Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I came home Tuesday in time for volleyball and Rudi followed tonight. Our bed is not as comfortable as the place where we stayed, but Corey is here and it is ours and I will take being in it over any other.

2. I wrapped up my portion of the Portland trip with an hour in a soaking pool at a nearby hotel, a very spa’ish experience and for $8 a very reasonable one. When our time was up, I felt boneless and very relaxed.

3. I went up to Fort Reno for tonight’s concert, only to have a biting rainstorm sweep down on us just as the second act was about to begin. I folded our waterproof picnic blanket over my backpack (which held my library book) and decided to sit out the weather, rather than running for shelter. It wasn’t thundering and it wasn’t hailing, so there was no harm in staying out, and while they did eventually call the show, I was first rewarded with a rainbow and a fellow passing me by saying, “Now, you’re punk rock!” And I just laughed and laughed as I got wetter and more ridiculous, but those bubbles of laughter carried with them a lightness I haven’t felt in a long time.

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

There’s still another full month of meteorological summer and nearly two of the official summer season. Here are ten things I think I can still cram in:

• Kayak on the C&O
• Explore Theodore Roosevelt Island
• Get back to the seashore (honestly! not since April!)
• Watch an outdoor movie
• Catch a concert at Wolf Trap or Merriweather Post or another outdoor venue
• Check out the indie scoop shops in D.C. I haven’t visited
• Swim in a lake
• Go to Kenilworth Aquatic Garden, the Arboretum, or Congressional Cemetery
• Find one of the boundary stones
• Try a new-to-me streetery/patio

What’s still on your summer bucket list?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday post from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share ten of the books we’ve eagerly shared we planned to read in an upcoming season, only to have to confess we still haven’t gotten to them.

I’m notoriously bad about this, so here are ten of mine, some dating back to the Broke and Bookish days.

1. Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi (Spring 2018)
2. Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (Spring 2016)
3. A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab (Spring 2016)
4. Unnatural Creatures, edited by Neil Gaiman (Spring 2016)
5. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Spring 2020)
6. Eliot Schrefer’s Threatened (Summer 2014!)
7. Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Jinni (Summer 2014)
8. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterley (Summer 2017)
9. Anne Bronté’s Agnes Grey (Fall 2014)
10. Frederick Backman’s My Grandmother Asked Me to Say She’s Sorry (Winter 2017)

Just before I left for Portland, a #GiftmasinJuly package arrived for me.

I was spoiled, because as you can see, this package contained three books off my TBR list, fancy chocolate, and stickers!

I was so taken with the books that I immediately replaced one of the novels that I was taking with me to Portland. I can report that Rosie’s Traveling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin is quite cute, having read it from my first supper to my penultimate breakfast in Portland.

Thank you so much to Monica! I love everything!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The airbnb that Rudi booked us turns out to be in the vicinity of one of Portland’s art districts and is a very walkable neck of the woods for our base of operations. It also includes a vegan bar that makes mocktails, so I got to spend my one dinner on my own in town in a particularly pleasant fashion.

2. On Monday, I got to see one of my favorite former coworkers at the concert and spend time catching up. It had been more than three months since I’d last seen her. Tonight, I got to see one of my dearest friends (whom I’ve known since college) and her family and spend time catching up. It has been more than a dozen years since I’d last seen her, and it was like no time had passed at all (except with her son, who is now in high school and absolutely delightful).

3. I’ve spent several weeks building a playlist for the volleyball team and finally got to unveil part of it on Tuesday. People were very enthusiastic.

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

Wanted to let you all know I’m still alive, but that it’s been a busy couple days and I probably won’t slow down until my layover in Chicago on Wednesday morning.

In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve been up to:

Saturday night plans were rained out, but I got a rainbow and a conversation with Karen instead. More than a fair trade, I think.

Sunday, Rudi came home. We celebrated National Ice Cream Day with cones from Larry’s.

Tonight, the 2022 season of the Fort Reno concert series kicked off. Rain threatened, but the organizers are more than 50 years into this thing and they know enough to wait it out. We ended up with a nearly perfect night.