Although the Zoom fatigue is real in my life, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tune into a reading by former Poet Laureate Billy Collins hosted by the Folger Shakespeare Library earlier this week. This is the poem he closed with:
For the third time in 14 months, I’ve gone to a restaurant and sat on their patio with other people.
The first time was for Sarah’s birthday last month, and we hadn’t yet been vaccinated. People’s interpretation of “wear a mask except when you’re eating or drinking” was too lax for my taste, so I told Rudi I wouldn’t be repeating the experiment until I’d had a shot.
Last week, post-shot #2, I went out for drinks after my volleyball game. I didn’t yet have full immunity, but given the latest info on outdoor spread, I decided I could take the chance.
Tonight, Sarah and I went out for pizza. We talked about her garden and past work evaluations (we’ve both worked places where they’ve asked supervisors not to rank employees as “excellent” on their annual reviews) and upcoming travel (she’s going to go see one of her oldest friends next month; I’m going to see my family later in May). It was so … normal.
I’m not ready to eat indoors yet. But it is a nice feeling to be comfortable eating outside again, particularly as we’re about to head into the time of year when that’s nicest.
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, May 10, and runs through Sunday, May 16, in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 31 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
Once again I’ve joined up with the folks at Bout of Books, this time for their 31st readathon, spanning the course of ten years.
My goals for the readathon are two simple ones. I’d like to finish the audiobook I’m listening to, Abby Collette’s A Deadly Inside Scoop, and I’d like to finish one of the three graphic novels I have out of the library. I mean, I’d love to finish seven books over the week, but I have to work and things like that, so I thought I should keep things manageable.
And if neither of those goals happen, that will be fine too. After all, there’s no failing in Bout of Books; there’s just, occasionally, flailing.
Want to see what’s flourishing in the garden this week? In addition to my greens (I filled a gallon-sized bag), here’s what’s thriving in my plot:
Snapdragons
Strawberries (we don’t want them to turn red too fast; otherwise Rudi will miss out)
Peas
Celery
Swiss chard
Potatoes
Today wasn’t the most productive day, but there’s always hope for tomorrow, right?
There are definitely some things I’d like to cross off my mental to-do list this month in addition to the key one, which was to get my second COVID shot. But I’d also like to:
I mean there are definitely others, like spend time with friends, socialize with my volleyball team, and be outside as much as possible. But those are the main five.
Are there things you’re still hoping to do this month?
Rudi and I had a nice final evening before he headed out to Salt Lake City to spend 10 days with his mom and sort some things out there. Despite the cool drizzle, we strolled down to the library and then on to Trader Joe’s. With pizza dough in hand for the night’s supper (along with salads made from greens from our garden topped with delicious Green Goddess dressing from the bakery at the farmers market), we moseyed home. While Rudi was cooking, I put on a livestream of authors Amor Towles and Chris Bohjalian chatting, courtesy of one of our local bookstores, Politics & Prose. It ended in time for us to watch the season finale of Magnum, and then we rounded out the night with Now You See Me 2.
Rudi’s flight leaves from Dulles early, so I anticipate needing to come home for a nap before starting the day for real.
Quite a bit of rain has fallen this week, so I expect there will be a correlative quantity of weeds to pull out of the garden and more twine to put up for growing pea vines sometime this weekend. I don’t mind. I’d much rather Mother Nature take care of watering the garden, although it’s easier this year than ever before, thanks to the faucet installed last year and the Y splitter we added this spring.
There’s a neighborhood arts walk/craft fair across town tomorrow, so I may head over that way in the afternoon. And, of course, I can take in the Saturday night park concert from our local band.
If I have any energy left, I’m putting it toward reading and knitting — and maybe replacing all the batteries of my jar lights. I told Rudi I was going to do some spring cleaning while he’s gone, but I don’t see any reason to tackle it on the day I already have to get up before sunrise.