So instead of writing a post tonight about the LOOOOONG hike Susan, Phillip, and I took along the Billy Goat Trail (aptly named) or downloading the photos from yesterday’s bike ride and today’s hike, I laid out at Rose Park and re-read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, talked to Dad, did some knitting, watched PBS (with this Congress, who knows how much longer I’ll have that option), and tweaked my fantasy baseball lineup (I had to let Connecticut native Jeff Bagwell, who is sidelined at least until September, if not for the rest of the season, go).

And I’m now going to go to bed despite the fact that it is not yet midnight. I won’t swear that Harry, Ron, and Hermione won’t keep me from going to sleep, but I will try to dissuade them from keeping me out too late.

I’ll post more tonight, but I’m off to Great Falls with some friends this morning. I have some (hopefully great) photos to post from yesterday’s bike ride.

My work presentation is over. I do not have to give another one for a while. It must not have been terrible, because some attendees suggested I could come talk to their groups. But it sure wasn’t fun.

For the record, I enjoy talking — a lot. I just don’t enjoy standing up in front of a group to do it.

D.C. schoolchildren have been sent home for the day because it’s too hot in the school classrooms.

My building decidedly does not suffer from the too hot syndrome (couldn’t they spend a bit less on AC and pay each of us a smidge more?), but I’d like to go home nonetheless. Or, even better, to the beach.

Let’s start with the good news. I did succeed in:

• Seeing the Toulouse-Lautrec and Lichtenstein exhibits at the National Gallery
• Making strawberry shortcake
• Watching a good number of baseball games on tv
• Getting to the farmers’ market
• Putting a new water filter on the kitchen faucet
• Doing some cleaning around the Burrow
• Buying batting gloves and a pot and soil for the tomato seedling
• Watching Bridget Jones II — it started off terrible, but got better after it moved to Thailand (and the Bridget Jones-Colin Firth interview in the bonus feature was very funny
• Knit about 64 rows on my current project

On the other hand, I did not succeed in:

• Buying a couch
• Getting out on the bike — just too hot for me
• Potting the tomato
• Going to the Pride parade — again, too hot
• Watching Kitchen stories
• Enjoying the exhibits at the National Gallery — it was just too crowded (a friend compared it to standing on the Metro at rush hour) and I forgot I don’t particularly care for Toulouse-Lautrec’s style (although the rooms that focused on how TL and his contemporaries portrayed the same subject were interesting)
• Making the apartment look like we’d done any cleaning

I don’t know. It just seems like the weekend should have been better than it was. Too many expectations, I suppose. But this week holds the promise of a sneak preview on Thursday and cooler weather towards the end of the week, so I suspect I will lose the funk that’s been hovering over me since August temperatures arrived a week ago.

This has been a remarkably long week. I’m ready for it to end.

On tap for the weekend:

Softball starts up late tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to it even though I can’t figure out where my batting gloves went. Wouldn’t you think they would have been either with my cleats or my glove? Don’t you think I should be more concerned with the fact that I haven’t thrown or hit in almost three years?

The Pride Parade sashays its way through our neighborhood tomorrow afternoon. Rudi is supposed to take part with the rest of the Democratic State Committee (or at least whatever small portion of it bothers to show up).

The Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit closes at the National Gallery this weekend. Since I’ve been saying for the last three months that I wanted to see it, I guess I’d better hustle over there. (Upon looking at the website it seems there’s also a Lichtenstein exhibit going on, too, so at least I’ll get a double-bang for my buck.) Do you think they’d mind if I came straight from my softball game in 90 degree weather?

We have ascertained the berries I see growing wild on trees all over the District are mulberries. Maybe I will harvest some and make something out of them.

Strawberry shortcake is definitely on tap. I have been promising one to Rudi for weeks now and have all the ingredients, but have lacked sufficient time. Maybe I will stop letting that be an excuse.

The farm market promises the first sweet cherries of the season as well as a continued bounty of strawberries. (Hmmm… that makes three berry-related activities for the weekend. Where will I fit all the sweetness in?)

We picked up a baby tomato plant at the Mt. Pleasant Fest last weekend. It’s been flourishing in our shower caddy (one of only two places in our apartment safe from Della’s plant chewing tendencies), but I think it will be happier outside in a pot where it can get some sun. Sadly, it probably gets more water in our shower than it will once it’s outside and I have to remember to bring it refreshing drinks. Do you think rats like tomatoes?

We have two more videos to watch before Monday. So far Saved was excellent, Spanglish was good (but not as good as I wanted it to be), and Wimbledon was cute. Bridget Jones II will provide us non-thinking entertainment, but I will have to read my way through the Norwegian Kitchen Stories, so that one will be saved for a time when I’m awake and brain synapses are firing.

And I have to find a good chunk of time for some knitting somewhere in there. Maybe I can do that while I listen to the Nationals or the Mets play…

Wow, you’re not supposed to feel tired just looking at all the fun things you’re planning for your weekend, are you?