This week started off nicely with some Christmas shopping and plans for some weekend DIY. Then I got sick. Just a cold, nothing serious, but instead of painting my entryway I sat on the couch for four days drinking tea and sniffling.

My pre-illness shopping included a trip to the large and lovely Barnes & Noble about an hour from here. I truly love bookstores. I love the crowded, musty ones that deal in used treasures and I love the neat and airy ones that feature new titles in every genre and beautifully repackaged classics. My youngest daughter, not a big reader, kept trying to drag me to the checkout as I kept running off to grab “just one more.” I actually kept my haul reasonable, including a pair of interesting gifts for my guy as well as some books for myself and the family.

One of the nerdiest things I make my kids do is read classic literature as a family; we usually download books from Project Gutenberg onto our phones, but I try to have at least one nice paper copy of whatever we’re reading. Right now we’re on War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, so I was thrilled to find this edition for us to use.

I also bought a lovely edition of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. I had been idly thinking of reading it, as well as finally reading Thoreau’s Walden, so seeing it felt like a sign. I’ve read passages from both for school but never sat down to properly read either one. When I was younger, I just didn’t have the patience for lyrical nature writing. I liked thrilling plotlines, prose experiments, grim and lonely urban characters. It’s only with age that I’ve come to appreciate slower, more traditional writing and wanted to get in touch with the seasons outside my door. This snowy winter seems like the right moment to finally sink into these two classics.

This has nothing to do with the story, but my Dillard book is made with that soft cottony paper with rough cut edges that feels wonderful in your hands. This volume reminds me why I love real paper books. I read on my phone a lot to save the trees, but I do love the feel of a thoughtfully designed book.

But enough gushing about literature. I promised to finish the Catboat Cardigan and show it off, and I did manage that before I got sick. I had my kid take some pictures and though they don’t really catch the cable detailing, my sweater sure does look (and feel) cozy in all that snow.

I have another knitting project lined up but I haven’t started it. I’ve been putting some work into my long-running Raven cross stitch project first. It’s full coverage and the largest cross stitch I’ve ever tried. It’s mostly shades of gray speckled in and around each other and though I love it, it gets tedious after a while. I tend to pick it up and put it down a lot between other projects. I’ll probably finish a page and then get back to knitting.

As you can see, I have a lot left to do.

And this is where we part for now. I’m still sick but definitely better than I was yesterday, and hoping the coming week brings good things for me and all of you. I’ll leave you with one last picture of the geese resting on the golf course by our house. Just after I snapped it, my son threw a snowball and dozens of geese gracefully floated up all at once and resettled beyond range of my camera.

Until next time. –Corvus