Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I ordered extra dough from the pizzeria on Friday, and the homemade pizza Rudi made from the first half of it was particularly delicious.

2. My work has generously offered us each an extra half day off every fortnight during this stressful time, and everyone on my team got to take advantage of it this week. Wednesday was clear and comfortable, and Rudi and I spent part of my time off at the garden getting some work done and soaking up the sun.

3. I made a batch of brownies for the first time in forever this week. I skipped the frosting, but added a handful of white chocolate chips to the dough. The brownies are fudgey, but also pleasantly crispy along the edge, so quite possibly the most perfect batch I’ll ever make.

How about you? What beautiful things have been getting you through?

Am I the only person who loses an entire day each weekend? Are you all being more productive with your Saturdays than I am?

Luckily, Sundays roll around and I seem to get enough done, or, at least, did this week, to make myself not feel horrible about my time off.

Yesterday I caught up on sleep. And then I … took a nap. I did help Rudi hang a few signs late at night for the political campaign he’s working on and then do a load of laundry. Oh, and I listened to some of one my audiobooks while Rudi was playing that concert on tv.

Today, though, I cut up a huge squash I bought over the winter. (Sure, I didn’t actually roast it, but it needed to be in pieces first…) I went to the farmers market and came home with way too many goodies, including yeast, flour, and jam from one of the bakers; the first strawberries, asparagus, and morels of the season; and bags of greens. Rudi and I will be eating salads until we turn green.

I rode my bike up to a pop-up plant stand a couple miles up the road. I had assumed it would be closed this year, but it must sneak in as a farm market. I was hoping for strawberry plants, but they’d sold out. I bought some leeks (they look like chives) and a dahlia (pink and white in the shot above) and a gerbera daisy (red). They were overpriced for what I am used to, but things are harder to get this year, so I guess we’ll just go with it. That’s why the government gave me that money, right?

I took a circuitous route from there to the garden, where I spent a couple hours puttering. I thinned arugula and yanked a lot of weeds and have started to pull the violet greens, since that season is starting to wrap up. I think I also accidentally pulled out my lily of the valley greens (but not the roots), which is frustrating, as I was trying to figure out where the garden’s water source was leaking in my plot.

I spoke with my parents, painted my nails (pink, orange, and teal), did a (very) little knitting, and watched some tv, too.

I think I’ll set up the bread machine to bake us some breakfast before I go to bed. I’ll have to do some baking tomorrow evening or maybe as a break after my last conference call in the afternoon (Mondays have 5-6 of them). Maybe I’ll make a small shortcake with those first stawberries.

I also want to get a couple more things done before bed (like washing the dishes and figuring out a spot for that cut squash), so I think I’ll bid you all a good night. Until tomorrow!

We kicked off the weekend with our first takeout in more than a month, with pizza from our favorite shop in D.C. I also did a little grocery shopping as I was waiting and drove for the first time in months.

I do not have six hours of recreational video conferencing planned this weekend, thank goodness, but I do hope to connect with a friend using the old fashioned, voice-only method.

I’ve placed some pre-orders for the farmers market, where I expect to be able to pick up my first asparagus and strawberries of the season.

I’m going to spend some time in my garden, where I expect to pick some greens, string up more runs for my peas, and put some sprouting potatoes in the ground, as well as do some general maintenance as part of my community garden work duties.

There is always laundry to be done. How???

With at least another month of working at home, I’m going to shift some things around and see how working at my desk feels. It predates computers and is higher and more slanted than ergonomics suggest ideal, but I’m also certain that working on my couch and in a rocking chair are not physiologically recommended. Plus, then I can see if I can make Rudi’s old monitor work as a second screen for my work laptop.

I need to do some baking, as we’re out of cookies and will soon use up the mid-week bread.

I should go for a bike ride. Sunday might be a nice day for that.

There will be some knitting and some reading, too.

What’s on your weekend agenda?

I thought I’d share a sense (or five) of what’s going on in the Burrow tonight:

Seeing: A mostly clear couch, thanks this to this weekend’s video chats. Little stretches of Christmas lights, still going strong at the edges of the room by the windows.

Smelling: A slight whiff of vinegar, from our belated dyeing of Easter eggs earlier.

Tasting: A slight hint of the cocoa I drank earlier.

Hearing: The whir of the bathroom fan, which is tied to the light, which I left on after I hung up the laundry to dry in the bathtub. Birds tweeting to each other outside now that it’s not raining. (They call out for much of the overnight.) Corey fidgeting in the box next to the couch.

Feeling: Corey’s soft fur. A chill — which came over the living room after the rain stopped and which is hitting my bare toes especially hard. The heaviness that comes with sleepiness.

What’s it like where you’re reading this from?

I have deleted, pre-publication, the post I just wrote about the rain. At the outset, I had acknowledged it could be worse, but then I devolved into a whiny, complaining post anyway.

And we all know how much the universe loves a whiner? “Oh, you think you’ve got it bad? Let’s show you that you had it pretty good five minutes ago.”

So I will not complain about the rain and the effects it will have later on. I will be glad that I have a roof over my head and a dry bed in which to sleep. I have shoes that are not holey. I have towels and newspaper that I can put down on the floor before I go to bed. I have cash that can be turned into quarters for the dryer. I can hear the thunder and take a deep breath to calm myself. I do not have children I have to entertain or comfort. I have paying, meaningful work to distract me from borrowing trouble. I will take stock and decide that in the grand scheme of things this is merely another inconvenience and one that we can get through. The sun will return and we will be okay.

Wishing you and your family the best possible Easter. It may not look the same as normal, but if we’re all still here to celebrate it in this new way, it’s still a win.

(And if there are gaps in your family where there didn’t used to be, then I’m sending very big hugs to you, because that really, really sucks.)