I was perhaps not as dedicated to the Readathon as I should have been. I finished one book, started a second, and made progress on a third. But I also went to a (socially distanced) concert, played too much on my phone, cooked supper, watched SNL, and knit.

But I still think that’s okay. I mean it’s 2020. Any forward progress that doesn’t come with a slap across the face has to be considered a win, right?

And I had fun reading, which is its own reward.

This Saturday, I’ll be taking part in Dewey’s Readathon. I have no plans to do the full 24 hours, but will be spending some of my waking hours reading.

And to prep, here are my answers to the opening survey:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

The U.S. Washington, D.C., in particular.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I left the final third of How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse to finish as part of the event, and I’m very invested in the outcome.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I probably did not prep adequately for snacking at home, so I’ll be taking a coffeeneuring break at some point. There will be a baked good of some ilk.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

My reading tastes in 2020 run toward romances, because I desperately need some happy endings. I’m a big fiction fan, but sometimes branch out into memoir. I am a big proponent of my local library, which kicks ass and which lends me way more books than they should.

I like to bake, knit, garden, and hang out with friends when there’s not a stupid pandemic going on. I have a demanding cat named Corey, who does not particularly care for reading. And I am a big fan of holidays, particularly Halloween and Christmas. (I run a Virtual Advent Tour in December for bloggers. Drop me a note in the comments if you’re new to the blog and interested in more details.)

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I think the last time I participated was last fall or maybe spring 2019. I will be interspersing my reading with some outdoor time — and probably some politicking.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I ran into my friend Katie, from my volleyball team, as I was on my way to the garden. It was great to catch up in person.

2. I got up early on Wednesday (my one meeting-free morning) to head to our local yuppy grocery store/restaurant/bar because they recently launched a weekly apple cider doughnut special. The doughnuts were … terrible … but now I don’t have to get up early on any subsequent Wednesday to rush over there. (To be fair, it does sound like fryer oil temperature and their desperate attempt to keep up with the demand is to blame here, so it’s possible they could rectify the situation in the future. But I don’t need to pay to find that out.)

3. A relapse of warm weather meant I went to the park to read after work while wearing shorts and a tshirt. I mean, sure, eventually I was using my phone’s flashlight to finish the chapter, but I wasn’t cold!

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

Intellectually, I understand that if my knitting stays in my purse and I do not work on it, it will not progress. Yet, somehow, when I pulled it out tonight, I was surprised that it was still just the handful of rounds I’d knit last week. If only elves were knitters, rather than cobblers! (Or if I could knit in my sleep…)

I am making progress with my book. I’m pretty much at the halfway point, and I’d be surprised if I weren’t done by Saturday, since I really like the characters.

Anyway, see what the other Unravelers are up to at As Kat Knits.

I may have mentioned before that Rudi is generally the cook around here. It’s not that I can’t cook; it’s just that I don’t particularly like to. And that when I do, inevitably supper happens at midnight. We eat dinner pretty late around here on a normal basis, but my cooking took us to such new levels after Rudi’s first convalescence years ago that he resumed cooking duties within a week of returning home. After his second surgery, he took over the next night.

However, needs do as needs must, and after ten days of sort of suffering through the easy options in my pantry, tonight I pulled up my big girl pants and made stuffed honeynut squash for supper.

I had ingredients on hand because I keep shopping as if someone in the Burrow is going to cook real food. Corey has shown no inclination, so it really did fall to me.

Anyway, they were stuffed with a combination of millet barley, spinach, garlic, shallots, and cranberries and topped with feta. The cranberries made it a tart filling, which contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the squash.

And I was smart and cooked all the honeynuts I had, so I should have two more meals that just need to be reheated.

Thank the heavens.

The Roasted Boon
1018 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.
Sunday, Oct. 18, late afternoon
Conditions: Pleasant

I was on my way to an entirely different coffeeneuring destination when I reached the intersection of Q, Rhode Island, and 11th and realized this was where the new Eritrean coffee house in Shaw had opened. So I changed course and locked up the bike to place an order.

I can’t think of what had last been in that corner storefront, so it’s likely the building had stood empty for a while. It’s across from the skate park and where the nursery used to be and where a middle school is being built and just a couple blocks from the Shaw Library. And Shaw has several Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurants, so there’s a historical presence of the community in the area.

Inside, The Roasted Boon is a typical roaster set-up, with a nice mural and East African decorations on the walls. Outside, the tables were full. It was great to see the neighborhood had embraced the shop since they opened earlier this summer.

“Boon,” if you’re wondering about the name, is the Eritrean word for coffee and its related coffee-making ceremonies.

I ordered shahee, which is Eritrean tea. Their tea is black, with a pleasant combination of spices that makes it not unlike the base of a chai. The bakery case held both pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin croissants, and my server recommended the former, saying it was his favorite. I appreciate enthusiasm for desserts.

There’s a pocket park a block and a half away dedicated to Carter Woodson, the renowned historian who came up with the concept of celebrating Black history in February back in 1926, who taught at Howard and who lived just around the corner. (His house is a museum I really need to visit once we do those kind of things again.) So I wheeled my bike over. It happened to be empty, so that was a good place to enjoy my snack and read my book in the sun.

This was my favorite stop yet, and I really look forward to returning. Both beverage and snack were delicious. They’re open until 8, which would have been great in the before-times, but which is unheard of in a coffee place now. And their patio is placed so as to offer sunny seating until dusk. I expect to make this a regular destination.

Total mileage: 3 miles