I kicked off the weekend with dinner with Rudi and some friends who now split their year between D.C. and New Orleans (and who are only recently back north). They grilled and made a delicious salad, and I made my grandmother’s lemon squares. (They said they were very good, but I can never make them taste like hers, so…) We watched a movie (well, Julia and Rudi watched the movie and Michael and I dozed) and came home later than we’ve been out in ages. It was great.

Here’s what else I’m hoping to fit into this weekend:

• Bake gingersnaps (if tomorrow afternoon turns stormy, this is likely how I’ll spend the time)
• String up the pea trellis in the garden and get the potatoes, garlic, and onions in
• Visit the library
• Write some cards
• Make daiquiris (we need some space in our freezer, which is being overrun with frozen fruit)
• Play more volleyball
• Vacuum
• Wash all the wool tops and heavy pants
• Switch out the winter and summer clothes
• Start a bag for Goodwill
• Get the two bins in our living room over to Rudi’s storage unit

What’s on your to-do list this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I get to play volleyball in some pretty amazing places, particularly for a landlocked city. I’ve played grass games in the shadow of the Washington Monument and adjacent to the World War II Memorial, and now, finally, I’m back playing sand games just behind the Lincoln Memorial. (They closed the courts during COVID to prevent people from gathering and then decided to refurbish them in the two years since. Judgment is reserved until we have some flooding rain, since they used to have a drainage issue, but so far the courts are very nice.)

2. Saturday morning Rudi and I met some friends down the street from their new apartment at the Florida Avenue Grill, one of the oldest soul food diners in the country, for brunch. In addition to good conversation, I had delicious French toast and grits and veggie sausage and eggs and considered for a period of time never eating again. (At least until Sarah and I spent more hours at the ballpark than expected later that evening waiting out a rain delay.)

3. The strawberry plants in the garden are covered with flowers, which is very exciting. To tide us over, I bought two pints of the first berries I saw at the local farmers market the other evening. They taste like early season berries, but still!

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

Here’s some of what I’m hoping I get done this weekend:

• Relax with friends
• File my taxes
• Watch baseball
• Wash sheets and towels
• Try some new-to-me restaurants
• Play volleyball
• Plant potatoes and some other things in the garden
• Pick up holds at the library
• Find morels at the farmers market
• Vacuum and/or mop all the floors

How about you? What are you hoping this weekend includes?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I help coach kids and have been working with third graders and soccer for the past several months. This week, one of the kids who struggles with his emotions a bit and I just played one-on-one for the whole hour. He kept up a steady stream of chatter and I teased him a little bit about how in second grade he must not have learned about over and under very well based on the boasts he was making. We made it through the whole session without tears and with laughter, which seems like a win.

2. It’s been a while since I visited the park, so I headed up there for a while Tuesday evening. The sky was painted with the most gorgeous brush strokes.

3. Despite looking in both D.C. and Connecticut, I hadn’t come across any Hershey Eggs, my favorite Easter candy, all season. Sunday, Rudi returned from his bike ride in Maryland with three bags for me.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share books with animals on the cover or in the title. Here are ten from my to-be-read list:

1. Reynard the Fox by Anne-Louise Avery
2. The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde
3. Kelly Barnhill’s The Crane Husband
4. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
6. Natalie Lloyd’s Hummingbird
7. How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
8. The Swallows by Lisa Lutz
9. Strange Birds: A Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. Pérez
10. Roshani Chokshi’s The Gilded Wolves

Do you have any favorite books with animals in the title I should add to my list?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An evening spent in Annapolis gets us a walk around Maryland’s bayside capital, dinner outside, slightly cooler temps than back in D.C., a coffeehouse open late, and a Micky Dolenz concert.

2. With weather nice enough for shorts, I spend several hours in the garden, pulling weeds, raking leaves, and planting seeds.

3. The redbuds are at peak bloom, turning swaths of woodland and parkland a rosy violet.

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