I’ve now tried to write reviews of two books and neither is working out. I’m tired. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Now with bullets:

• I have been doing a lot of reading recently and have not written about any of those books. I hope to do a bit of that soon as books need to go back to the library.
• I’m feeling ambivalent about D.C.’s primary results yesterday, as I didn’t like any of the candidates for mayor or council chair — and my write-in candidates didn’t win. However, I am pleased that Phil Mendelson, one of our at-large councilmembers, won re-election. He’s wonky and throws roadblocks at large projects that probably haven’t been studied adequately or funded fully and chairs the committee that got marriage equality moving forward. Plus, he faced a competitor who seemed to be pulling a play from The Distinguished Gentleman and capitalizing on name confusion to try to win election.
• I have other posts that I’d like to get up, but the card for Rudi’s camera doesn’t seem to play nicely with my card reader. Obviously I could demand he wake up and tell me how to fix that, but it doesn’t seem likely to lead to a happy household.
• Danny and David are coming to visit in a little over a week. They will not be sleeping in my bathtub. This probably makes all of us very happy.
• I pulled up the beans this past weekend in the garden and planted more lettuce and spinach. I did not harvest the peanuts, but will consider doing so this weekend.
• After having avoided the vet for eight years, I am apparently trying to make up for that all in the month of September. Their suspicion is that Della has a thyroid disorder — a manageable condition. We’ll know more Monday.
• Fudge from Bethany Beach is very good. It’s probably even better that the store that makes it is three hours away.
• We will be keeping the kitten, pending major problems. More on that in another post.

Good night!

Rudi and I had planned for several weeks to spend today out on the DelMarVa Peninsula at the beach. But as the day approached, our string of beautiful days looked to be disrupted by clouds and rain.

However, when we went to bed last night our plan still was to head out to Delaware first thing this morning. But this morning went as most of my mornings do, with a slow start and procrastination. We hit snooze. We decided to go to the farmers’ market. We ate a late breakfast. We watched today’s Vuelta stage. We dawdled.

And so it was suddenly one in the afternoon and we were still at home, three hours away from the beach we wanted to go to. It was grey and drizzly and the temperatures in Bethany were only supposed to reach the low 60s. We thought about calling it a day or, at least, switching to a different, closer, less satisfying beach.

But then we just decided to go anyway.

We threw stuff in bags and headed out.

When we hit traffic en route to the highway, we switched to a different road.

When we were crossing the Bay Bridge and saw lots of traffic heading west, we congratulated ourselves on getting a late enough start that we weren’t already tired of being rained on and in that mass of people going home.

When we missed our turn and the aforementioned traffic prevented our turning around to it, we picked a different, more rural route.

As we were driving along, I turned to Rudi and said, “It’s probably better if we think of today as a lovely afternoon for a drive in the country when we’re lucky enough to get to stop at the beach.”

And, you know, it absolutely was. If we’d kept thinking of it as a day at the beach, it would have been a mess. But changing our perspective — an afternoon spent together driving along and, late in the day, spending a couple hours playing at the beach — made a world of difference. Instead of being annoyed at what we’d missed, we realized what we were getting.

I tend to get stuck in a rut and am slow to accept change, which means disappointment creeps into my life far more often than I’d like to admit. Being able to turn the picture around and getting to see the day for what it was, rather than what I thought it should be, made today a success in more ways than one.

I’m hoping some fun weekend plans will help to lift the glums that have been settled around my head this week.

On Saturday we’re heading to the beach. Sun and sand and sea, here I come!

On Sunday, I’m hoping to get across town to join some friends for a brunch celebrating their second anniversary. However, I also need to get to the garden and to the farmers’ market before heading out to Wolf Trap with Rudi and Sarah to see Great Big Sea. Hopefully, there will be time to fit everything in!

What are you doing this weekend? Anything fun?

Today, as always, we hit the farmers’ market and came home with a variety of tasty things, including:

• Corn on the cob
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Yellow and white peaches and yellow nectarines
• Grapes — These are grapier than the ones I bought two weeks ago.
• Dahlias
• Tomatillos
• Onions and hot peppers
• Fresh mozzarella, milk, and yogurt
• Figs
• Old-fashioned varieties of apples
• And something new to us — a bitter melon — Ours resembles that second picture in the Description section. No idea what we’re going to do with it, so if you have suggestions, I’d love it if you left them in the comments…

Sarah and her brother and I had a fun time last night at the concert. If you like peppy bands with eclectic instrument choices, do try to check Arcade Fire out when they tour near you.

Today, as yesterday’s post said, my only task was getting the old futon frame and mattresses outside so they could go to live with someone new. I checked that task off my to do list by mid-afternoon and was able to spend some time outside reading before my yoga class. After a shower I headed up to Silver Spring to meet John, who shares an appreciation for John Hughes films with me. We watched The Breakfast Club at the AFI and then Metroed back to Columbia Heights for a slice of pizza. Quite a nice way to spend a Saturday.

Tomorrow holds another yoga class, the farmers’ market, and a trip to the garden. I’m also hoping for more outdoor time with my knitting and book — and maybe some time catching up with Susan. Here’s to a lovely triumvirate of great August days!