Rudi is out of town this weekend, preferring to spend his Saturday with a Mountain Mama than with the other residents of the Burrow.

Not to be outdone, I’m heading up to Columbia with Sarah tonight for the Arcade Fire concert. I don’t really know any of their music, but I like the genre of music they fall into. (In other words, I know I’ve heard their music played before, since Rudi owns both their earlier albums, but I couldn’t identify any of their songs or pick them out of a line-up of other musicians.) I suspect it’ll be a good show, and, freed from having to sing along with the songs I know, it should offer song good people-watching opportunities.

The rest of the weekend is as empty as a chalkboard on the last day of school.

It’s not entirely true. I do need to move the old futon out to the street so someone else in need of sleeping materials can take it home. We thought it more likely to find a new owner if it was dry, rather than putting it out ahead of yesterday’s predicted downpours.

But I don’t figure that’ll take a large part of my Saturday. How else shall I entertain myself? I have new books from the library. I have a growing pile of half-finished knitting projects that need attention. The weather looks nice — mid- to upper-80s and sunny, so some gardening time is definitely in order.

Leave me some recommendations in the comments.

The problem with coming back from a vacation that extends over the period of two workweeks is that you feel very resentful when you’re home and you’re expected to go into the office five days in a row. What do you mean, you want me to work a full week?!

Alas, our two days off, while lovely coming so quickly upon returning to work, were far too short.

We did try to make the most of the nice weather, a respite from the more than 40 days of 90+ degree heat we’ve experienced this summer.

Friday night we decided to picnic, but to forgo the Jazz in the Sculpture Garden madhouse that our usual Friday destination has become this year. Instead, we installed ourselves in the other sculpture garden on the Mall. It was grassy and spacious, allowing us to park ourselves right next to the fountain. We were alone with our picnic and some tourists, some of whom apologized for interrupting our dinner. Silly people! After the security guards shooed us out at dusk (which happens at the other place, too), we moved out onto the Mall and just laid there talking and enjoying the cool summer air.

On Saturday, while Rudi was out on a mountaintop bike ride, I headed down to the garden to reclaim our vegetables from the omnipresent vines. I hauled four buckets of weeds from our small plot, pulling out many things had sprouted in the last month.

Luckily, much of what we planted also seemed to be doing well, although, as I’d feared, the lettuce had all bolted. I pulled off a bunch of the leaves anyway, but they’ll definitely be bitter and will need to be mixed in with sweeter, younger lettuce from the farmers’ market. I wonder if I can just start new lettuce seeds now or if they need to wait for cooler temperatures to take root. Does anyone know?

I also harvested some beans — two yard-long beans and some of the bush beans. I suspect some of what I left on the vine were probably haricots verts, but I could be wrong. They just looked so puny when compared to the blue lakes that I was sure they weren’t done growing!

The rest of the haul was the first cherry tomato of the season, the first pepper of the year, and some cabbage leaves. Both the cabbage and the kale have fallen prey to some orange beetle gang, but we just eat what they leave us. Generally it means our cabbage leaves are very delicate, lacy bits, but they’re still quite tasty in a stir fry. Three of the four kale plants have been decimated, but I’m hopeful they’ll make a comeback now that those bugs have shifted over to the cabbages.

Otherwise, one pepper with white leaves, has grown a fruit, which is white and green striped. We have more cherry tomatoes on two of the three plants. The peanuts have finally developed their orange flowers, which means their critical growth period is coming up. And the squash and/or pumpkins have also developed blossoms.

I finished off the day by hauling out our camping hammock and taking it up to Mitchell Park, where I set it up so I could watch the sun set while reading my book. I also got to converse a lot with folks from the neighborhood, who thought is was an awfully good idea.

Today Rudi and I had set aside for finding ourselves a bed frame. After the farmers’ market, we headed up to College Park to procure the necessary pieces at Ikea.

Can I tell you how stressful that was? Three boxes that were all seven feet long had to fit inside the cabin of my little old car. I was convinced we were going to have to go out and find a rental truck to get them back to D.C., but Rudi had faith … and his faith was rewarded. Not only did they fit in the car, but they fit in all on the passenger side, so I was able to ride home in complete comfort, if from the chauffeured position.

We rewarded ourselves with fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon buns at Ikea and then by stopping at our favorite brewery, which is located along the way home, where we had summer salads and beers (mine was of the root variety) and rolls. The predicted storms had held off, so I asked Rudi if we could stop someplace green for the remaining bit of the evening. He knew of a park nearby and we pulled our Whiffle ball and bat out of the car and spent the rest of the waning daylight playing. It was a good way to close out the weekend, and something we both said we should do more often.

Now that we’re really back, posting should resume again on a regular schedule. The last couple nights I’ve fallen asleep ridiculously early on the couch, which gets in the way of my writing here.

How many of you looked at last night’s post, which immediately followed my post about housecleaning, and just shook your head at my optimism? It’s okay. I know it’s more people than just Mum.

As many of you could probably foretell I did not have the dreamy day of lazing about I somehow expected to have. Instead, Rudi and I spent the day putting the Burrow back to some semblance of order after much of our bedroom moved out to the living room over the weekend. And trying to get on top of the things that need to go to Goodwill or that need to be recycled.

We did not run errands. We did not get to the garden. We did not have a tasty meal out or invite friends over (although we did have a nice, long chat with our new cat sitter). We did sleep in and we have hung out with the cats. And my clothes are packed, so we’re definitely moving in the right direction.

Next: Dinner. At 10:30 p.m. Then maybe grocery shopping. Or just collapsing in a little puddle of tiredness.

Rudi and I head out on vacation Thursday. We’re hoping to catch up with old friends and family, go to the beach, watch a play, visit our alma mater, eat good food, listen to music, see a movie, and generally relax for a week.

But first we’re having a one-day staycation tomorrow. We decided that instead of starting our vacation by stressing out about packing and getting out of here after a full day of work and evening activities for both of us, we’d give ourselves a buffer. We’ll sleep in, run some errands, garden, and snuggle with our cats. Heck, maybe we’ll even go out to eat — or invite friends over for a snack. Oh, and clean and pack. We’ll definitely do that, too.

Rudi and I hate to clean. And we’re lazy. Which means that neither of us cleans beyond the bare minimum (cat boxes get changed, dishes get washed, laundry is done, bed gets made(ish)). But short of that, we’re a piling kind of household.

This is not without problem, of course. As time goes on, I get stressed, discouraged, and agitated. Rudi goes out on longer bike rides to avoid the mess.

Eventually, it all comes to a head, usually precipitated by an impending visit by guests. Or, as is currently the case, our new mattress arrives just days before our vacation. And then we go into a frantic, day-after-day cleaning frenzy.

This is not a pace that a normal human can sustain. This is not behavior we can maintain. Plus, we just have too much stuff, which just means our piles get moved about, cleaned, and temporarily re-sorted.

So after the crisis is over and the guests have gone home, our piles creep back out. (There is that infamous tree-trimming party where after all our guests left, we looked at the bed, covered with stuff from all our public spaces that we’d run out of time to deal with, and just gave up. Rudi unfolded the couch and spend the night there and I shifted a few things and slept amidst the piles. It was a sad night we hope never to have to repeat.)

We don’t aspire to be ascetics. We’re both content and comfortable with a certain amount of untidiness. We like our books and music, our bikes and yarn. But we do seem to require some outside force to keep our messy tendencies in check.

What we really need is a standing weekly date when people come over. Then there’s only a limited time period when we can create new or reformatted piles before we have to deal with them again.

Would one of you mind volunteering to come for dinner every week? Our mental health would certainly appreciate it.

Does anyone have a granola recipe they’d like to share?

I made up a batch tonight, and, while it made the house smell lovely, it’s not all I was hoping for. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s not great.

So far, I’ve tried Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio Granola and Mark Bittman’s Crunchy Granola. They’re perfectly serviceable recipes. They just don’t create the sort of granola that you write blog posts about. (Or, I suppose, they do, but not in a flattering way.)

So, anyone got a recipe they love? I would prefer one that isn’t prepared in a crock pot, since we don’t own one, but otherwise I don’t have any requirements. I prefer a bunchy granola, but would be happy with a flaky one if it had superb flavor.

Anyone?