Week 29

A very full week it was. We hosted the Bellingham crew (3 of 4 of them) for a couple hot nights as we rang in Joel's latest age on Monday. It was good to catch up on life events and see two brothers embark on a Tour de Spokane - a series of hill climbs - and even better to see them on the other side of it, exhausted but accomplished. We extended their victory into the evening as we all triumphed over trivia at No Li Brewery.

Amid the celebrating, some stress: Our sweet, sensitive Luna had a bout of stomach illness, resulting in a house that smells like stain remover and a couple of pet parents who could use a few more hours of sleep. She's better now and has been loving her temporary diet of boiled chicken. Margot is jealous.

One thing I haven't been stressing over lately is the news. I realized, after I finished another audio book I'd been listening to in the car, that I've been largely sheltered from the presidential double-negatives as they happen, and have the luxury of reading about them after the fact, when it feels much less upsetting. I consume my morning news digest email and call it good. This might be considered a form of  JOMO (the joy of missing out). I don't think we are meant to be as deeply tuned in to the daily goings-on as we have become accustomed to. It's one way I'm enjoying my summer.

We enjoyed an impromptu backyard pizza barbecue and cornhole on Thursday night with friends down the street.

We celebrated Friday with sampler paddles of braggots (beer made with honey) and gruits (beer made with herbs) at Bellwether Brewery.

When we came home, I looked out the window to see that some of our grass has germinated! It's the little things.

Next week I want to get out more and roast in the heat. Our Summer List needs more strikethroughs.

Reading

An example of the kind of stuff I've been absorbing this week, in the midst of everyday errands - in particular this, heard while exiting the Rosauers parking lot on Tuesday night, from Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking:

We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all.

...To then go home and make a salad for dinner!

Audio books, man.

Spotted in the science building

I think I'll finally finish the third Elena Ferrante book, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, this week, if only because it's due at the library. I'm in the last section of the book and the plot finally thickened.

Watching

An episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with guest Zack Galifianakis was a weird, bright spot. His comedic character is so convincing that it's hard to know if he's leading up to a punchline or if he's being real.

I am also craving a good cry over A League of Their Own...maybe next week. I'm wondering if my recent enjoyment of GLOW has anything to do with this. Actually, now that I think of it, GLOW is totally the same formula: women taking on a male dominated sport, Mark Maron as Sam Sylvia is pretty much Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan: neither one of them really wants the gig but both are washed up; both essentially tell the women there's no crying in baseball (or wrestling). Both Jimmy and Sam develop a connection with the female lead (Geena Davis/Allison Brie). The women develop a strong bond as rivalry and betrayal between two of them make for a complicated match on the field/ring. GLOW even has a Madonna and a Marla Hooch character. No wonder I love this show.

Listening

Do you remember how wonderful the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack is?! I indulged in it on Saturday and realized it came out 25 years ago.

Recipes

Molly Wizenberg's banana bread with crystalized ginger is sitting on the counter right now, but not for long.