Pretty Perfect

Good morning, dear readers! I wasn't exactly happy when my alarm went off this morning, but I woke up having had a pretty spectacular weekend. For one thing, the weather was spectacular. After the remnants of Debby moved through on Friday, the temperature and the humidity level dropped and we had sun and blue skies. It was actually a bit chilly in the shade! That meant that we could quite comfortably spend time outside instead of hiding in the air conditioning.

We had a really nice visit with our cousins, though it was very brief -- they arrived late Friday afternoon and left after breakfast on Saturday. Despite not living that far away from these cousins (they live in Chicago), we don't often see them, so it was a treat to spend time with them for the second time in three months.

After breakfast on Saturday, Mo and I went to the big used book sale with my parents. It wasn't quite as big as I was expecting, but I still found quite a lot -- and it was a steal, at $15 for a paper grocery bag full, so I pretty much picked up any book I saw that I was interested in. This is what I came home with:

I have read two of these books but didn't own them, but one of those -- the one at the far left in the bottom row -- is pretty special. The Blue Nature was written by one of my two high school English teachers (I had her freshman and junior year). I read the book back when I was in high school because the school library had a copy; I think it was out of print back then. I never in a million years would have expected to find a copy! This one was a little beat up, but I snatched it up right away and will treasure having it. I'm planning on putting it on my bookshelf next to the book from the collection of my other high school English teacher that I received as a gift with the English prize when I graduated. (If you're wondering, the other book I'd already read was Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.)

A fair amount of knitting was accomplished over the weekend, too:

Somehow my new socks, even though they have patterning every other round, seem to be moving much father than my father-in-law's socks did. Yes, they have fewer stitches, but you'd think plain stockinette would've been faster. I also put in some time on the charity hat while reading, and I don't think it'll be on the needles much longer.

I am hoping this week is a little less busy than last week, as least as far as work is concerned, because I'd love to have a little more time for reading. I had two library holds come up over the weekend and had to delay one, so now I'm trying to finish the first book before the next one comes my way

Have a great start to your week and see you back here on Wednesday!