Another D.C. weekend, another rainy forecast. But two weekends ago the predicted rain only materialized in the middle of the night, so I’m not going to let it get in the way of my planning…

Here are some of the things I’m hoping to do this weekend:

• Celebrate Midsummer: Three European embassies will be holding a Baltic Midsummer Festival at Dupont Circle tomorrow afternoon. Later, three of the Smithsonian museums will be staying open late to celebrate the solstice.
• Catch a play: One of the local amateur theater troupes has been staying Twelfth Night, and I think tomorrow is the final performance.
• Pick blueberries.
• Finish a sock.
• Read a book.
• Visit the library: The haul I showed you the other day was only half of what I had on hold, but rainy weather made me decide to carry home only half in order to keep them dry. I also have the first of my summer reading program prizes to pick up.
• Plant tomatoes in the garden: There are fifteen or so growing on my windowsill at work and the tallest is over a foot tall. Time to get them outside.
• Attend an arts festival: A new D.C. arts festival, By the People, has been going on since Thursday and Sunday will be the final day to check out installations.
• Shop at the farmers market: I’m really hoping for fava beans, but that may not be.
• Call a friend: Tomorrow is my friend Rebecca’s birthday.
• Cut up strawberries: I still have several pints in the fridge that should be cut up and turned into a shortcake.
• Clean the microwave: Our microwave is on a shelf that puts it at knee-level, which means we usually aren’t looking inside. But I did, and it needs washing.

What are you hoping to do this weekend?

According to That Artsy Reader Girl and Top Ten Tuesday, it’s time to think about my summer list of books to be read:

1. Becky Albertalli’s Leah on the Offbeat
2. Julie Murphy’s Puddin’
3. Toni Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone
4. Jonas Karlsson’s The Room (I loved his The Invoice a couple years ago.)
5. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
6. Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings
7. Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X
8. Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief
9. Tom’s Midnight Garden by A. Philippa Pearce
10. Eggshells by Catriona Lilly

How about you? What are you hoping to read this summer?

Alliums are such pretty, improbable flowers.

Rudi and I decided that the way to start the weekend was with a viewing of Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the documentary about Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. We’re biased fans of his, but the film was incredibly moving and will help remind you of all the good in the world. If it’s playing at any movie theaters near you, I highly recommend seeing it.

The weekend is looking stormy (it seems to be a trend), which may affect some of my plans, but I’ll play it by ear. If my ears are working, here’s what they might hear:

• Festivals: There are two neighborhood festivals tomorrow, as well as the Pride Parade. Pride will go on regardless of the rain; I’ll have to see if the festivals will, too.
• Books: Politics & Prose is having its quarterly member sale and I have some gifts I need to buy. Rudi wants to go, too, so that might mean a trip for pizza afterwards!
• Award shows: The Tonys are Sunday evening. It’s the only award show I actually like watching. And that’s even when I don’t have a vested interest in the outcome. (By vested, please understand I mean have seen a single nominated play and would like it to win all the awards.)
• Knitting: But I’ll still be knitting through them.
• The library: Stuff to return. Hopefully after finishing one more book.
• The farmers market: We’re out of eggs and I hear cherries may be available. I’m also hoping for fava beans, but have no basis for that hope.
• Gardening: Rudi and I haven’t been since Monday and we’ve had sun, so I’m hopeful there will be more peas and strawberries. I’d like to get some planting and weeding done, but it might need to wait until another day if there are thunderstorms.
• Cat supplies: We’re getting low on litter and wet food, and the cats will definitely like me more if I don’t run out of the latter and I will like them more if I don’t run out of the latter.
• My desk: I hear rumors it’s under that pile of papers over there.
• Laundry.
• Nail polish: I stripped my nails earlier in the week, so they could have a couple days of air.
• Vacation planning: I’d like to figure out a couple beach trips and some time to visit with friends.
• Swimming: But only if there’s not a thunderstorm, which the forecast keeps telling me is increasingly likely to occur all weekend.
• Writing: I have a couple blog posts rattling around in my head. I’d like to let them out.

Huh. That’s a surprisingly long list.

I hope your weekend weather is more conducive to outdoor activities than mine is looking to be. What do you have planned?

Well, that was a weekend, wasn’t it?

After catching our first outdoor movie of the summer, I really expected the weekend to be chock full of activity. And, yet, despite my having my usual game plan, it just wasn’t.

Some of it, I realize, was a reaction to having just spent a number of days in activity. Some of it was caused by having this major project launching tomorrow, which necessitated going into the office on a Saturday night. It certainly wasn’t helped by today’s steady rain and yesterday’s steady mizzle. But I think most of it was just bad attitude and lethargy.

The weekend wasn’t wholly a loss. As I said, I got quite a bit of work done that would otherwise have needed to be done tomorrow morning. I did stop by the garden, where I picked lettuce, strawberries, and peas (which are all flourishing thanks to all this rain), and the library, where I returned some of the overdue items.

I tried out a new dessert shop, where I had a delicious piece of key lime pie at the recommendation of the woman who waited on me and who also offered to refill my tea cup without prompting.

I wandered down to where there was supposed to be a pre-Stanley Cup concert by Sting and Shaggy, stood around for a while, before deciding they must have performed before my arrival. I then went and tried on clothes for a bit. Several things fit well enough, but didn’t wow me. I didn’t need anything (although really wouldn’t have minded some new additions to my wardrobe) and try never to buy things I feel only so-so about unless there is a pressing need. So, I left, gift card still intact, and returned to the office to productively power through my work.

I fixed some things that needed repairing, including some things I’d broken in my prior two days at work. And then I escaped the office via a bus that must have pulled away just before gleeful hockey fans descended, since it was nearly empty when I boarded.

This morning we had a damp stroll through the farmers market, where it was obvious that other people had chosen to remain home, given the full stands hours into the day. The poor farmers were devising rain specials, and Rudi and I came home with a flat of strawberries for a remarkably reasonable price (cheaper than I could have picked them for, and without the achy back that accompanies hours of bending over ground plants).

We came home, changed back into pjs from our wet clothes, and enjoyed hot beverages and tasty treats. We also watched a surprising amount of television. I finished one of my overdue books and spoke with my parents. Then we ate a very tasty pizza Rudi made, and I cut up and froze slightly more than half the berries while listening first to music (because getting going on tasks I don’t enjoy are always helped by sing-along ’80s music) and then to the audiobook I’m currently enjoying.

And that’s it. There’s really nothing to do with a disappointing weekend, but to acknowledge it’s gone sideways and then bid it adieu, knowing that you only have to get through a hand’s worth of days until the next one, which once again holds the golden promise of untold quantities of fun and accomplishment.

Onward!

Thunderstorms were threatening last night — again — as The Post concluded. The Army Navy Club looked particularly menacing hovering over Farragut Square.

It seems like we’ve had a very stormy spring this year. I certainly wouldn’t prefer a drought, but wouldn’t mind some moderation moving forward.