August 1st has pretty much arrived, and now I will finally get to find out if I really forgot to do something!

Other things I’m going to work on this weekend are:

• Going to the farmers market. Did you know it’s National Farmers Market week? Please support your local agriculture. As we’ve seen earlier this year, local food sources are crucial to keeping people fed.
• Video chatting with friends. A bunch of us who live or used to live in D.C. have a monthly video chat on Saturday evening.
• Making ice cream. The leading contenders are peach, root beer, and peppermint stick.
• Baking bread. Also, I need to be brave and see if the old fridge killed my sourdough. Rudi kept it in a cooler with ice, but not everything we put in there made it through. I know I can make a new starter if I’ve killed it, but still…
• Finishing my sock. You saw how close I am to being done. If I’d just put my phone down while watching tv, I’d be done already.
• Watch The Goldfinch, which is due back to the library.
• Plant the last group of seed potatoes I found when we reorganized the kitchen. I keep forgetting to take them to the garden.
• Check out a new Azerbaijani bakery that opened recently.
• Listen to some baseball, because who knows how much longer they’re going to let that experiment go on.
• Reorganize our dvd collection. We pulled most of them out earlier in the pandemic, and it’s time to get them back where they belong.

How about you? What’s on your weekend to-do list?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I told you back in the spring about a project that Rudi and a friend of his started where they match bikes that people weren’t using anymore with essential workers who needed them. This week they were honored with a microgrant from The Awesome Foundation.

2. Several abstracts my department submitted to an upcoming conference were accepted, so my younger colleagues and I will all be giving short, pre-recorded talks this fall. (The fact that they will be pre-recorded, rather than live and in person, is what makes this beautiful, rather than nauseating.

3. A friend’s birthday was today. Usually we sing to his voicemail, but tonight he picked up the line, so we got to catch up.

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

As you can see, I’ve been knitting! I have at least one and a half more repeats of the pattern, I think, before I decrease for the toe. But I’m definitely nearly there!

I recently finished both print and audiobooks, so technically I’m less in the midst of reading Stacey Lee’s The Downstairs Girl and more that I’m about to start it. Set in Atlanta in the late 1800s, the novel focuses on an Asian American teen who works as a lady’s maid by day and an anonymous advice columnist by night.

Head to As Kat Knits to see what else folks are working their way through.

Walking back from the garden, we were greeted by this sight. It was nearly 8 p.m., so the sun was just too low to get the full half-circle. But it was still a most lovely way to end the day.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is a freebie, but I’m tired enough that I’m having trouble coming up with my own topic. So I’m going to riff off Jana’s topic and give you ten authors I’ve read whose next book I’m looking forward to:

1. Sherry Thomas — Luckily, I only have to wait until October for the next Lady Sherlock novel.
2. Robert Galbraith — Similarly, the next Cormoran Strike novel is also due out this fall.
3. Virginia Kantra — I just finished (and adored) Meg and Jo, and at the end the first chapter of Beth and Amy was included. She answered a question on Goodreads that says she’s hoping it will be published later this year, but who knows…
4. Deanna Raybourn — Sure, the latest Veronica Speedwell only just came out this winter, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look forward to where the story goes next.
5. Kate Racculia — I loved Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts and am looking forward to what this author brings out next. Luckily, I can explore her two earlier novels while I wait.
6. Jason Reynolds — I haven’t read everything in his back catalog, but this week brought the news that he has a novel for adults coming out in 2022. He’s such a prolific writer, though, that’s probably half a dozen releases from now.
7. Maia Chance — I love The Discreet Retrieval Agency mystery series and look forward to whenever the next one appears.
8. Sonali Dev — This one is my fault. Her latest book in The Rajes series came out this spring; I just haven’t had a chance to access is yet.
9. Elizabeth Acevedo — Similarly, Clap When You Land also came out this spring, and I just haven’t gotten to it yet .
10. Jasper Fforde — His latest book is already out in the U.K., but won’t reach the U.S. until the fall. I’m looking forward to it already!

How about you? Which author can you not wait to read the next book from?

Do you ever have the feeling you’re forgetting to do something really important? I’ve had that sensation for a week now and I just can’t get past the idea that suddenly August is going to arrive and I’ll be furious with myself…

A friend’s anniversary is this week and another’s birthday. Taxes were due earlier in the month, and I’ve paid all my bills. (doublechecks notes — yup, paid them all…) Summer is a third’ish over, but what is time even?

Is there a work deadline? I mean, there’s always a work deadline, usually behind me. We have several events next month — a virtual work retreat, a virtual summit, a virtual conference — but right now none of those have any deadlines that require work from me…

August 1st was the random due date all the library books were assigned back in March. Could it be as simple as that?

I just don’t know. But at this point, I kind of just want August 1st to arrive so I know what I forgot.