t been great, but there are several trees in the park by my garden that looked particularly pretty this weekend:

Are the trees near you dressed to the nines for the season, or have they already put away their finery? Or, like ours, are your trees opting for a more casual look in neutrals this autumn?