So I did watch the last couple of episodes of Elsbeth and enjoyed them a lot. ( spoilers )

Mets have won 2 ugly games from the Pirates. Let's hope they take the third one tomorrow, too. And the Knicks! Wow!

*

Means opening the windows and airing the place out, and relishing in the fact that it's finally warm enough and nice enough to do so! It also means changing the flannel sheets for cotton ones, potting plant seedlings, and sweeping the balcony. Said balcony's outside window ledge now sports a row of five plants, my overwintered Short's aster, dill, winter thyme (yes, I know, puns ahoy), pineapple sage, and a yellow daylily cutting from my childhood home. We'll see how everything goes.

I did not end up baking anything this weekend but last night I made this angel hair pasta with grape tomatoes (NYT gift link) scaled down for one, and it was delicious. The hardest, most time-consuming part was slicing the tomatoes, but I did it while the water was boiling, so you know 2 birds, 1 stone (I also made it all in the same pot - boiled the pasta and left it in the strainer while I cooked the tomatoes).

Then today I made another of my favorite chicken dishes: Rustic Garlic Chicken with Gravy - the chicken is good but the gravy is FANTASTIC. I made 2 boneless, skinless thighs (and ate them), but the full amount of gravy, since I also made a pot of mashed potatoes in the slow cooker and stirred the extra gravy into it so that'll be lunch or dinner for a few days as well.

There was an unfortunate amount of washing up afterwards, but I guess it was worth it.

Earlier, I watched this week's episode of Leverage: Redemption and ( spoilers )

I also learned, via tumblr, that season 1 of the original Leverage was aired out of order and is still out of order on Prime. So I will definitely have to do a rewatch with the correct viewing order at some point!

I still have not watched any of season 2 of Andor - 3 episodes a night is too many and I just keep putting it off now until I have the bandwidth for it - but I might watch the new eps of Poker Face tonight, or maybe I'll finish off this season of Elsbeth. I guess we'll see!

*

Netflix is finally releasing The Old Guard 2, aka, 2 Old 2 Guard, and here is the trailer!

Poker Face season 2 started last night. Here's that trailer and good lord, that is a lot of guest stars.

I'm trying to decide if I want bake something this weekend and if so, what. Could be a chocolate cake. Could be a lemon tart. Could be something else entirely! I really dislike that the lack of a dishwasher is making me consider it all very carefully, because I also have things I want to cook for dinner tomorrow and Sunday, and I hate having a sink full of pots and pans to be washed. I guess we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Today work was suddenly stupidly busy after a couple of days of being quiet, but I logged off a 5 and took a lovely nap (I stayed up too late last night reading fic) and now there's baseball. It's hilarious to me that the Cubs tried to claim Chicago Pope but it turns out that he's actually a White Sox fan. Talk about a team needing a miracle, yikes. Though the Mets could use a little divine intervention right now, or at least a pitcher who can throw strikes. *eep*

*

Up first, the big news: I have hearing in my left ear again! I went today and had it vacuumed out by a nice young doctor who told me that my ears are otherwise in good shape, and he gave me drops for the itchiness, which I will pick up tomorrow. The other ENT also gave me drops for the itchiness but they never seemed to actually make a difference since I never felt like they were going where they needed to go instead of leaking out all over, but I guess I'll try again. Also, I guess at some point I should address my general, all-over itchiness with one of their allergists, but I've been this way my whole life and it just seems like a huge hassle to get it checked out. You have to stop taking allergy meds for 5 days before they do the tests and that sounds like 5 days of awfulness I just can't be having with right now or any time soon.

Anyway, my ears are unclogged and that did leave me slightly dizzy, which was surprising but I guess makes sense since balance is regulated all up in there.

I guess the really big news that other people care about is: the Knicks are up 2-0 on the Celtics!!! In WILD fashion. 2, 20-point comebacks in a row!!! Bing bong! Go New York go New York go! Now, I'm a playoffs-only kind of Knicks fan, and to be honest, I'm a last 3 minutes of the playoff game kind of fan, but oh boy, these 2 games were insane!!! The group text with my college friends, which is mostly dead most of the time, LIGHTS UP during these games since they are all big Knicks fans. Let's hope they can keep it up and shock everyone by winning the series!

There was other excellent sports news yesterday too: the Mets won, and Soto went yard twice! The Panthers lost! (I kind of hate that this means I am technically rooting for the Maple Leafs because that never ends well, but I really hate the Panthers.) And the Stars won! Another hat trick for Rantanen!!! Woo! I'd like the Stars to win, for angelgazing, and also for Rantanen.

Okay, okay, I guess the really truly big news is that there is a new pope and he's from Chicago! I don't think he's one of the weirdo super conservative ones, and I'm curious as to what his chosen name signifies - there hasn't been a Leo since the late 19th century. I'm only a lapsed Catholic, but the rituals still hold some fascination and after having watched the movie Conclave recently, I was interested in seeing how this one would play out. (I also wondered if we'd see a schism from the weirdo super conservative Opus Dei types and whether there'd end up being an antipope from one of those factions. I wonder if electing an American was a play to hold that off, but who knows.)

Anyway, after I was done at the doctor's I went and got Shake Shack and it was delicious.

*

Specifically that one plant, or possibly those two or more plants, whose leaves I was petting as I was selecting herb seedlings for the kitchen garden's starting: I wish I'd known how best to take care of you. I wish I'd had the knowledge of what you need if you're going to a balcony kitchen garden, to say nothing of recipes for later. I wish I'd been able to take you home. I will be keeping a look out if I'm there next week, but as it is, I don't know that the same plant seedlings will be on offer. If it isn't me, may you have found an excellent home to go to in the week between markets, even if it isn't mine.

Wobbly tenses are wobbly. The sentiment behind them is still, hopefully, obvious.

This post brought to you by tipsy!Chanter and her righting past wrongs thing.

It feels really weird not to be posting a poem, so here, have one:

To the Gods of Summer

Dandelion, isn't it time?
Dark was the British winter, and dank,
and what passed for spring
just more of the same. When will you
show your face around here again?

Mayfly, who live for just a day,
when will you take the time
to drag your larger, longer shadow
down from the sundial?
May we be granted the sight,

if not of sun, then of a yellow
so luminous we gray souls look
and then look away:
let acres of oilseed rape bloom,
acidic as your grace.

Swift and swallow working your way
toward heaven on the wind,
let it rattle the scarecrows' rags.
But not enough to scare the rooks
picking at the field left fallow,

not bothering to beg your indulgence.
May the wild plum keep its flowers
just two more days, that it set fruit,
though, come summer's end,
the yield prove largely stone, and sour.

Consider the blackbird, beak full of straw:
who has no nest builds one now.
Who has a house wanders out of it, forgetting
where she was going in a sudden snow
of cherry petals, so fine their fury.

--Debora Greger

*

I've been enjoying this season of Leverage: Redemption and I especially enjoyed this week's episode. ( Let's go steal some spoilers ) So that was super satisfying.

*

This afternoon was endless - I did not have much in the way of work, which made it feel even longer. I am definitely counting down until summer Fridays start on 5/23. We keep trying to convince management to institute winter Fridays or all year round Fridays, but it hasn't happened yet. I hope whoever they end up hiring to be the new CEO understands that there would be a huge mutiny if they ever took summer Fridays away.

Anyway, it did end eventually, and now it is the weekend. Whew!

*