This past weekend was desperately needed, so of course I packed it jam full, and now I need another weekend in which to recuperate. On Friday, I got out of work early enough to see the sun set and to do some reading in the park. On quieter evenings, you can hear “Taps” played from the Naval Observatory (where the vice president lives) a mile or so up the road, so I stayed past that point and to where the brilliant cotton candy clouds began to fade into darkness. Rudi and I spend the evening watching The Grand Budapest Hotel and both enjoyed it quite a bit. Should you have missed it back in 2014, it’s a Wes Anderson-directed, star-studded gem of a film about the relationship between a concierge and his latest hire, a young immigrant lobby boy, at a luxury hotel in a fictitious country at the beginning of World War II. While its tongue is planted firmly in its cheek, it also has a surprising amount of heart and, while it doesn’t take itself seriously, it does take seriously the situations and relationships of its characters. There’s a heist, some social commentary, and a delicious dessert I’m eager to make, and generally I just recommend it, even if you don’t always like Wes Anderson’s movies (I often don’t).
Saturday morning I slept in, then got up, read some over breakfast, and did some chores. In the late afternoon, Rudi and I got to see the second of four Mets-Nationals baseball games happening over the weekend. While the Mets did not win, they narrowed the gap enough you thought they might, if only they’d had another couple innings in which to play. We spend the afternoon at a friend’s 40th birthday party, which featured far less drinking than his 30th. Ah, age! Our friends had rented out a local clubhouse for the party, and it was a gorgeous evening to spend relaxing on the porch.
On Sunday, Rudi awoke with a cold, so I headed to the farmers market alone to buy breakfast and some produce. We ate muffins and raspberries and watched the end of the Vuelta bike race (it’s the Spanish equivalent of the Tour de France). I ventured out to the garden and pool for a while, but had to return early to make dinner (since Rudi was under the weather) before heading out with Sarah for the final baseball game of the matchup. It was actually a make-up game from July — when Sarah and I spent three hours at the ballpark waiting for a game that never came — so it was perhaps understandable that there weren’t a ton of people in attendance. Unfortunately, the Mets had used up all their winning earlier in the day, but I got to eat fried dough and cotton candy for dessert and enjoy the uniforms and nicknames everyone was sporting for the weekend. The game began late and the new metro schedule cuts off service at 11:30 on Sunday nights, which means that the final train pulls through the nearby station 45 minutes before that. So, I was prepared for the game to run late and me to have to get back across town on my own. Luckily, D.C. has a bikeshare system, so after Sarah and I walked back to her neck of the woods, I put on my helmet and hopped on a bike and took a populated route back to mine (the advantage of a city is that there is often a populated route). There was time for a cup of tea and some audiobook listening and then I went off to dreamland to prepare for another workweek.
How was your weekend?