Here’s some of what I hope this weekend includes:

• Attend BookFest. I’d like to see Rainbow Rowell, Barbara Kingsolver, Ngozi Ukazu, RBG, Julia Alvarez, Madeline Miller, Pablo Cartaya, Shannon Hale, Jon Klassen, Juana Medina, Renée Watson, and Mitali Perkins, among others, but between the crowds and the schedule overlap, I’d be happy to cross three of them off my list. After the first year when they moved the festival indoors from the Mall and I experienced a panic attack at the crowds (200,000 people attended last year’s festival), I came up with a game plan that seems to work for me — go a little later, bring food, find corners where breaks can be taken, and be attached to no particular author. Mostly I’ve gotten to see folks, but I don’t wait in lines (other than the five minutes before a new talk begins) and I am willing to miss out on hearing pretty much anyone (rooms have fire code restrictions about how many people can be inside). (I’m already pretty much resigned that I will not get into the RBG room.) But there is rarely a period of time where I have no one who interests me and usually you can squeeze in someplace — particularly in the outskirts around the children’s stages.
• Swim. The outdoor pools close on Monday — just in time for our next heatwave.
• Send out some writing samples. I’m keeping options open for the future and have decided to start investigating freelance work. (I have no illusion that that earns one a livable wage at the outset, but one must acquire a first client somehow…)
• Plant some fall seeds. Our growing season easily lasts into November, and I often harvest all the way until the end of the year, so now is a good time to put leafy greens back into the rotation and try planting some more root veggies and a fall bean crop.
• Shop at the farmers market. I need milk and raspberries and maybe plums or peaches for a tart.
• Watch baseball.
• Do laundry.
• Send some thank you notes.
• Knit on my shawl.
• Finish another book.

How about you? What’s on your weekend wish list?

Our weekend was a nice one, with gorgeous weather than encouraged spending time outside.

Friday morning, Rudi and I headed to a cafe we enjoy for elevenses after attending a talk. We cuddled under an awning as a light rain came down and cool air descended into the region.

Saturday, we headed over to the eastern side of the neighborhood for a street festival. Rudi bought a new mug after discovering a crack was developing in his favorite one and I bought the last two baggies of cookies some a senior citizen group was selling. We stopped in at the local Japanese food store, sat outside at the popsicle stand reading and knitting (Rudi did less of the latter, obviously), and came home to watch the latest episode of a new tv show we’re enjoying.

Today, I did a little shopping at the farmers market, picked up a pair of bagels hot and fresh from the local bagelry, and sat in the park. We spent the evening with friends, barbecuing on their balcony, before returning home.

It was a good weekend.

The summer season is waning, which means both that the infernal weather will soon abate and that all the fun outdoor things will soon wrap up. As such, my weekend plans include:

• Floating in the pool.
• Watching a baseball game.
• Buying lots of summer produce at the farmers market.
• Taking a trip to the library.
• Reading and knitting outdoors.
• Attending an international food festival.
• Spending time at the garden.
• Doing laundry. (Some of the weekend has to be spent inside!)
• Cleaning the bathroom.
• Refilling the tea canisters.

What are you hoping to get to this weekend?

Here are three shots from my weekend:

That last one is not quite as in focus as I’d have liked, but it does clearly point out that autumn is on its way, no matter how slowly!

Rudi is off playing bicycles this weekend, leaving Corey and me home alone. Corey has informed me that while he is happy to curl up next to me at night and holler at me whenever I walk into the kitchen, probably that’s the extent of his weekend plans. I’m going to try not to make it the extent of mine.

Laundry mountain is no longer in danger of smothering me in my sleep, but probably could use further attention, particularly as I’m traveling later in the week and might like to take clean clothes. Likewise, the living room is in danger of being declared a natural disaster site and I should probably stop trying to address that by smothering it from above.

I had plans to watch Wonder Woman outdoors tonight, but the threat of thunderstorms caused them to call it early — a disappointment, since it ended up with clear skies, but understandable. Instead, I took myself to the library to collect my holds, to the garden to water, to the pool to swim, and then back home to watch the season finale of Agents of SHIELD.

I might try to get over to Virginia tomorrow night to watch Norma Rae outdoors if the weather holds and I can figure out the travel logistics with Metro and bikeshare. Or there’s also a free modern Carmen adaptation at the Kennedy Center tomorrow evening, should I want someplace less complicated to visit.

I have some job search stuff to take care of over the weekend, as always these days.

I’d like to spend some time reading and some time knitting. I need to remember to water my houseplants. And I’ll need milk at the farmers market. Rudi suggested that if there was a deal to be had on bulk tomatoes that he’d be willing to tackle turning them into sauce when he gets back to town.

And as sleep should also be something I tackle this weekend, I’ll bid you a good night!

By my weekend’s to-do list, I’ve had great success. We swam, watched Endeavour before we missed out on it, saw some of the Apollo 11 festivities, and enjoyed Hamlet. I bought eggs and milk and a bag of heirloom tomatoes at the farmers market (among other things) and cat food and Oreos at the store. We watered the garden and picked everything ripe. (I’ll have to weed later in the week when the cool weather returns, since apparently weeds, like tomatoes, really enjoy heat waves.)

I ripped out the last four rows of the shawl to get back to the right number of stitches, listening to Peter Mayle’s The Vintage Caper while doing so. I am 16 rows away from finishing the first third of the shawl. I wonder how many more times I’ll have to knit them!

And I even found the title to my car, among other things.

But now the Burrow looks like it suffered through an earthquake with everything strewn about. Putting the apartment to rights will be high on this week’s to-do list when I’m not out doing other, more interesting things, like going to a baseball game and playing volleyball and enjoying a beautiful forecast. Which, honestly, possibly means the apartment is going to look a lot like this for the rest of the week. But I will at least tidy up some of the mess because two adults (and an adult cat) do live here after all.

…

Yeah, I laughed, too.