Finally, we got back toward having some pleasant weather, so I spent quite a bit of this weekend outside.

Friday evening, we had drinks on the patio of our local yuppie grocery store/bar.

Saturday, we spent the first part of the day at our garden, doing general maintenance with other gardeners. Rudi and I weeded pathways and raked, and we felt very good about our efforts by the time we headed home in the early afternoon. In the evening, we headed to the ballpark for the Mets-Nationals game and our friend Sarah’s birthday. The Mets’ Pete Alonzo hit a grand slam, which was very exciting for me, but the Nationals failed to recognize Sarah’s special day by playing their best. The temperature kept dropping, so by the end of the ninth we were all well bundled into the winter clothing we’d brought and aching for everyone who came to bat to get out quickly. But overall it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday in April.

Today, I got to sleep in a bit before heading to the farmers market. We later enjoyed the ramps (wild leeks) I picked up in omelettes for supper. In the afternoon, I headed over to Virginia to return a library book. I picked up some doughnuts from the yuppie doughnut shop and four books from the library, and then spent some time sipping a fabulous seasonal drink — a peaches n’ cream tea latte — and reading in the sun (and wind) on the patio of the local coffeehouse. We had our monthly video call with friends on the west coast in the evening and then rounded out the night with some tv.

How was your weekend?

It was another quiet weekend around the Burrow:

We watched the UConn women win … and then lose.

We bought plants, and I put them all in the ground.

I finished a book and started a new one.

We stopped at a coffeehouse I hadn’t been to since the pandemic began (they were only open for takeout with curtailed hours) and sat on the patio in the sun.

We went to the grocery store and the farmers market.

I turned the heel of my sock and started working on the foot.

We watched Better Nate than Ever, which was sweet.

We watched and heard the news and did not turn away.

We went on.

My weekend was a quiet one.

My bike stayed in the laundry room, but Sarah and I met for ice cream and a stroll along the river Friday afternoon.

I didn’t meet up with a friend to watch the Standford-Maryland game, but I watched quite a bit of women’s basketball.

No books went back to the library, but I listened to my audiobook and hit the 100-page mark in my print book.

Mount Laundry wasn’t vanquished, but it shrank in size.

I failed to go to the garden, but I shopped for vegetables and plants and cleaning supplies.

The butter on the counter didn’t turn into cookies, but Karen and I talked on the phone about the cake her family had made.

I didn’t see the cherry blossoms, but I saw a rainbow.

Not everything I’d hoped to do this weekend got done, but maybe it’s okay.

Sunday was mostly overcast, but the clouds thinned overhead toward dusk and cleared at the horizon, leaving us with a gorgeous end to the day.

Lest you think I don’t have my priorities straight, let me assure you that I was determined not to let having COVID affect my ability to eat delicious round foods on March 14th.

That’s right, Pi(e) Day 2022 was still on!

First up, quiche:

Our quiche is filled with spinach, feta, and Jamaican veggie sausage and was delicious, albeit a bit underdone when Rudi cut into it the first time. (The jiggle test failed me.) After we pulled out the first two slices, I popped it back into the oven to bake a few more minutes, and our second slices were much less viscous.

(Also, it is a particularly rich quiche because one of the two places I failed to adequately think out isolation rations was dairy. I went with full on heavy whipping cream so as to not run out of milk for our tea and coffee before we can make masked ventures back into the world.)

In between the quiche and my sweet pie, I also roasted a pie pumpkin that was starting to look sad and toasted its seeds. I’d cleared out the oven, after all, and was going to utilize it to its fullest.

Finally, it was on to the main course — dessert!

If you’re looking at my apple crisp and thinking it looks a little on the dry side, it is. I should have had a couple juicier baking apples, but I was trying to use up my oldest apples and they just didn’t produce enough liquid. So, yesterday, when the pie was fresh, it was just okay. Today, it was a far better pie as the apples had a chance to relax some.

But either way, we had COVID pie!

Rudi and I tested positive for COVID today.

We’d both been under the impression that spring allergies were plaguing us, an assumption reinforced by local meteorologists who assured us that the region’s pollen charts had suddenly skyrocketed off the charts last week. Rudi’s symptoms are worse than mine, again, in keeping with how we experience allergies (also, boy), so we’d been dosing with allergy meds and largely continuing on with our daily business.

In fact, the only reason I tested was because I was supposed to hang out with my most cautious friend and since I was snuffly I proactively sought to assure him there were no concerns.

Had it been someone else, I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought. And that’s how we assume we caught it. Because someone else assumed and didn’t test and brought their germs out with them.

Because we’re still careful. We’re vaxxed and boosted. We’re masking indoors and outdoors in crowded spaces (like the farmers market I visited this morning just before testing). I haven’t eaten indoors since … Salt Lake in January … although Rudi has. I have a relatively small footprint — thanks to remote working — and can give someone a rundown of pretty much every place I’ve been since last Sunday.

So, long story short, if you think your allergies seem particularly bad this year, it’s probably worth cracking open a rapid test (and I recognize I say this from a place of luxury in a city where tests are free and plentiful and handed out at most of our branch libraries) and making sure before you run out to the grocery store or work or a kid’s event.

And for goodness’ sake — keep wearing your mask so people like me don’t accidentally make you sick, too!