I didn’t particularly feel like writing about this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic, so I decided instead to tell you ten books I currently have checked out from the library and why I borrowed them. (I am a big library borrower. I have 16 print books out from the library, as well as five audio books checked out via Overdrive.)

1. Murder Games by James Patterson and Howard Roughan, because Instinct is one of the few tv shows we watch that was renewed for the coming year and I’m always interested in literary inspirations for tv adaptations.
2. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya: It was a Cybils Award finalist in the middle grade category this year, which is probably the category I like the best; a 2018 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book; and an Earphones Award winner from AudioFile.
3. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin: Eight years ago a list of 100 best kids books came out from the School Library Journal and I decided to finish reading all the titles on it that I had never gotten to. Recently I realized I’d never finished that laudable goal, but that it was accomplishable over the next summer or two. This is one of the books from the list. (Plus, I loved her When the Sea Turned to Silver.)
4. The Thief by Meghan Whalen Turner: This is another one off that list.
5. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken: And another one.
6. Refugee by Alan Gratz: This was the Cybils winner in the middle grades category this year and is particularly relevant to the moment, but starting it just feels like work, which is why I haven’t started it.
7. The Room by Jonas Karlsson: I really liked his book The Invoice several years ago, so when I needed a couple books by foreign authors set in foreign places for my summer book bingo sheet, I decided to see if he’d written anything else my library had in stock.
8. The Problim Children by Natalie Lloyd: The last time I was at the bookstore, I saw Lloyd had a new book out. I loved A Snicker of Magic and liked The Key to Extraordinary, so decided to check this one out and see if it was one that I could like and move on from or if it was one I needed to own.
9. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ahsley Herring Blake: Another book I saw the last time I was at the bookstore, this one had a striking cover and was on their recommended reads table.
10. The Refugees by Viet Thanh Ngyuen: This was the 2018 D.C. Reads title. I’ve had it out for months. I read the first story, it made me cry, and I was loathe to pick it back up again. Plus, it’s short stories, which I don’t especially love. I’m just having a hard time taking it back even though I don’t want to read it anymore because I think I should read it. I hate doing things I should.

How about you? What do you have checked out from the library at the moment and what made you pick it?

I may have mentioned last week some upcoming plane knitting time. I’m heading out to San Francisco later this week for a business trip. I did book my flight home a little later than I might have, so I have nearly a whole day to spend in the city exploring. But it occurs to me that I don’t actually know what I want to see. So I’m turning to you.

This will not be my first trip to San Francisco. I have ridden the cable car; visited Coit Tower, the California Academy of Science and Fisherman’s Wharf; wandered through Chinatown and Haight-Ashbury; stared at the Golden Gate Bridge; watched a Giants game; and shopped at City Lights bookstore and Imagiknit. Other than the zoo and Alcatraz, am I missing any obvious sights or museums in the city proper? (I’d like to see Muir Woods, but it sounds like that might be take most of the day, which means I should maybe save it for another trip.) Or anything you’ve seen that has been redone in the last 15 years that I should circle back to?

Also, are there any restaurants or shops you’ve been to there you’d particularly recommend? I’ve scoped out the area I’m staying in, identifying the location of the nearest indie bookstore, coffee house, and ice cream parlor.

It’ll be a whirlwind trip, but I’m looking forward to it!

You wouldn’t think four inches would have much significance in nature. My tomato plants grow an extra four inches and I won’t even notice after a certain point. Four inches of snow and we’d hardly blink some winters.

But four inches of rain fall on a single day and you’re inclined to notice. A storm of that significance curtails activities, particularly in a region where walking comprises a major mode of transportation. It’s not unlike a hurricane, except without the wind.

And if you have a basement, and more particularly if you live in a basement, you’re very likely to notice four inches of rain falling from the sky because eventually it’s going to move in with you.

And it has. Just like you’d accommodate an unannounced visit from a loved one, I accommodated the water’s arrival, too. But, boy, has it rearranged my weekend plans — and my living room, too.

The week’s forecast shows rain every day. Keep your fingers crossed that it’s intermittent — the ground having a chance to dry out will be the only thing that saves us from more water incursion.

Rudi is heading out of town in the morning, which means I have some time to myself this weekend. Much of it is supposed to be stormy, so I’m expecting to fill it with more inside activities than time outside. Here’s some of what I’m hoping my weekend includes:

• I need to get over to the garden. A huge rain shower on Tuesday afternoon meant that I skipped several days of visiting, which probably means squirrels have eaten all of my semi-ripe tomatoes and the last of my lettuce has bolted.
• I should finish recording my July reading to date in the summer reading app so I can claim this month’s summer reading prize from the library. Conveniently, I also need to visit to exchange some books.
• Apparently, lotus flowers and water lilies are in bloom over at the aquatic garden and they’re having a festival to celebrate. I’ve never been to the aquatic garden and may feel up to battling the crowds. Maybe.
• Sunday, my friend Julia and I are going to get together for coffee (or, in my case, tea). She said she’d like to leave her neighborhood, so I’m thinking maybe the new bookshop across town, where they supposedly have a little cafe. Or maybe a new coffeeshop I’ve heard about closer to where I live.
• If it isn’t thunderstorming, I’d like to get to the pool sometime this weekend. The summer is going by so fast and the pool will be closed again before I know it.
• I baked a fast cake (literally: it was only in the oven 20 minutes) on Thursday and it was fun. I mean, not as fun as eating cake, but still. So maybe I’ll bake something else. Or make some ice cream. Or some popsicles.
• My living space is in desperate need of some attention. A rainy day could be just what I need to power through some sorting, tidying, cleaning, and recycling.
• But let’s be honest, it’s also going to include some knitting, some Tour de France watching, and some reading.
• Sunday morning will definitely include a trip to the farmers market. I’m looking forward to a smoothie bowl (unless it’s watermelon this week, in which case I’ll pass) and to dumping my compost bin.
• If I’m feeling adventurous this weekend, I might go in search of the two things Rudi and I have agreed we’d like to buy — interesting frames for some of the artwork we’ve acquired this year and bigger bowls for eating salads. I have my eye on the latter, but am thinking I need to hit some second-hand shops to find the former.
• The Mets and the Yankees are playing each other this weekend. We caught the tail end of tonight’s game on my phone as we walked home from the park, and I’d love to see some more of the matchup.

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

1. After leaving the beach on Sunday, we pass an honor system roadside stand, which included a cut-your-own garden. I brought home three stems of gladioli. Having now seen them in their natural state, I understand why they’re sometimes called the sword lily.

2. Tonight was a Fort Reno concert night and the official celebration of its 50th anniversary. The free punk concert series was its typical eclectic self by featuring a lineup that included a reading of a Sylvia Plath poem set to modern dance by two members of a local theater troupe, a dj set, and a nine-minute snare drum composition. It was also the Night of a Thousand Cakes, and so much was still left that the organizer apologized to families prior to the final act by asking them to please send their children up to eat more sugar. After years of attending at least one show during the season, I am convinced that whatever celestial being is in charge of the weather is a punk fan because there is always a gorgeous sunset to be seen on concert nights.

3. Tuesday there was a terrific mid-afternoon thunderstorm during which time more than two inches of rain fell over less than an hour. I didn’t have to be out in it, so was content to admire its force from a window. (Rudi was not so lucky.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?