Saturday was Independent Bookstore Day, the annual biblio-holiday celebrating the small, community-based bookstores around the country. D.C. booksellers put together a crawl that included discounts, and if you visited 10 of them, you’d get a tote bag commemorating the event.

I did not make it to all ten, having not finished my job application early enough to leave me time to accomplish the task before our movie showtime. Getting around town by bikeshare just takes the amount of time it takes — you cannot make bikes magically appear at deserted docks and I am a slow cyclist — and I would have needed another hour to check off the two other neighborhoods I didn’t make it to.

However, I made it to five shops and came home with a modest, budget-friendly haul — three books, a magnet, a sticker, and some birthday cards (not shown).

First the books:

• The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a special signed copy available for Independent Bookstore Day. I read it a couple years ago and loved it, and owning a copy seemed like a nice idea so that I could reread it periodically at my pleasure.
• archy and mehitabel is a 1927 collection of poems from a column at The Evening Sun purportedly written by a cockroach (archy) about his early 20th-century adventures with a his alley-cat pal, mehitabel. I mean, of course that had to come home with me!
• And, finally, Paroles is a collection of poems that came out just after the end of World War II about the French youth experience of growing up under German occupation. Because I’ve been working on my French comprehension, it seemed like a good fit for me. It was translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the French and English poems sit opposite each other on the page, so I can make sure my understanding is accurate.

And, finally, the ephemera. The magnet reads, “Tea fixes everything,” which if not true, is at least the closest to true as one can get around here. And the sticker is a Langston Hughes quote: “Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink and be in love. I like to work, read, learn and understand life.” Seems about right.

I stopped by the garden yesterday to do some work. My pea plants are thigh-high now, so I’ve run the trellis up another couple feet.

My violets have all gone past, so I pulled out a bunch of the leaves (but not their roots) in an effort not to let their greens take over all my available space. I have to do this every April when they are way taller than the strawberry plants they share their bed with.

I planted both seeds and seedlings earlier this month and both are doing well. I should start harvesting some of the lettuce leaves next week, I think.

I weeded the back section of my plot, which is the worst spot, since it abuts the forest. I cut back the dead wood of the rosemary plant and pulled out a ton of the creeping groundcover vines that had infiltrated my space. I should be able to plant some additional herbs this coming week. (In addition to the rosemary, I have oregano, fennel, and mint growing back there. In with the strawberries and violets, I have a lavender plant I should move next fall…).

My sorrel has already grown so much it’s started to bolt. I picked a helmet’s worth (I forgot a bag and had to make do) of the biggest leaves and will do something with them this week. Maybe soup, maybe something else.

I also harvested one of the oniony things I planted last fall in my potato patch. I don’t know if it made its way into last night’s or tonight’s dinner or if Rudi is waiting to use

While strolling from Georgetown to the garden this afternoon, I came across this planter outside someone’s home. It contained possibly the largest clematis I’ve ever seen. Each flower was easily the size of a saucer!

My grandmother had clematis growing up the lamppost in her front yard and seeing them always reminds me of her. I didn’t realize there were so many varieties, but Wikipedia shows me they can vary from tiny fuzzy flowers to gigantic, leather-like ones. I knew there was a hairy variety, but never guessed that was just the start of the ways clematis could vary one from another. Nature really is cool, isn’t it?

I wish you all three.

It’s supposed to be a pleasant spring weekend, with the rain having moved through this afternoon and projected highs in the low 70s. Plus, we’re now into outdoor festival weather, so that means good weekend event options. Here’s what I’m hoping the next couple days include:

• Doing some version of this year’s Independent Bookstore Day’s Bookshop Crawl. (I don’t know that I’ll make it to all 10 to get the tote bag, but I might give it a shot.)
• Seeing the new Avengers movie. (Tonight’s non 3-d show was sold out when I went to get tickets.)
• Completing my sock and work on my shawl.
• Sending out a resume. (Doesn’t Manager of Storytelling Initiatives sound like a good position? I keep forgetting what it’s really called and referring to it as the Master Storyteller job.)
• Going to the library.
• Checking out this year’s French market in Georgetown.
• Heading to the farmers market. (Our compost bin needs emptying and spring veg are in season. I’ll need to get there early to get morels…)
• Stringing up more twine for my peas. When I stopped by yesterday, they were already to the current top rung at my knees and growing ferociously.
• Washing laundry.
• Getting some cleaning done.

How about you? What are you hoping your weekend holds?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. People from across all aspects of our lives stepped up in a big way to support Rudi through his grief this past week, particularly knowing I was away. And Rudi has stepped up through his mourning to take his own street safety advocacy to the next level to help transform the direction the city’s streets will take in the years to come.

2. The first strawberries and asparagus of the season at the farmers market.

3. I invited a relative stranger out for coffee today and she accepted. We’re getting together next week.

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