It was a beautiful night at the park.

We’ve made it to the weekend again, and honestly it didn’t get here fast enough. I’m feeling burnt out and exhausted, which seems ridiculous for a life that involves rarely leaving my couch. Which is probably the problem, come to think of it.

So this weekend, I’m hoping for less couch time and hoping for more time:

• Riding my bike — maybe I’ll be super ambitious and bike over to the Arlington library to return a book.
• Walking — if I get up early enough, I should head over to the bank in Georgetown for quarters.
• Tending the garden — I have some old potatoes that should go in the ground, and I’d like to plant some beans. Plus the herb section of the garden is being overrun by lemon verbena and mint that should be cut back.
• Baking — I should take advantage of the cooler weather and Rudi’s planned absences to fire up the oven.
• Reading and knitting in the park — The weather is supposed to be just gorgeous. We were outside until nearly 10 this evening and weren’t the last ones to leave.
• Getting takeout — I’m thinking pizza for supper and a drink from one of my local shops.
• Sending some mail — I was really good at reaching out to friends earlier in the pandemic, but I’ve fallen back on bad, non-card-sending habits that I’d like to break.

What are you hoping your weekend includes?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An email from the four-year-old daughter of our friends.

2. Spending time in the park.

3. Meeting up with Sarah at the protest last Saturday.

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

I’m about a third of the way into Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, about a grieving Chicago boy spending his summer on his grandparents’ farm who discovers the Black and African folktales his grandmother has raised him on actually exist in a parallel universe and that he, as the latest in a line of powerful storytellers, may be needed to save both worlds. So far I’m really enjoying it and recommend it to anyone, like me, who is woefully versed in this folk tradition or whose tenuous knowledge comes largely from a certain Disney film.

I continue to be an unmotivated knitter. I finished the leg of my second Smock Madness, which means I have about eight hours of knitting left before this becomes a wearable pair of socks. And yet…

Normally, I’d be considering a couple new projects right about now, in advance of the Summer Olympics and the Tour de France, but it feels like I should trudge through some of these older projects and get them crossed off. Sadly, that’s also the story of my work life, which may be contributing to my reluctance to pick up my knitting. Finishing anything at this point would probably go a long way toward making me feel more productive on all fronts, so hopefully I will power through.

Head to As Kat Knits to see projects and books from people who do not have this frustrating lack of ambition in their work.

Tracy Chapman performing “If Not Now” live back in 1998:

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us about the Top Ten Books I’ve Added to My TBR and Forgotten Why. I’ve added more than 3,100 titles to my list of books I’d like to read since I first joined Goodreads more than a dozen years ago. Obviously they sounded interesting at the time…

1. The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton
2. Sororophobia: Differences Among Women in Literature and Culture by Helena Michie
3. How to Pick a Peach by Russ Parsons
4. Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
5. The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfield
6. Tallulah Falls by Christine Fletcher
7. The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor
8. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
9. The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
10. The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis

Have you read any of these books?