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!

Rudi’s off coaching (March is the month when he’s away most), so I’m on my own this weekend. Here’s how I’m hoping to fill it:

• Knitting on my Sock Madness sock
• Waking up the garden and planting peas
• Watching or listening to the UConn women’s basketball game
• Reading
• Going back to Planet Word with a friend I hyped it to
• Shopping (or, at least, browsing) at my local bookstore’s member sale
• Picking up veggie sausages for red beans and rice at the farmers market
• Doing laundry (Rudi picked up quarters before he left yesterday)
• Spending time outside

How are you hoping to spend your time this weekend?

Unlike the previous two weekends, this one was just two days. Amazing how short that feels, particularly when the workweek feels so stressful.

But it was filled with lots of good things:

On Friday, Karen and I spent several hours on the phone. Yes, we saw each other just last weekend. That’s part of the magic of our friendship.

Saturday, I spent some time outside in Georgetown. Spring flowers are starting to bloom. I discovered a bakery I like in Virginia had set up an outpost in the neighborhood back in November without my noticing and that another had closed just last week. I knit a bit and read.

On Sunday, I headed to the farmers market, where I bought the ingredients for a gardener’s pie (which Rudi turned into a delicious meal for us tonight). Then I ventured down to Lafayette Park next to the White House for a rally in support of Ukraine. I got a lesson in flags of the nations that broke away from the Soviet Union, saw lots of flowered headbands and embroidered clothes, and was overwhelmed by what a large Slavic expat community there is in the area. As always, moments of song were the most powerful, with a group of mostly older women singing at the back of the crowd, and the Ukranian national anthem brought the crowd to their knees in unison. A college-aged woman sobbed through an interview, and I suspect (but was too far away to confirm) that she was worried about family back home. My heart breaks for those in danger’s way — and those in safety who can only wait to hear that loved ones have survived another day. It puts any hardships in my own life in stark perspective.

How was your weekend?

See you on the other side of my birthday!