This has been a remarkably long week. I’m ready for it to end.

On tap for the weekend:

Softball starts up late tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to it even though I can’t figure out where my batting gloves went. Wouldn’t you think they would have been either with my cleats or my glove? Don’t you think I should be more concerned with the fact that I haven’t thrown or hit in almost three years?

The Pride Parade sashays its way through our neighborhood tomorrow afternoon. Rudi is supposed to take part with the rest of the Democratic State Committee (or at least whatever small portion of it bothers to show up).

The Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit closes at the National Gallery this weekend. Since I’ve been saying for the last three months that I wanted to see it, I guess I’d better hustle over there. (Upon looking at the website it seems there’s also a Lichtenstein exhibit going on, too, so at least I’ll get a double-bang for my buck.) Do you think they’d mind if I came straight from my softball game in 90 degree weather?

We have ascertained the berries I see growing wild on trees all over the District are mulberries. Maybe I will harvest some and make something out of them.

Strawberry shortcake is definitely on tap. I have been promising one to Rudi for weeks now and have all the ingredients, but have lacked sufficient time. Maybe I will stop letting that be an excuse.

The farm market promises the first sweet cherries of the season as well as a continued bounty of strawberries. (Hmmm… that makes three berry-related activities for the weekend. Where will I fit all the sweetness in?)

We picked up a baby tomato plant at the Mt. Pleasant Fest last weekend. It’s been flourishing in our shower caddy (one of only two places in our apartment safe from Della’s plant chewing tendencies), but I think it will be happier outside in a pot where it can get some sun. Sadly, it probably gets more water in our shower than it will once it’s outside and I have to remember to bring it refreshing drinks. Do you think rats like tomatoes?

We have two more videos to watch before Monday. So far Saved was excellent, Spanglish was good (but not as good as I wanted it to be), and Wimbledon was cute. Bridget Jones II will provide us non-thinking entertainment, but I will have to read my way through the Norwegian Kitchen Stories, so that one will be saved for a time when I’m awake and brain synapses are firing.

And I have to find a good chunk of time for some knitting somewhere in there. Maybe I can do that while I listen to the Nationals or the Mets play…

Wow, you’re not supposed to feel tired just looking at all the fun things you’re planning for your weekend, are you?

Three beautiful things from the week:

1. We went for a ride on the C&O Canal Sunday evening. Along the way we saw small bass, huge carp, lots of turtles both sunning and swimming, ducks and ducklings, and geese and goslings (including one daycare group that had 26 little ones with four adults — the littlest goslings were so funny when they tried to get out of the water — one managed to climb out about a foot before tumbling back into the water!)

2. On Sunday we also went to the Mt. Pleasant Fest. For those outside of the Beltway, Mt. Pleasant is one of the most ethnically diverse, communal neighborhoods in D.C. It has remained under the radar by virtue of being inconveniently placed in terms of Metrorail service. But they seem to have a very community-oriented vibe that we really like every time we visit.

3. My former intern Jason called this week to say that the government had approved his work visa and that he’d started his new job at a St. Louis hospital. He also raved about his new apartment, which sounds like it is located near where he works and in a vibrant neighborhood. Jason is the student I worried most about finding his niche when he graduated from Wesleyan, so I am relieved and grateful to hear him sound so happy.

This is when you understand why computer codes were invented — just to give you a really cool, computer-friendly map of the Manhattan of literature. Covers everything from Fitzhugh, Salinger, and Blume to Wolfe, Kerouac, and Fitzgerald. Use the outline map at the right to negotiate your way through the city.

(Via bookslut.)

Falcon Ridge Folk Fest doesn’t come around for another six weeks, but I’m already excited about it.

We bought a small charcoal grill over the weekend that we hope to bring with us. Our friends Mike and Shelley are looking at a screened room tent for eating in, as well as a table.

And today’s email brings word of a band to check out — Acoustic Hot Tuna. Apparently the duo has been playing together since their high school days forty-five years ago here in D.C. and went on to serve as lead guitar and bass for Jefferson Airplane. I’ve never heard of Acoustic Hot Tuna (or the two guys who make up the band), but I have heard of (and like) Jefferson Airplane (in all their iterations), so they’ll be one act I’ll make sure to catch.

And, looking at the schedule, it seems they’ll be playing Thursday night when there are no conflicts or overlaps, so that’s even more exciting!

I know I shouldn’t hope for July to come around already, but it’s just so hard to wait when you know you’ll get four days of camping, good music, and friends.

If you’re looking for a fun music festival to check out, please consider ours. The year The Kennedys weren’t invited to perform, they got themselves a vendor booth and came and enjoyed the festivities anyway, playing on stage with anyone and everyone who invited them. And last year they serenaded us to sleep one night from the song circle just up the hill from us. You won’t get that at Live Eight.

What were you doing on March 15?

I don’t remember what I was doing either. But I bet the two Kiribati fishermen who spent 57 days at sea in an outboard motor boat before finally being rescued by a Micronesian fishing vessel will always remember.

They survived on rain water and raw fish.

I wouldn’t want to spend two hours in a motor boat, let alone two months.

Norbert Leo Butz, co-star of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, won the Tony Award for best leading man in a musical. We saw him three weeks ago and thought then he deserved the nod. It’s nice to see others agreed with us.