I couldn’t help but be struck by this tree’s resemblance, with its bare branches covered in raindrops, to a spiderweb.

Okay, so I wanted to post my reviews for January’s reads today, but then I realized that there were seven books and they’d take time, so I decided to write this shorter post instead about what’s going on around me:

Tasting: Tea and cookie butter, which I was eating out of the jar with a spoon before I picked up the computer.

Hearing: Rudi’s rhythmic breathing. Traffic outside. Occasionally, the breeze. Corey groaning in his sleep.

Smelling: Nail polish. I just painted my nails with new polish that I bought back at Thanksgiving because it was a small company and it said it lacked the nasty chemicals that make nail polish one of those things we all should feel more guilty about using. Apparently those chemicals aren’t the thing that give nail polish its distinctive odor, though. (And, yes, I do realize the folly of painting my nails shortly before bed, particularly since Rudi just put clean flannel sheets on the bed earlier this evening. By morning my nails may be purple *and* fuzzy.)

Seeing: Fairy lights around the room. Corey asleep on the recliner (usually he wakes up when he hears me typing because he wants to help — or because the laptop is warm). The pile of laundry still on the rocking chair from the weekend. Wonder Woman: Warbringer lying open next to me. The still glistening bushes blowing outside.

Feeling: Grateful. I’m really lucky to lead the life I do and I take a lot of it for granted. But suddenly I am reminded of that, and I appreciate it all. And tired, so I shall hope the nail polish is dry enough and head to bed. Good night!

My weekend did not include everything on my list, but it did include a lot of it.

On Saturday, I slept the morning away and then spent the afternoon in Georgetown. I did a little shopping, visited the library, and took myself out to lunch. There were vegetarian tacos and hot chocolate and reading outside and in. Rudi and I spent the evening watching a video, Pirate Radio, about one of the ships in the mid-1960s England that played rock-and-roll radio because the BBC refused to do so.

Today, I went to the farmers market and another library, hung out with the cats, did some laundry and some tidying, and knit a little. Rudi and I had raclette for supper before he called it a night. I stayed up for cocoa and cookies and worked on a blog post for later in the week.

A quiet weekend, but a nice one.

Let’s be honest. I don’t get to half of what I put on these lists. I am great at letting things on lists go, at deciding I don’t care that they aren’t done. A half-done list creates no stress at all in me, so why even bother making them? I suppose because it puts in writing some of the options I could choose, should I so desire.

So, should I so desire this weekend, I might choose to:

• Go to the library. This will almost certainly get done, because it’s my very favorite weekend activity.
• Stop at the farmers market. Similarly, this helps add some shape to my Sunday.
• Sleep in. I’m turning off all but the latest of my alarms, which I might still ignore!
• Spend a lot of time outside. Saturday is supposed to be warm, so I have hopes I’ll take advantage of it (provided I get up at some point).
• Buy toilet paper. Mandatory!
• Paint my nails.
• Hang out with Rudi. Maybe we can see a movie, but given his weekend coaching schedule, watching a dvd is more likely.
• Change the duvet cover.
• Register the car.
• Stop by the garden.

Or I might choose to do none of it. What might you choose to do this weekend?

Well, that was a disappointing end to the weekend. As I was going to bed on Friday night, I had a bit of a cough and a headache, which had intensified by the time I awoke yesterday. I chalked it up to a change in the weather, took some ibuprofen, and eventually felt well enough to head out to the protest and to do some errands.

While out, I made the most of the day by trying a grilled cheese restaurant I’ve been wanting to visit for years (Tasty!) and having some tea at the fancy coffee place next to the library that just opened yesterday. Disappointingly, it turns out they’re a cashless establishment, which means I will try to avoid frequenting them. Or maybe not (appointingly?), since then I won’t spend $4 on a pot of tea every time I go to the library.

But once I was home, I realized that I was back to feeling unwell and had added hot eyeballs and that icky feeling at the back of your throat to the list of symptoms that promise you are about to find yourself sick.

So today, I laid low. I did make it out to the farmers market because I was out of milk for tea and to the store to buy food and litter for the cats, and Rudi had been away all weekend coaching. And I forced myself to do laundry because I had no clean jeans, leggings (Autocorrect wanted to make that leg gins; I have no idea — maybe wench-style flasks?), or sports clothes for volleyball later this week. But I scratched everything else and mostly laid about on the sofa listlessly watching Leverage episodes and downing cup after cup of tea. I didn’t want to knit. I didn’t want to read. I didn’t want to put away the Christmas ornaments. (Okay, that one may be unrelated.)

I am lucky in that my workplace offers a generous number of sick days, so I will be availing myself of one of those in the morning, pending a surprise return to the land of the healthy. I did, after all, just spend an hour reading, so I must be feeling somewhat better.

I hope you had a healthier few days and that you’re gearing up for a great week!

After a long weekend, two days just doesn’t feel like enough time, y’know? But I’m hoping to fill it up, so it doesn’t feel too short. Here’s some of what I’d like it to include:

• Spend some time outside, possibly attending a protest rally on the Mall.
• Go to the library. (Because it doesn’t del like a weekend, if I don’t get to at least one.)
• Send some mail.
• Try out my new cookbook.
• Stop by a frame shop. I got a new piece of art this Christmas that needs a frame.
• Put the Christmas ornaments in their boxes so Rudi and I can put the boxes away.
• Do laundry. There’s lots to do because it was harder when the Christmas tree was up.
• Head to some stores. I have a couple returns to make and the cats are out of litter and down to their last can of wet food.
• Turn the heel on my Posey sock. I did it once, but didn’t like how the stripes lined up afterwards, so need to try again or find a solid color for it.
• Paint my nails. The Christmas polish is down to a small dot on most of my fingers and I’m ready for a new color.

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