I can hear the whistle of a train.

This shouldn’t be especially noteworthy — I only live three miles from train tracks, after all, and sound carries, especially at night. However, since June we’ve had fans and/or the air conditioner running and I haven’t heard the late night train in months.

But there’s been a change in the air this week, and today I turned everything off and opened the window.

It’s nice to be reacquainted with the night again.

(Feel free to remind me of this when someone lights up a joint on the sidewalk outside our apartment.)

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites to post about covers. I gave a brief thought about trying to be clever and post about either book adaptations or about songs about books, but I figured I’d need those for a future Tuesday topic and then I’d regret playing things loose and fast tonight.

So instead I’ll share with you my four favorite covers of things I’ve been read so far this year:

It was a nice weekend, if not quite as productive as I would have liked.

I started off by sleeping in.

I went to the garden, the library, the farmers market, and the grocery store.

We sampled wares from a new-to-us doughnut shop.

I knit and read.

We pulled together several bags of stuff for Goodwill (that Rudi will drop off during their intake hours during the week).

We had a monthly video chat with friends as well as talking with all of our parents.

We watched a table reading with the cast of The Princess Bride, some of a Mets game, and several stages of the Tour de France.

We did some, but not all, of the chores around the apartment we needed to get done.

I signed up to send postcards to voters.

Baking, biking, and nail beautification will have to wait for a later date.

I’m not sure if it’s obvious that it’s any larger than my midweek photo, but the shawl is. At that point, I was just a couple rows into the third mesh section. I’ve now completed that and the subsequent chunk of garter stitch.

This next section of mesh is supposed to be the last and will add 71 stitches to the span of the shawl over 32 rows. Right now, my ball of yarn is about the size of pink rubber ball … maybe slightly bigger. I’m hopeful that I have enough yarn to complete that section and then to add a few additional rows of garter to the three that the pattern calls for. I’ve heard that will help the shawl lie flat.

So what’s my plan for this weekend, you ask?

Let me tell you what I’m thinking:

• First off, I’m still tired from being sick, so I’m going to get some extra sleep. Please note that I’m writing this on the early side for me, and I plan on sleeping in tomorrow morning.
• Peach ice cream is finally going to get made. Rudi chopped up some peaches for me, so I need to cook them up and then give them time to cool off before I can put them in the ice cream maker. I’d also like to make some cookies so there is something legitimate to snack on in this house.
• I have not been to the garden since last weekend, so harvesting tomatoes and peppers and basil are all on my list. We got three inches of rain on Thursday, so I will not need to water.
• Speaking of the rain, I need to do laundry to wash our floor towels, since they got a workout. Rudi procured quarters today, so now that plan can move forward.
• I am going to keep knitting on my shawl, which shows promise of actually being the first project I’ve finished in a timely fashion in a while. (Probably just jinxed myself there…)
• It’s time to switch up my nail polish. Fall doesn’t arrive for another ten days. Is it too soon to pick autumnal hues?
• I have two books on hold at the library in Virginia, so I will have to cross the river and go get them.
• I suppose I feel well enough to ride my bike. I don’t feel so well that I want to go out of the District, so maybe I’ll go for a ride along the canal towpath after I stop at the post office to mail a package (that’s going to be late to its destination).
• There are slightly less than two months until the election. I’m going to figure out a game plan to get involved and do my part, starting this weekend. I’m thinking it might be through writing post cards.
• I donated to the Wisconsin Democrats so that I can watch a table reading of The Princess Bride with the original cast (and special guests) Sunday evening. I’m really looking forward to it.

How about you? What’s on your to-do list for this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My job gives me plenty of sick leave. Which meant even though work was only as far away as my sofa, I didn’t have to go to it for a couple days while I was feeling under the weather.

2. My dad made new cds, which arrived via post yesterday afternoon. Nothing makes recuperation better than new music.

3. A new restaurant opened in the neighborhood and did a one-day charitable soft launch, where they only charged $5 for entrees. Rudi went and picked some up for us, and my falafel bowl is waiting in the fridge for me to feel up to reheating it.

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