We had a day of rain today and expect another full day of rain on Sunday. What does that mean for a weekend plan when there probably won’t be any volleyball, but that also will not require watering of the garden? Here’s what I’m hoping the next couple days include:

• Stop at the library for the new T.J. Klune novel
• Buy strawberries at the farmers market
• Do laundry
• Take bins to storage
• Read
• Switch out the summer and winter clothes
• Bake cookies and maybe bread
• Drink lots of tea
• Get May birthday cards written and in the mail
• Knit
• Deal with some of the paper recycling (how do we have so much of it?!)
• Maybe visit a local yarn store or an independent bookshop, since both of those types of retailers are being feted this weekend

What are you hoping to get up to this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The lily of the valley bulbs I planted … five? … years ago finally blossomed.

2. My volleyball team added a new teammate who my friend Chris and I played with this winter and welcomed back several others from injury and time away. And then we faced off against most of the folks Chris and I play pickup with and got solidly beaten. But we had fun being together and that’s most important!

3. Grilled pineapple on our Tuesday tacos.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share our audiobook narrator recommendations. Here are ten I’ve enjoyed (in addition to the celebrities who’ve read their memoirs:

1. Kate Reading (The Lady Sherlock series)
2. Neil Gaiman (Norse Mythology)
3. Kirsten Potter (Fortune Favors the Dead)
4. Adjoah Andoh (Get a Life, Chloe Brown)
5. Lauren Fortgang (Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts)
6. Claire Corbett (The Lido)
7. Eunice Wong (The Verifiers)
8. Kevin R. Free (All Systems Red)
9. David Thorpe (A Marvellous Light)
10. Julia Whelan (The Vivian Apple series, Thank You for Listening)

How about you? Do you have any audiobook readers you particularly recommend?

I kicked off the weekend with dinner with Rudi and some friends who now split their year between D.C. and New Orleans (and who are only recently back north). They grilled and made a delicious salad, and I made my grandmother’s lemon squares. (They said they were very good, but I can never make them taste like hers, so…) We watched a movie (well, Julia and Rudi watched the movie and Michael and I dozed) and came home later than we’ve been out in ages. It was great.

Here’s what else I’m hoping to fit into this weekend:

• Bake gingersnaps (if tomorrow afternoon turns stormy, this is likely how I’ll spend the time)
• String up the pea trellis in the garden and get the potatoes, garlic, and onions in
• Visit the library
• Write some cards
• Make daiquiris (we need some space in our freezer, which is being overrun with frozen fruit)
• Play more volleyball
• Vacuum
• Wash all the wool tops and heavy pants
• Switch out the winter and summer clothes
• Start a bag for Goodwill
• Get the two bins in our living room over to Rudi’s storage unit

What’s on your to-do list this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I get to play volleyball in some pretty amazing places, particularly for a landlocked city. I’ve played grass games in the shadow of the Washington Monument and adjacent to the World War II Memorial, and now, finally, I’m back playing sand games just behind the Lincoln Memorial. (They closed the courts during COVID to prevent people from gathering and then decided to refurbish them in the two years since. Judgment is reserved until we have some flooding rain, since they used to have a drainage issue, but so far the courts are very nice.)

2. Saturday morning Rudi and I met some friends down the street from their new apartment at the Florida Avenue Grill, one of the oldest soul food diners in the country, for brunch. In addition to good conversation, I had delicious French toast and grits and veggie sausage and eggs and considered for a period of time never eating again. (At least until Sarah and I spent more hours at the ballpark than expected later that evening waiting out a rain delay.)

3. The strawberry plants in the garden are covered with flowers, which is very exciting. To tide us over, I bought two pints of the first berries I saw at the local farmers market the other evening. They taste like early season berries, but still!

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

Here’s some of what I’m hoping I get done this weekend:

• Relax with friends
• File my taxes
• Watch baseball
• Wash sheets and towels
• Try some new-to-me restaurants
• Play volleyball
• Plant potatoes and some other things in the garden
• Pick up holds at the library
• Find morels at the farmers market
• Vacuum and/or mop all the floors

How about you? What are you hoping this weekend includes?