April has simultaneously been the longest month and also sped by unchecked, probably because many of the traditional ways we use to mark time have fallen by the wayside. I have not gotten up on the weekend yet and tried to join my weekday morning video chat, but I know that it’s only a matter of time…

However, this is the last weekend of the month, and here’s some of how I hope to spend it:

• Getting literary: Perhaps against my better judgement, I’m thinking heavily about watching some Zoom webinars with authors. Nationals pitcher and indie bookstore ambassador Sean Doolittle is joining V.E. Schwab for what would have been Independent Bookstore Day. YallWest was supposed to be this weekend (I think), so they’re having two days of YallStayHome instead. However, I have noticed since I spend so much of my workday on video chats that I have way less patience for long calls. It may be that I cancel all the sessions I signed up for after the first one tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow is also Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon. I have no intention of reading for 24 hours straight, but they invite people to participate, no matter how much or little of that time you’ll read during. I’m still enjoying The Flatshare and I just picked up Less out of the local Little Free Library while out on a walk this evening. It’s not too late to join me for any of those activities.
• Eating strawberries and citrus. I splurged on a box of tangerines and avocados from an orchard in California, which arrived this afternoon. And this morning, a box of oranges arrived as a gift from the office. My kitchen smells delightful. Plus, strawberries are starting to come into season down here, so I have ordered a “bucket of strawberries” to pick up at the farmers market on Sunday.
• Biking across town tomorrow to drop a little care package off on a friend’s deck. It’ll be nice to do a slightly longer ride.
• Tracking down some strawberry plants to put in the garden. I’m hoping the hardware store has them, because I also need to buy a toilet seat, because ours just cracked tonight. (Irritating, since it hasn’t been all that long since we last replaced it, but better the seat than the toilet itself.)
• Baking, because we’re running low on brownies and Oreos and are out of shortbread. I’ve pulled the butter out the past two days without converting it into another form.
• Drinking strawberry daiquiris, because the blender has been sitting on the butcher block for more than a week now and it’s inconvenient to have it be there without our using it. (It lives on top of the fridge normally, but clearly you cannot mix drinks up there.)
• Talking to a friend. She was just wrapping up recuperation from surgery when social distancing went into effect, so I know she must be eager to hear from folks.
• Helping Rudi put stamps on campaign literature. 8,000 stamps arrived at the Burrow this afternoon, so I’m thinking he might need some assistance. Maybe I can do that while watching webinars in between knitting and snacking?
• Shopping locally (and remotely). D.C. is doing a Small Business Saturday event tomorrow (similar to the Saturday after Thanksgiving) to try to support our local entrepreneurs through e-commerce during this tough time. I was lucky enough to get a stimulus check, so would like to get some of the birthday shopping I need to do for the next couple months taken care of and show some love to the businesses, restaurateurs, and artisans who help to make this city unique.
• Tidying. Sunday is supposed to be stormy, so I hope to get some of those organizational chores done I keep putting on my weekend lists without the actual intention of following through on them.
• Sleeping in. I’ve been so drowsy lately (subterranean living and rainy/cloudy days do not help, although the lovely little UV lights my folks shipped me last week do make a difference), and there is absolutely nowhere I need to be tomorrow morning.

Honestly, just reading that list makes me tired. So I’m going to wash the dishes and go to bed.

What’s on tap for your weekend? Sleeping in? Crafts? A walk in the woods?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I ordered extra dough from the pizzeria on Friday, and the homemade pizza Rudi made from the first half of it was particularly delicious.

2. My work has generously offered us each an extra half day off every fortnight during this stressful time, and everyone on my team got to take advantage of it this week. Wednesday was clear and comfortable, and Rudi and I spent part of my time off at the garden getting some work done and soaking up the sun.

3. I made a batch of brownies for the first time in forever this week. I skipped the frosting, but added a handful of white chocolate chips to the dough. The brownies are fudgey, but also pleasantly crispy along the edge, so quite possibly the most perfect batch I’ll ever make.

How about you? What beautiful things have been getting you through?

I’m pleased to report that I finally started a book that has no pictures and can still hold my attention. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary is the last of my #TBTBSanta gifts, and I’d been holding onto it for … today, I guess.

It’s about two Londoners who come to share a one-bedroom apartment — one sleeps in it during the day and the other at night. They communicate via post-it notes, and it’s sweet and exactly right for a point in time when we’re also living sub-optimally. I only began it this evening and am already past the crucial 50-page mark. I assume I know how it’s going to end, and I’m glad. I crave concrete happy endings right now. I don’t want wishy-washy. I don’t want to be continued in the next volume. I want mostly forward movement and “they lived happily ever after. The end.”

Otherwise, I’m intermittently listening to Size 12 Is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot, and, with Rudi, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I still have The Cruelest Month out in audiobook, but I haven’t had it in me to listen to it this past week. I probably should finish it off, though, since April ends next week. It just makes me so tired to think about.

In the same way that I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on books, I’m also having a hard time focusing on knitting. Probably I need to find something to knit on big needles that is just back and forth or round and round. When life gets too much, sometimes it’s helpful if your yarn size grows, too. Or at least that’s what I’ve occasionally found in the past.

But I haven’t moved forward with finding a worsted or bulky project, so I content myself with having knit three rounds on the second Smock Madness sock since last week. Hey we knitters know that eventually all those small efforts will add up.

Check out As Kat Knits for people who manage to knit whole rows at a time and who’ve finished bunches of books.

I will admit that Rudi and I are spending way more time than maybe I expected these days watching tv shows at night. I am not great about binge-watching shows, preferring to draw them out in a more traditional timeframe, but between scripted shows ending early, long-time watches drawing to a natural conclusion, and just more anxious time on our hands, we’re going through series faster than I expected.

Therefore, I could use some more recommendations.

What we’ve been enjoying this year, from current shows to dvds:

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine (we’re about to finish off the season 5 dvds)
• New Girl
• Parks and Recreation (we’re only in season 2)
• Picard (we’re halfway through the run)
• Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
• Stumptown
• The Librarians
• A Million Little Things
• Magnum, P.I.
• Good Omens
• My Life Is Murder
• God Friended Me

What have you been watching that you love?

We (read: I) tend to prefer shows that are optimistic and upbeat, so I’m never going to watch Breaking Bad or Dexter, no matter how compelling or well-written they are. And we’re not going to watch reality tv, particularly ones where they showcase horrible human beings, so The Tiger King is also a non-starter.

If you have any shows you think we’d like, please leave them in the comments. We have access to a variety of, but not all, streaming platforms, so I’m open to suggestions from wherever you have them, and I’m happy to consider shows from any era (we may finally watch The Gilmore Girls).

Similarly, if you have films you’ve streamed recently, I’d be open to hearing about them, too, since I’ll have to move to movies if I run out of tv.

Thanks in advance!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to look over book titles and determine ten that we think would make great band names. Here are ten from my to be read list:

1. The Friday Night Knitting Club
2. Gods of Manhattan
3. Queens of Animation
4. Still Life with Tornado
5. Team of Rivals
6. Party of One
7. The Way Home
8. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man (pretty much every Fannie Flagg title would work as a band name)
9. Moominsummer Madness
10. Rancid Pansies

Have you come across any book titles that bands should consider?

Am I the only person who loses an entire day each weekend? Are you all being more productive with your Saturdays than I am?

Luckily, Sundays roll around and I seem to get enough done, or, at least, did this week, to make myself not feel horrible about my time off.

Yesterday I caught up on sleep. And then I … took a nap. I did help Rudi hang a few signs late at night for the political campaign he’s working on and then do a load of laundry. Oh, and I listened to some of one my audiobooks while Rudi was playing that concert on tv.

Today, though, I cut up a huge squash I bought over the winter. (Sure, I didn’t actually roast it, but it needed to be in pieces first…) I went to the farmers market and came home with way too many goodies, including yeast, flour, and jam from one of the bakers; the first strawberries, asparagus, and morels of the season; and bags of greens. Rudi and I will be eating salads until we turn green.

I rode my bike up to a pop-up plant stand a couple miles up the road. I had assumed it would be closed this year, but it must sneak in as a farm market. I was hoping for strawberry plants, but they’d sold out. I bought some leeks (they look like chives) and a dahlia (pink and white in the shot above) and a gerbera daisy (red). They were overpriced for what I am used to, but things are harder to get this year, so I guess we’ll just go with it. That’s why the government gave me that money, right?

I took a circuitous route from there to the garden, where I spent a couple hours puttering. I thinned arugula and yanked a lot of weeds and have started to pull the violet greens, since that season is starting to wrap up. I think I also accidentally pulled out my lily of the valley greens (but not the roots), which is frustrating, as I was trying to figure out where the garden’s water source was leaking in my plot.

I spoke with my parents, painted my nails (pink, orange, and teal), did a (very) little knitting, and watched some tv, too.

I think I’ll set up the bread machine to bake us some breakfast before I go to bed. I’ll have to do some baking tomorrow evening or maybe as a break after my last conference call in the afternoon (Mondays have 5-6 of them). Maybe I’ll make a small shortcake with those first stawberries.

I also want to get a couple more things done before bed (like washing the dishes and figuring out a spot for that cut squash), so I think I’ll bid you all a good night. Until tomorrow!