One of the nice things about having a blog is that it gives you an anchor in history. (I hear from blogless people that Facebook serves a similar purpose.) I can see daffodils today and think, gosh, this is way too early. But then I can go back to previous Januaries and see that we’re probably only a week early. I had snowdrops pictured in the final weekend of January last year, rather than in the middle of the month, and the daffodils didn’t turn yellow until February. (Also, how is February arriving at the end of this week?!)

With highs predicted for this next week to remain in the 40s, I suspect this daff will unfurl itself in short order. Right now, it looks not dissimilar to me when I am fooled by bright sunshine into leaving the house underdressed only to wish 15 minutes later that I had a warm layer to block the breeze.

The past couple days I was out during the day in just a baseball tee and sweatshirt (and knitted accessories). But as the sun sets, it still cools off quickly and I’m glad to pull on a jacket or puffy vest. It’s still too early for canvas sneakers (at least without wool socks), as I discovered this evening, but I know that day isn’t far off. (My apologies to those of you for whom that day is far off.)

The current forecast for the Bay Area has the highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 40s while I’m out there later this week, so I’m hoping that means I can leave the winter sweaters and coat at home!

I was lucky enough to be on an above-ground train this evening as the sun was setting over Old Town Alexandria. The first clue of its gorgeousness was actually the pink hue cascading over the D.C. skyline on the other side of the river, but I was on the wrong side of the train to capture that.

I embark upon a cross-country work trip Wednesday, the first of four trips in the next month, so a lot of my weeekend to-do list focuses on prepping for that.

But it also includes some fun, as well:

• Watch a video — I picked up Judy, Valentine’s Day, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu at the library this week. (And Rudi has promised to be home from practice relatively early tomorrow.)
• Do laundry.
• Spend time outside.
• Go to a craft fair in the old subterranean trolley station in my neighborhood.
• Bowl.
• Pick up sweets in Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
• Bake shortbread — I have Mary Berry’s cookbook out from the library and bought semolina last week.
• Clean the kitchen.
• Finish my shawl.
• Paint my nails (but maybe not until after bowling on Sunday).

How about you? What are you hoping to do on this final weekend of January?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I scored respectably well (a 91) in my first bowling match of the season — high enough to be helpful to the team, but not so high that it seems out of reach to bowl it again. The group was organized by one of my volleyball teammates and includes women who play volleyball or kickball with her. We’re such a large group there was concern that we might not be able to fit in the one game necessary to avoid forfeit, but we squeaked through with two minutes to go. The kickball folks seem nice, and it was fun to have a destination on a Sunday afternoon.

2. Our building’s heat has been on the fritz this week, and this afternoon our handyman and his brother installed the part that had broken.

3. After four and a half months at my new job, I finally managed to schedule a work-at-home day — for tomorrow. Lugging my work laptop and reference materials home this evening wasn’t fun (mostly because I detoured via the library and the grocery store, which meant a mile of walking with three bags, rather than the two blocks from the bus stop carrying just the one, all while wearing heels), but I know that not having to race out of bed, out of my pj’s, and out of the door in the morning is going to seem ultra luxurious. Plus, it may warm up enough and get sunny for a bit before the evening rain moves in, letting me work some from the park.

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

No new knitting news to report at the moment, but I do have some reading updates.

I have finished listening to Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia. Next up in the headphones will be the second installment in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, A Fatal Grace. I put both my paper books aside. I have a plane flight next week, so if I’m awake for any of it, it should be good listening.

I put both my paper books aside last week to finish Tuesday and am in no rush to pick them up again. I have a bunch of middle grade and YA titles out of the library right now though, so sampled a couple tonight to decide what will be next. Lynne Kelly’s Song for a Whale looks promising, but didn’t grab me the way Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia did. In this story, Tristan’s best friend has died, leaving him a journal filled with African and African American-based folklore stories from a class project they’d been working on. Except now the journal glows green and has an unusual symbol on the cover. Tristan is heading to Alabama to work on his grandparents’ farm for the summer and get past his grief, except that now, in addition to mending fences, he might also have to help John Henry and Brer Rabbit contend with African gods. Doesn’t it sound so good?

What are you reading?

This weekend I wove in the ends and wore for the first time my Posey socks. I’d finished the knitting — which I started back in January 2018 — this past spring, but had simply put them away for the season at the time.

I bought the yarn, Lollipop Yarn Quintessential Gripes in Purrfection, the day our cat Posey died back in 2017. I’d picked up the ball because the colors reminded me of her — she was white with grey and brown patches and had an adorable pink nose and pink ears that stood out through her fur — and then saw the name, and pretty much knew it was a sign.

The dark grey of the heel and toe was a mini skein from MarigoldJen Yarns that I picked up at the Homespun Yarn Party a couple years ago.

Much like Posey, the socks are soft and comfortable and adorable.