Rudi and I took a few days off to travel to New York City this week, and today we saw both parts of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I will not ruin anything by giving away spoilers, but rest assured that the play was enjoyed both by the person who’d read the working script (me) and the one who went in knowing nothing. If you’ve been thinking about seeing it and wondering if it was worth it, it is. I highly recommend it and will be eager to see how it does at the upcoming Tony Awards. I suspect it will do well, particularly for the technical awards.

How was your Tuesday?

I had a nice Memorial Day weekend, but somehow three days always seems so short.

Rudi and I saw Solo on Friday night. It was not my favorite of the recent Star Wars movies.

Saturday, Julia and I went to the National Gallery of Art to see the Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now exhibition. It was more interesting than I thought and the museum less crowded than I feared. (The above sculpture is by Kumi Yamashita and uses a spotlight at a particular angle to create the image.) We ate lunch at a bistro nearby and although the skies rumbled ferociously, they did not open up on us. I did a little shopping after we parted ways and read some of my book.

Sunday was my lazy day. I went to the farmers market, but then came home and didn’t leave again. We did some cleaning and watched Ferdinand, which was sweet.

Today, I did some more cleaning and some shopping, went to the garden, and swam at the pool. One of the things I had to buy was taller stakes for my peas and because the closer hardware store was closed for the holiday, I ended up biking back home with my groceries and with a package of six-foot-tall stakes. I felt like a knight on horseback with a lance and realized I’d never given much thought to how awkward that really is. I did feel very accomplished though, and my peas are so much happier now.

As I mentioned last week, I wanted to share the last three books I read way back in January in the hopes of moving forward with sharing other things I read:

A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander with illustrations by Kelly Murphy

In the wake of a family tragedy, Rosa Díaz and her mother have moved to a new town, Ingot, and settled into the basement apartment of the library where her mother is employed. This would be hard enough by itself, but it turns out that Ingot is a ghost-free town (perhaps the only one in America) and her mother is a ghost-appeasement specialist. Rosa heads out to explore the town and immediately runs into Jasper Chevalier and his father, the Black (as in African American, not as in evil) knight who helps run the town’s most famous attraction, its Renaissance Festival. She tags along and is surprised when an malevolent apparition invades the festival — and then no one but she and Jasper recognize it for what it was. It will take all the ghostly negotiating skills Rosa’s developed — and her new-found friendship — to prevent massive catastrophes from affecting her new town and her family.

I loved this short fantasy novel as a bookish adult and can only imagine how much more I would have loved it if I’d read it as a bookish kid. Highly recommended to those who love libraries, ghosts, or Renn faire culture. It does get dark for a while (these are decidedly not friendly ghosts), so my only caveat would be that it could cause sensitive kids nightmares.

Pages: 192

A Good Byline by Jill Orr

In this mystery set in a small Virginia town, Riley Ellison is a bit of a mess. Her longtime boyfriend has moved to Colorado to find himself while skiing and she’s stalled career-wise, resuming the job she had as a high school student at the library, and everyone in her town thinks of her as “poor Riley” because she had what they thought of as a very public meltdown when her grandfather, the former obituary writer for the local newspaper, died several years back. She’s thinking positive thoughts now, though, and has signed up for a dating service. But then her childhood best friend turns up dead, with a suicide note by her side, and her boss ends up in a bit of a pickle and her boyfriend breaks up with her and her date goes sideways and she meets a weird reporter from the paper. Did I mention the dead friend was also a reporter? Yeah.

This was a very earnest mystery that I wanted to like more than I did because it was set locally. I felt better about feeling like the author was throwing everything into the pot when I learned she wasn’t local. It’s not a bad book and I’d consider reading the second in the series because I’d like to see if she wraps up the loose end from this book in it, but probably only if I see it on the shelf. I won’t be actively pursuing this lead.

Pages: 280

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

In this middle-grade graphic memoir, Shannon tells the story of her childhood growing up in Salt Lake City, recollects her best (and mostly only) friend Adrienne, and recounts what happens when Adrienne starts wanting to hang out with another girl, the uber-popular Jen and her clique of popular girls.

The book deals with bullying and mental health issues and was the sort of story I really wished had existed when I was in third grade and struggling with mean-girl issues and friendship. I would give this sweet story to every elementary school kid you know, but particularly the ones who you know are still looking for their family of friends and their space in the world. It’s something to back up your assurances that “it gets better.”

Pages: 224

Part 1 and Part 2 of January.

Next up: February! (Because next week is June!)

Rudi and I kicked off the long weekend tonight with a date night to see Solo and for dinner at a nearby Asian restaurant.

He’ll be working the rest of the weekend, but here’s what else I’m hoping to get up to this long weekend:

• My friend Julia and I are meeting up today to catch an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (her idea; I’d never suggest going to a Smithsonian on the weekend during tourist season) and to have lunch.
• The pool opens tomorrow for the season. As per usual, the weather isn’t expected to be ideal, but that won’t stop me.
• I got out of work early today and was able to get to the library to pick up a couple things on hold, but didn’t return the things that needed to go back, so I’ll be heading back over tomorrow or Sunday.
• I need to give the peas more string, and I could use some additional supports, so a trip to the hardware store or garden center and to the garden are on the agenda.
• Laundry. I only have one more pair of tier-one underwear left and the towels may march themselves to the washing machine.
• Make something with strawberries. Maybe more than one thing. (Ice cream or quick bread or a crumble with rhubarb or … or … )
• We have someone stopping by the house next week, so I’d like it to not look like juvenile hyenas reside here when she does, so some cleaning is in order.
• I don’t need much at the farmers market this week, but I missed buying shelling peas at the market on Tuesday, so am hoping to track some down.
• I didn’t make it out last weekend to look for ducklings further down the towpath, but since my bike is clear, I think I’ll give it a shot this weekend.
• Sleep.

How about you? What are you hoping this weekend holds for you?