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?
I am one toe away from a finished pair of stripey socks. FO pictures later this week.
The book is Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessican Townsend. It’s the first in a sweet middle-grade fantasy series in which the main character is a “cursed chld,” born on the wrong day and considered by everyone to be a bad omen. She is offered a reprieve on her death day by a man driving a mechanical spider.
Want to see what others are reading and knitting? Head over to As Kat Knits to see.
Only one more week in National Poetry Month, so today I offer you Shay Alexi, Ryan Jones, Nate Mask, and Christina Schmitt performing “A Soft Ass Poem.”
Their performance was a runner-up in the 2018 Button Poetry video contest. Button Poetry publishes own-voices poets. I highly recommend checking them out, particularly if you’re thinking about buying some poetry books as part of Independent Bookstore Day this weekend.
Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic at That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to highlight our first ten book reviews. My reviewing habits tend to shy away from single reviews, rather than groups of them, so I had to customize the topic slightly to fit my M.O.
Here then are the first ten posts I published reviewing books on the blog:
Summerland by Michael Chabon: March 24, 2005 (This was just my sixth blog post, a week into its existence. Clearly writing about books was important to me — and remains so, since I had to trawl through 103 pages in the book category to get back to it.)
The Best Reads of 2005: Jan. 2, 2006 (Per my habit, I am terrible at continuing to write reviews through the year, but I do try to get the best-of list up at some point. In my first year blogging, I managed it only two days into the new year. The list includes the aforementioned Summerland, as well as books by J.K. Rowling, Diana Abu-Jaber, Garrison Keillor, Jhumpa Lahiri, Bill Bryson, and Susanna Clark)
February 2006 Reads: March 1, 2006 (It includes rereads of several classics, as well as a glowing review of a Julian Barnes book that I remembered reading, but not loving.)
March 2006 Reads: April 1, 2006 (I was so prompt back in the day… It includes a Jasper Fforde title, which I sped through much faster than his most recent.)
April 2006 Reads: May 3, 2006 (April was clearly a lackluster reading month that year. M.C. Beaton stands the test of time.)
May 2006 Reads: June 2, 2006 (Peter Mayle and witchy frenemies)
June 2006 Reads (Part 1): June 18, 2006 (Carl Hiassen, more C.S. Lewis, and some guy named Will Shakespeare)
June 2006 Reads (Part 2): July 1, 2006 (This post included my huge success of airport bookstore buying, A History of Love. Also, Kate DiCamillo and Frances Hardinge.)
July 2006 Reads: July 31, 2006 (A reread of James Thurber is the highlight this month.)
August 2006 Reads: Sept. 5, 2006 (Bill Bryson and Dave Barry)
When it starts out with a violent death in your family’s inner circle of friends, describing it as good becomes impossible. I’m away from Rudi, who is struggling — with his own loss, with being there for his friend’s wife, and with converting his anguish to meaningful change for our city’s transit infrastructure. I am grateful to our good friends who have stepped into the void in my absence and who have helped him process this huge loss. In the past three days, Rudi has helped with memorials, delivered remarks, spoken to the media, and planned legislation and activism, working to honor his friend and further his agenda of creating safe streets in D.C., and done it while hurting at his very core. I really couldn’t be more proud of the grace under which he has operated since learning of Dave’s death on Friday, but I am glad I’ll be home in a couple more days to help provide support on the ground.
Here in Connecticut things have been quiet, but pleasant (in between tears). My folks took me out for a pizza dinner on Friday. And then I came home and baked, which seems to be the way I channel grief.
On Saturday, Karen and I got together. We ate, strolled in the rain, read a picture book about a grumpy fish (The Pout-Pout Fish), and drank tasty hot beverages (most of which I managed not to slosh onto the floor). My parents and I ate a delicious dinner of roasted vegetables and watched Aquaman, which was better than I thought it would be.
Today, Dad and I made scones for breakfast. Mum and I identified the new bird visitor at their feeder (an Eastern Towhee). We listened to the Mets lose. I sorted out the order for the leftovers for the final stripe of my lightning shawl, with Mum’s assistance. And we had a delicious meal of chicken divan and strawberry cake for our Easter dinner.
Tears and laughter. Reflection and smiles. Music, knitting, and reading. The weekend contained it all. Oh, and chocolate, too.
