The Unexpected Joy of a Three-day Weekend

With every day feeling the same and time being a strange construct these days, I had completely forgotten that this coming weekend was Memorial Day weekend until I got an email from work yesterday announcing that the "office" would be "closing" early on Friday as it usually does (in today's terms, that means I can close my computer at 3 tomorrow afternoon). It's not nearly as exciting as being able to physically leave my office early on a Friday afternoon, but given that it's been a busy week at work, it's an unexpected joy that I am fully embracing.

The work that's come in this week has meant less crafting time, so my projects haven't progressed too much since you saw them last. The most progress has been on my cowl, which is just about done -- I think I'm going to knit in the texture pattern for about another half inch and then do the ribbing to finish it off. I'm a bit sad about that, if I'm honest, because these colors are making me so happy.

In keeping with the 100 Day Projects, I'm still putting in about 15 minutes a day on Rainbow's blanket, but as the rounds are getting longer, progress is harder to see, especially when that 15 minutes is the only time it gets each day. I'm nearing the end of the fifth ball of Felici, though, so I know it is getting a bit larger.

It will need some aggressive blocking when it's done to square it up, but the color pooling is so interesting to me!

I finished two books this week, one audio and one digital.

I listened to On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous over the course of several days. I really wanted to love this book, as it's gotten so much positive hype, and certainly the writing is beautiful and poetic, especially when read by the author. But something about it didn't work for me. It's called a novel, but it felt more like a memoir to me, and it didn't really have a linear plot. It's framed as a letter a son writes to his mother, but it's really a series of memories of his childhood, presented in no particular order. I didn't listen to this while running because I felt that I really had to pay attention to it, but even so I found it hard to follow. While Vuong is clearly talented as a writer, I was disappointed -- but don't let that discourage you if you want to read it. Be advised, though, that this book contains some very graphic, sexually explicit scenes. I gave it 3 stars and put it in the "Debut" box on my bingo card.

Alias Grace was a much more enjoyable read for me. I'd been meaning to read it for at least the past year, since I watched the Netflix miniseries (which is well worth watching, too!), but it had always had a long wait. So a couple of weeks ago, when I saw that there was no wait for it from the library, I jumped at the chance to borrow it. I really enjoyed it and appreciated Margaret Atwood's talent. I'd originally intended to put it in the "By an author on your previous year's favorites list" square on my bingo card, but when I realized how long it was (546 pages), I moved it to "More than 500 pages." It really didn't feel like a long book to me because it moved quickly. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm looking forward to having three days to myself this weekend, especially given that the weather is supposed to be sunny and warm for a change. I will likely do some puttering in the garden and may finally take my drum carder out to the porch to process some fleece. I'll leave you for today with a shot of our sunflower seedlings, which are beginning to put out their third set of leaves. It never ceases to amaze me how much power and potential there is in a seed.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, full of sunshine and potential!