D.C. began loosening restrictions today, which includes things like opening parks, but not playgrounds; letting restaurants seat people at a distance outside, but not in; and asking people to observe a “stay at home lite” life.

As such, Rudi and I took a drive uptown for takeout pizza and a quick trip to the grocery store this evening, which is pretty much what we’ve done every third Friday since mid-April.

I have to spend some time working this weekend, but here’s what else I’m hoping to do:

• Read in the park.
• Take more beer to the garden slugs. They are hard partiers, despite knowing the consequences. Harvest things while I’m there and consider planting beans.
• Pull together some library materials to take back later this week, since branch libraries are slowly going to allow curbside pickup.
• Watch the rocket launch.
• Really put winter away, since I didn’t follow through on that last weekend and since this week highlighted the need for tshirts over sweaters.
• Make crackers. Apparently that’s one of the things I can do with my sourdough.
• Bike down to Constitution Garden to see the ducklings.
• Drink daiquiris.
• Do laundry. I should probably launder the reusable bags we have that can be washed. Plus I need cleans masks again.
• Get a takeaway drink from one of the local restaurants that have been shuttered for months.

What are you hoping to do this final weekend of May?

Ours was a quiet, but nice, weekend. There were bike rides and walks and wildlife sightings. I ate peas from the garden and waffles from my sourdough starter.

I splurged on peonies at the farmers market, as well as more predictable purchases. They made my soul sing.

We finished our Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone listen, and I will wrap up reading Chasing Vermeer after I post this.

We did laundry (we were out of masks again) and repaired a piece of furniture my grandfather built me.

I talked with my folks and with my BFF, Karen. Rudi’s friend, Rachel, dropped off some homemade lemon curd, and we chatted briefly outside — only my second in-person interaction with our friends in months.

And we were scofflaws and took our beach chairs to the traffic circle at the end of our street this evening and soaked up the sun for a little while. It’s my first time sitting outside since March (city parks are closed for lounging and I live in an apartment below ground), and it was glorious. I don’t even care how many bug bites I got. There is a possibility that D.C. will enter into Phase 1 of pandemic recovery as early as Friday, in which case I can soon return to lounging — at a distance from my neighbors — in the park without skirting the law (the traffic circle is technically federal property, and they’re a little murkier about legalities of such green spaces).

I hope you all had a pleasant weekend, too, or as pleasant as possible. Stay safe and stay apart!

I’ve spent the past forty-five minutes musing about the temerity of time in introduction after deleted introduction. It seems about right for the place in which we find ourselves as we head into this traditional start to the summer season. In the end, none of it matters while all of it matters, and I add it to the tally of things I have let go over the past three months. With a sign of resignation, instead I’ll turn to face forward again and consider how I’ll spend this long weekend:

• Reading. I’ve got a couple audiobooks that are likely to wrap up, as well as Chasing Vermeer.
• Knitting on the shawl that never ends. If I wrap it up, that means there’s hope for the rest of this, right?
• Baking. I want cookies or bars or something. And scones. And bread. And waffles. (Apparently, my supper has worn off. Regardless, I’m hoping to make something tasty.)
• Talking to loved ones. Karen and I have agreed we should phone. The details will sort themselves out, history has shown.
• Going for a bike ride. Rudi tells me baby wildlife is out and about and that if I can get myself down to the waterways I can ogle baby ducks at the very least.
• Putting away winter. It’s strewn about the apartment, with winter coats draped on the coat rack and sweaters still in my drawer. The spring has been cool, and I love having the window open, which means it’s been chilly in the Burrow, but this week’s forecast suggests weather got the memo that we’re heading into summer, and it’s time to have tshirts and tank tops more accessible.
• Tending to the garden. Rudi picked up stakes and twine at the hardware store this morning and I was able to spend some time this evening getting the peas upright again. We invited many of our garden slugs out for a final happy hour in a capful of beer, and the word of mouth spread like we were holding a kegger on the beach in a teen movie. We’ll only slightly apologetically refill the beer tomorrow. (I’m not really heartless enough to be a successful gardener, but the slugs are out of control with all the rain we’ve had this spring.)
• Painting my nails. While my toes are still fully covered, my spring manicure is down to a glittery dot of varying size on each finger. It’s time to wipe off this polish and decide on some new colors to adorn the digits.
• Carefully breaking some rules. There is an abandoned gas station a couple blocks away that spent last summer as a paid parking lot. They have some rose bushes along their sidewalks, and I think that as long as I cut a few blossoms from the station side, as opposed to the side that faces the apartment building across the street, that no one is being hurt. Similarly, I may consider taking a lawn chair to the circle that I walk around or maybe the 19th-century cemetery nearby and sit outside for a little while if it seems like not too many people are about. My local park is too crowded and even the large park by the garden tends to attract a lot of people. If there were a way for me to get a little sun, without the stress of being near people who still can’t be bothered to wear masks, I think this subterranean dweller would feel so much better about things.
• Write some mail. Because if I can’t give hugs in real life, at least I can send some paper ones.

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

We had a nice weekend. The bartender at our local grocery store/bar was super helpful in picking out some birthday present beers for Rudi on Friday night (it was luck that someone who knew Rudi’s taste was working the check stand when I stopped in), which I wrapped while he was out on a bike ride Saturday.

Rudi had requested scrambled eggs for his birthday breakfast, and I’d hoped to combine it with fresh sourdough bread. But I clearly did something wrong when assembling it in the breadmaker, because instead we had a sourdough brick. I mean it was tasty (particularly with jam), but it was impossibly chewy and dangerous to try to slice. I’m going to turn it into pain perdu (aka French toast) or maybe bread pudding. Anything that will soften it up.

We did some video chats with friends, ate Chinese takeout (the ginger snowpeas I added to the order were the surprise hit of the night), and Rudi blew out the candle on his homemade strawberry shortcake just before midnight.

This morning, I toured the farmers market, bringing home a variety of tasty spring things, including cream, strawberries, fiddleheads, and asparagus. Then I drank half a pot of tea and dozed all afternoon on the sofa. (I was pretending to read.) I managed to rouse myself in the evening to head to the garden, where I planted a few things, marveled at my six-foot-high pea vines (I also have pods, but they need a few days to fill out), and picked a bag full of arugula, kale, and spinach. We need to get back in the next day or so to get our garden snails drunk, so they leave our strawberries and spinach and basil alone. I checked in with my folks and with Grey Kitten and his husband and got in some walking. And I ended the evening by finishing my Veronica Speedwell novel while sipping on hot chocolate.

Five more days until a long weekend and the unofficial start to the summer. Remember way back in February when we thought it would be eons until our next official holiday? How right — and wrong — we were!

… to my favorite fella, who turns a prime number today.

I know this isn’t how you’d choose to spend your birthday, going on solo bike rides and drinking with your buddies over the computer. But you’ve dealt with the past couple months with grace, translating your multitudes of experiences into positives for essential workers, for the local political scene, and for us at home in the Burrow.

May you soon get to go riding up mountains with your friends, stopping at country stores for ham biscuits and beer gardens for refreshing libations, in places further afield than the 25 square miles you’ve stuck to the past couple months.

But in the meantime, have a most wonderful May 16th. Happy birthday, Rudi!

It’s Friday night, which means it’s time to think about the next couple days and how to differentiate them from the rest of the week.

Here’s what I’m hoping it holds:

• I have already started the weekend by finishing the print book I was reading. I am looking forward to picking out which book will be the next one I spend chunks of time with.
• If I get up before noon (and that’s a big if), I’m going to try to get to Georgetown before the bank closes at 1, so I can get quarters so we can do laundry. (Rudi discovered that the branch of his bank closest to our apartment has also closed temporarily.) If that doesn’t look likely, maybe Rudi will go instead, since he’s sure to get up before me.
• Even if I do not go to the bank, I am going to leave the apartment. The past two days have been huge fails on that front, with the furthest I’ve traveled is the sidewalk outside the building to take out the recycling bin. There will be trips to the garden and to the farmers market. I may even ride my bike.
• I would like to order pizza. I didn’t wrap up work early enough to do it today, so I will give it a shot tomorrow. (I got caught up at the end of the day trying to write a legal contract and then explain in an email to the people on our staff with that expertise what it was I actually wanted the contract to do.)
• There is going to be some serious vacuuming going on in the Burrow this weekend. Maybe I’ll even dig out some of the vacuum’s accessories. (Yes, I do know exactly where they are.)
• I’m going to knit some more on my sock. I’m going to darn at least one pair, because I’m out of clean unholey pairs and tomorrow is going to be cold. And I’m going to wash all the pairs that need laundering.
• Baking will happen. Dessert options are limited right now, but only because I keep taking naps instead of spending time in the kitchen.
• There are birthdays and Mother’s Day to be celebrated this weekend. (I should probably also think about Rudi’s birthday next Saturday, because that’s definitely going to arrive before I realize, and winging it will be less possible this year.)
• I have mail to write! The post office is clearly not going to save itself!
• And I’m definitely going to work on getting some sleep — starting now!

How about you? What’s on your weekend to-do list? (It can totally be a not-to-do list, too.)