This weekend my plans include:

• Playing in the garden
• Hunting for ducklings
• Procuring strawberries and rhubarb at the farmers market
• Going to the movies
• Reading
• Knitting
• Working — both at a festival and at the computer for a bit (I skived off a bit at the end of the day in order to sit out in the sun for a while.)
• Attending the Georgetown French Market
• Seeing friends
• Doing more laundry
• Cleaning a room
• Writing
• Going to the library

There will probably be more, but that seems like a pretty full couple of days.

I meant to post yesterday, but our internet was giving us fits, so walking away from the computer seemed a far saner idea.

A quick update on things:

• I finished a book on Friday. It’s the first book I’ve finished since February. Pathetic? Yes.
• I planted potatoes at the garden this weekend. Fifteen starts each got chopped into at least two pieces, often more. I’m hoping that makes for a generous crop.
• We went to our first baseball game of the season. Rick Ankiel, the center fielder, had the most impressive throw home I may have ever witnessed in person. It was like he and home plate were having a game of catch. A throw to be remembered. Plus, the Nats won.

• Sock Madness round 3 has begun. That means I knit everywhere. As opposed to when it’s not Sock Madness time and I merely knit nearly everywhere.

• I watched the space shuttle fly past D.C. yesterday. A post about that is forthcoming. Truly and surprisingly moving.
• I wrote a blog post for work that I was really proud of. (I love having written something well, which, sadly, is why you get a lot of lists like this right now, because I don’t want to spend the time and energy required to write good posts. This is a reflection on me, and not on you.)
• My volleyball team won all four games last night. We found a groove and communicated well, and it just felt right. It was nice.

That is all for now.

I fell off the planet briefly, but only because it was a busy weekend:

• Friday night: Knackered. Dozed on sofa. Useless.
• A neighbor is moving to California. We stop by to wish her bon voyage.
• Clean-up day at the community garden. We helped clear an untended spot so a mom and her kids will not walk into the garden their first time and weep at the task ahead of them. Others worked on trail maintenance and redoing the garden compost heap.
• Rudi wants to clear some of the violets out to reclaim some of our plot. We compromise, and I bring home enough salvaged violets to fill a mason jar with purple cheerfulness.
• Rudi makes a delicious takeoff on saag paneer.
• Earth Hour. Lights out. Rudi noodles on the guitar. I knit by candlelight.
• Farmers’ market: Eggs for dyeing. Nettles. First ramps of the season. No asparagus yet.
• We have seen photos of ducklings around town. We head off to Georgetown to find some of our own. We walk. And walk. And walk all the way to Fletcher’s Boat House. No ducklings yet on the C&O Canal. We do see turtles and wisteria.
• We stop at Yola for a snack after Baked & Wired has a line that resembles a New Haven pizzeria. Yogurt is better for us anyway.
• A 9+ mile walk mandates a nap. Inadvertently, of course.
• The Life of Brian.
• Slots in the next round of Sock Madness flit away suddenly over the weekend. Knit faster! Sleep is overrated. I grab the final spot for the round. (Photos to come.)
• Back to work. Sarah and I take our lunches up to the roofdeck and bask in the sun.
• My first concert at the 9:30 Club. They serve cupcakes, local rootbeer, and hot beverages I like. Finally, a rock club for me!
• Bed. Blessed bed.

Today is February 29, which means that it’s a rare breed, a blue-moon kind of event — something to be celebrated rather than taken for granted.

(Yes, I know leap years have been celebrated with regularity since 46 B.C., but that doesn’t really change the point. How many have occurred in your lifetime?)

So, how will you mark this special day? Will you plan an indoor picnic? Call an old friend? Drive to the beach? Eat dessert first? Take a trapeze lesson? Put on your favorite album/song/playlist, turn up the sound, and dance around the living room — with a special someone or by yourself, singing along at the top of your voice?

However you choose to celebrate, I hope you make it your own. Remember, today is a gift day — and no one is going to know if you waste it but yourself.

We got hacked last night (again), and my theme, being ancient in terms of the web, is being ornery. Rest assured that this will not be the final look for Sprite Writes, but please bear with me as I give my online house a new coat of paint and plant some new flowers. After all, my seventh blogiversary is right around the corner.

P.S. Thank you to Rudi, who painstakingly went through every file in my blog to remove the hacked code. He’s a good guy.

Update: And it’s back. Rudi pored through his files and found an unadulterated version of my theme. He totally rocks.

Taking a note from Amanda, a quick recap:

• Lots of knitting this weekend. Some of it fruitful. Some will have to be frogged and started — yet again.
• Rudi’s injury last weekend is unfortunate, but does mean I get to see him two days in a row.
• Some cleaning. Not enough, but it’s a start.
• Too cold to start the garden for the season.?
• Tea ordered from the Porto Rico sale before it ends.
• Bills paid, but no real mail sent.
• Anne of Green Gables on PBS.
• Hot cocoa poured from the chocolate pot into tiny heart-shaped cups and served with cupcakes.
• A yellow tulip procured — for free! — from the farmers’ market.
• Scones and tea for brunch.
• Sitting outside in the chilly sunlight.
• Dinner, family-style, at the local Chinese place with Phillip, Susan, and Holden.