on having survived a rainy weekend

The weekend wasn’t just rainy, but it was cold, too, which had all of us scrambling to find the warm clothing items I had, about a month ago, packed away. I truly don’t mind a wet weekend. It gives me an opportunity to hibernate, attending to all those inside-the-house projects I have been neglecting in favor of playing outside. Plus, my herb garden and the hostas and the grass in the front yard got a long drink of water. Still, the warm, sunny days of June feel like such a novelty.

Over the weekend, I managed to knit a lot. I started the Midwest Moonlight scarf again. And stopped and ripped out and started again. But now, on my twenty-third start, I’ve knitted further than ever, and I have a good feeling about this. But, I also pulled another skein out of the stash and started a back-up project—a neck warmer in a super-soft worsted-weight Malabrigo. This yarn is so gorgeous, hand-dyed, mostly a creamy yellow shot through with sage and olive and aqua (the label says "mariposa" for the color). I cast 80 stitches onto a 16” size 10 circular needle, and I’m knitting a criminally easy knit three, purl three rib.

When I wasn’t knitting, I helped the little boys with a 500-piece puzzle. The picture is an Egyptian scene with tons of hieroglyphs so I’ve had to go against my jigsaw best practices by looking at the cover to see where each piece must be placed.

And, I had a chance to read a little more in Junot Diaz’s brilliant Oscar Wao. It’s been awhile since I have read such a dense book so I’m feeling a little unskilled in that department, and my attention span is sorely challenged. I wish I could read more in one sitting.

In a total stroke of genius, John proposed going out for breakfast on Sunday morning. We took the boys to Highland Grill, where I had the special scramble—eggs with andouille sausage, caramelized onions, mushrooms, and pepper jack cheese on a bed of my favorite hash browns. I could easily pick this as a Last Meal. We killed time at a nearby bookstore so the boys could each pick out their first summer-reading titles. Then we saw Up at the Highland Theater. I love the Highland Theater. It reminds me of the two-screen theater just off the “town square” in Watertown, now closed in favor of a “multiplex” near the mall on the outskirts of town. Up was fantastic—heartwarming story coupled with striking animation.

Would that all weekends could be like this. But with a little more sunshine.