The upcoming week holds several friends’ birthdays, the start of Passover, and the Easter holidays. Which means I should get some things done this weekend to prepare:

• Send out some mail. I dug out my stationery box today, which makes that easier.
• Buy batteries. We’re out of AAs and AAAs and now have to rob Peter to pay Paul, gadget-wise.
• Make some calls. I’ve been okay about checking in with the folks I know in the hardest hit areas or who are in healthcare careers, but haven’t made phone calls.
• Pay some bills. I am lucky in that because I am still working full-time, I am still getting my usual paycheck. I know that’s not true of everyone, so I’m super grateful.
• Have a living room dance party. I am the only one excited by this, which means it often gets dropped off the list, despite it being low-hanging fruit.
• Bake something with my sourdough discard and/or the pie crusts I pulled out of the freezer last week. Rudi would probably be very excited if I finally turned that sugar pumpkin that’s been sitting around the Burrow since the fall into the pumpkin pie that he loves.
• Find my UFOs and my mending pile. Sort them, and figure out how to tackle one a couple mending projects a week.
• Read something. I’ve mentioned that I’m having trouble concentrating on paper books right now, but audiobooks seem to be okay. Rudi and I started listening to Good Omens earlier this evening
• Paint my nails.
• Sleep in.

What are you thinking about doing this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Sourdough bread, made from my starter. Yes, it’s probably cheating a little bit to make it in the breadmaker, but at this point, whatever gets it turned into bread is a winner, in my mind. We ate warm slices as soon as the loaf was cool enough to cut and had it toasted for breakfast with butter and jam.

2. This week, in addition to accepting some paid part-time work with a local campaign he really believes in, Rudi has, with a friend, launched a nonprofit project, BikeMatch, that pairs local cyclists who are willing to donate bikes to people who need them during this crisis. In their first couple days, they’ve already heard from 50 people. I am super proud of him.

3. I painted my toenails. This weekend I’m going to do my fingernails.

How about you? What beautiful things have you been noticing in your world to help you deal with this?

This was rush hour on Rock Creek Parkway today.

you just need color.

As of today, D.C. has been told officially we must stay home. We can still go to the grocery store and out for exercise, but the parks have all been closed and there’s some confusion as to whether or not we can spend time at the garden.

Today it was cool and it started raining just after work wrapped up for the day. Because of course it did.

So, I reached for one of my recently modeled shawls to help cheer me up.

This is my Hairpin Turns shawl, aka Around the Bend by Nim Teasdale.

It’s knit with two skeins of Freia fine hand paints. They’re both in the Ombré Merino line — Vamp and Melon. I like the yarn and am glad I still have two balls for future projects.

I cast it on as my Tour de France Knitalong project in early July 2018 and finished it sometime in early 2019 … I think. It disappears off my blog in November 2018, at which point I still have 200 (decreasing) rows to knit.

It’s not perfect. There was a recommendation in Ravelry notes to purl a row to keep it from curling weirdly where you bind off half your stitches, but I should only have purled the bindoff side, rather than the other side, too, I think. But I think that’s mostly a critical knitter thing, rather than something the casual observer would pick up on. And because of the shape, it wears a little weirdly. This is sort of the best look I’ve found for it.

But it is squishy and I love the colors and it goes with so many things.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the top ten signs you’re a book lover.

Here are some ways folks may know I love books:

1. There are very few surfaces in my apartment that do not contain books. This does not keep me from stopping at every bookshop and Little Free Library that I pass.
2. I belong to three library systems — in three states — and the Library of Congress.
3. My insurmountable TBR list predates Goodreads. It used to be written on brightly colored index cards in tiny writing. Periodically one still resurfaces. Occasionally, I’ve read one title of the 75+ contained on it.
4. I can — and do — read (print books) and walk. Mostly I put my finger in the book when crossing streets.
5. I have 60 audiobooks on my phone.
6. Every time I have moved, the first box that gets unpacked contains Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. (My college roommate said she knew immediately that we’d be friends.)
7. We own copies of Harry Potter titles in a variety of languages, including a couple we don’t read.
8. My Halloween costumes are often based on bookish characters.
9. Every year, I tamp down my crowd anxiety to brave thousands of people at the National Book Festival.
10. I literally have the tshirt. (And the tote bag. And the socks. And the Christmas pjs. And … )

How about you? Are there obvious signs that you’re a book lover, too?

We did not get around to baking bread, but I did make waffles for brunch and pass on some starter to a stranger.

We didn’t find strawberry plants for the garden, but we did find flour, milk, and greens for the kitchen.

We didn’t clean the living room, but we did defrost the freezer.

We didn’t have a living room dance party, but we did get out on our bikes.

I didn’t finish my book, but I did read a chapter. (I’m getting close to having to turn to Harry Potter…)

We didn’t talk to our friends, but I did talk to my brother, text with a couple friends who live close to the epicenter in New York, and make plans to say a socially distant farewell to friends who are moving back to Germany this week.

We didn’t get the sheets changed, but we did sleep in.

And that’ll have to be good enough for right now. After all, tomorrow is a new day and a clean slate and there are plenty of chances to do more then.