The apartment still looks like a tornado came through, but now you can add a couple bags of groceries, several bags of Christmas presents, and a full bag of produce from the garden. (Tomatoes, peppers, all the remaining basil (two types), Swiss chard, and a handful of tomatillos are in the bag (and then I added at least half a dozen ripe figs from the tree in the park)).

Admittedly, Mount Laundry is now looking more like Laundry Foothill, with three loads done since Rudi left. I’ve got at least three more to do before we head north for the holiday, but I should probably switch over to removing items from the Burrow, rather than just cleaning and rearranging them. (This would have been made easier had the recycling been picked up this week.) We have a new cat sitter coming by Monday evening, so I now definitely have a narrowing timetable for putting the worst of the situation to rights.

Tomorrow holds more than cleaning, though. Sarah and I are getting together in the afternoon for lunch†, and I’ll probably bike across town to get in a little more exercise and daylight and to count it as a Coffeeneuring ride.

But once the sun goes down, I’ll get to work righting the ship.

Honestly, this weekend needs to include hours of cleaning — the Burrow looks like a tornado ran through it — but I’m hoping that’s not everything it includes!

Here’s what else I’m hoping to get up to:

• Finding a pet sitter (I know, I know. I’ve sent an email and am waiting to hear back.)
• Spending time with my friend Sarah
• Checking in on the garden (It’s supposed to drop just below freezing overnight and I’d planned to get down there before the sun set today. When the options narrowed to find out how well tomatoes fare in a minor freeze or harvesting in an out-of-the-way corner of a park after dark, I opted to keep my fingers crossed. The internet tells me tomatoes that aren’t damp should be okay down to 28 degrees.)
• Going to the local bookstore’s member sale
• Cycling to two Coffeeneuring destinations
• Doing laundry
• Shopping at the farmers market
• Reading
• Knitting
• Doing some Christmas prep for parties, swaps, decorating, and the Virtual Advent Tour

What are you hoping to do this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi’s early flight was late enough I could go to the yuppie doughnut shop after dropping him off.

2. While at our neighborhood grocery store/bar, we ran into a friend of Rudi’s and ended up closing the place down.

3. I stopped by the local Middle Eastern place hoping for a pre-supper cup of tea to drink while sitting on their patio, since it was an unseasonably warm evening. They apologized that their kebabs were pretty much gone, and when I explained I’d want a vegetarian option anyway, they offered to make me falafel. Dinner without having to cook it myself? Sure! While I waited, they gifted me a piece of baklava and the cup of tea I’d wanted, and once the falafel was cooked, I had two meals’ worth of sandwich, plus four sauces.

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

I’ve reached the final slip stitch rib section of the shawl! I just wish I were more confident that the shawl is big enough.

I’ve been taking Sonya Lalli’s A Holly Jolly Diwali with me on excursions. I started Allie Brosh’s graphic memoir Solutions and Other Problems in the bedroom. I’m down to the final two chapter of Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which I mostly listen to while washing dishes. But since Rudi is away, I guess I’d better start listening to it at other times, too, in order to wrap it up before it expires in four days.

Cameo
1401 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.
Sunday, Nov. 14, afternoon
Conditions: A little breezy

Food halls are a big thing in cities these days. They’re essentially food courts, but not usually attached to anything else of interest and priced for yuppies. But I’d heard there was one over near Potomac Ave. with a coffeehouse in it (as opposed to the one six blocks from me that doesn’t have one), and I convinced Rudi we could combine leaf peeping, Christmas shopping, returning a library book, and Coffeeneuring all in one trip.

So, we took the long way to the Hill, ran our errands and then found ourselves at The Roost, the aforementioned fancy food court. They’ve got at least a handful of bike racks, so there was easy parking, and you could sit outside if the person you’re with doesn’t complain that he can no longer feel his fingers. Cameo shares its space with Shop Made in D.C., so you can browse while waiting for your order to come up. Or, wander to the pizza slice place 50 feet away and get some food.

I ordered a hot chocolate and we added chocolate croissants (baked by Pluma, a 2019 Coffeeneuring stop) to our order, too. They were both … fine. But the problem is when a place charges you $5 for cocoa, you kind of want more than fine. Or, at least, some whipped cream or marshmallows on top.

So, I don’t think I’ll be back unless specifically invited. But it was good to check it out if only so I don’t have to imagine a cozy shop where I wanted to spend hours anymore.

Total mileage: Rudi tells me it was nearly 14. I’ll update to an exact number sometime when he’s awake.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share recommendations. In keeping with Nonfiction November, I’ve opted for the top ten books I’d share with someone who loves memoirs:

1. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
2. March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell
3. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
4. Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacobs
5. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
6. Becoming by Michelle Obama
7. My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall
8. No Time Like the Future by Michael J. Fox
9. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
10. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous

How about you? What memoirs have you enjoyed?