This was a mixed bag of a weekend.

When it starts out with a violent death in your family’s inner circle of friends, describing it as good becomes impossible. I’m away from Rudi, who is struggling — with his own loss, with being there for his friend’s wife, and with converting his anguish to meaningful change for our city’s transit infrastructure. I am grateful to our good friends who have stepped into the void in my absence and who have helped him process this huge loss. In the past three days, Rudi has helped with memorials, delivered remarks, spoken to the media, and planned legislation and activism, working to honor his friend and further his agenda of creating safe streets in D.C., and done it while hurting at his very core. I really couldn’t be more proud of the grace under which he has operated since learning of Dave’s death on Friday, but I am glad I’ll be home in a couple more days to help provide support on the ground.

Here in Connecticut things have been quiet, but pleasant (in between tears). My folks took me out for a pizza dinner on Friday. And then I came home and baked, which seems to be the way I channel grief.

On Saturday, Karen and I got together. We ate, strolled in the rain, read a picture book about a grumpy fish (The Pout-Pout Fish), and drank tasty hot beverages (most of which I managed not to slosh onto the floor). My parents and I ate a delicious dinner of roasted vegetables and watched Aquaman, which was better than I thought it would be.

Today, Dad and I made scones for breakfast. Mum and I identified the new bird visitor at their feeder (an Eastern Towhee). We listened to the Mets lose. I sorted out the order for the leftovers for the final stripe of my lightning shawl, with Mum’s assistance. And we had a delicious meal of chicken divan and strawberry cake for our Easter dinner.

Tears and laughter. Reflection and smiles. Music, knitting, and reading. The weekend contained it all. Oh, and chocolate, too.

How was your weekend?

Wishing the best of the spring season to you and your family, whether you celebrate Easter, Passover, or a generic Sunday!

Just as I was opening my blog, a single clap of thunder erupted overhead. Rain is now pouring down outside, and I am glad to be inside. Plus, I’m about to head to bed, and rainfall makes such peaceful sleeping most of the time. It does make me question how the weekend weather is going to play out, though (we definitely aren’t getting a blizzard like some of you, but rain is predicted for parts of both days). If the weather cooperates, this is what I’m hoping it includes:

• Participating in the cleanup day at the garden. I’d also like to plant the two strawberries I bought this week, pick violets, and put in some supports for my peas.
• Checking out the cherry blossom festival along the Anacostia waterfront.
• Listening to or watching baseball.
• Drinking strawberry daiquiris. I have a ton of frozen strawberries in the freezer and would love to clear out a bit of space. This is a delicious way to accomplish that. (Ooh! There’s more thunder!)
• Shopping at the farmers market. Milk and eggs are on my list.
• Baking. My first stab at macarons did not leave enough time for setting and cooking and this batter is not fond of refrigeration, so I’ll see about take two. Failed attempts are still delicious, even if not especially correct.
• Hitting up a library or two. I’d like to watch this overdue dvd and return it, and I finished the book that belongs to Virginia, so maybe I can make it over there to give it back, too. Also, I need to use a printer.
• Figuring out my taxes. Yes, this has been on my to-do list for literally months. Happily, this should be the final list it appears on this year.
• Washing my handknits.
• Eating grilled cheese and soup. (This is one for if it’s rainy.) Homemade tomato soup is another thing in our freezer. I’ll need to buy/make bread, though.
• Doing some tidying. I’m heading out of town next week and would like to leave the place a little less messy for Rudi and Corey.
• Knitting. Maybe I could get through picking up the stitches at the gusset of my sock or could work some on my lightning shawl.

How about you? What’s on your weekend agenda?

Today was a day for rest and relaxation.

I slept in and finished my book.

I soaked in the sun and did some knitting.

We went out for pizza and ate homemade cookies for dessert.

It was a good day.

April has arrived, as has its first weekend. It’s supposed to be comfortable and dry, if not actually sunny. Here’s what I’m hoping it includes:

• Try my hand at macarons. I made them once several years ago and they were not my biggest success. Over Christmas and my birthday, Mum got me set up with a pan, fun food coloring, and a cookbook, which I’ve now perused. Keep your fingers crossed they turn out less … flat … than last time!
• Check on my garden. Maybe I’ll have to put in supports for the peas!!!
• See Shazam!
• Head to Virginia for a library book sale.
• Put together a bag for Goodwill. Volleyball shirts keep falling on my head every time I open my closet door, which means it’s time to send some of them away.
• Visit a friend. His home remodeling is complete and he’s invited folks to stop by to check it out.
• Finish my book.
• Listen to some baseball.
• Reorganize our hallway closet. We need to empty out the car and reshuffle our seasonal items (no more need to have my ice skates accessible, but the portable hammock might be a plus!), both of which means taking a look at what is actually taking up space in our non-clothes closet. I’m hoping there’s an untapped air pocket in there. (That is actually possible, since I used to have a gigantic clothing bag in there that’s no longer being used.)
• Enjoy the cherry blossoms and maybe the fireworks celebrating them.
• Send out some birthday cards. (This also means figuring out where my stamps are hiding, since I don’t want to have to keep using my Snowy Day stamps now that it’s spring!)
• Eat pizza.

How about you? What are you hoping to do this weekend?

It’s the first weekend where Rudi’s been home since early December! To celebrate, I hoping it includes:

• Attending our first baseball game of the season. We have tickets, I know where my Mets cap is, and my nails are painted orange and blue. I’m ready.
• Flying our kite. It’s the Kite Festival on the National Mall and weather, garden duties, or someone’s bum hip have kept us from going for the past several years. Rudi thinks we can figure out a way to secure it in a bag or something so we can leave it in the bike valet during the ballgame, because they’re certainly not going to let that into the ballpark.
• Getting to the garden. I didn’t make it down during the week, so I’d very much like to get some more seeds into the ground.
• Going to the farmers market. We’ll need milk. And I’m considering getting another dozen eggs because if I’m going to start making macarons, it needs egg whites. I should probably check my cookbook…
• Knitting. Second sock-land, here I come!
• Opening the window! I’ve had it open before now, but closed it when we had a cooler snap. Tomorrow it’s supposed to near 70.
• Checking out the cherry blossoms. That means dealing with tourists, which I’d like not to do, but…
• Spring cleaning — or at least making a start at it. Insects and flood waters discouraged anything but emergency measures last week. Now it’s time to start making a dent on our clutter.
• Reading. I finished a graphic novel and a picture book tonight and am looking forward to crossing something else off my list, as well, because the new Veronica Speedwell has arrived at my local branch and is waiting for me.
• Baking. Maybe the macarons if I have time on Sunday. But otherwise oatmeal scotchies, because I’d wanted to make them Tuesday in addition to the mint sticks, but I ran out of steam.
• Doing laundry. I have several weeks during April when I have multiple volleyball games a week, which means having sports bras clean becomes much more important. Probably I just need to buy another sports bra or two…
• Lounging, hopefully outside. Clearly this one is at odds with most of the others, but I’m still including it here as a goal.

How about you? What are you hoping to do this weekend?