Happy Monday everyone! I just flew back from Sweden yesterday evening and it's some time in the middle of the night PDT, or lunch time in Europe, and I can't sleep, so I thought I would do a quick "currently" for my trip!

Reading:  The Association of Small Bombs, which I am about halfway through, but am not loving. It's okay, but not showstopping. On my vacation, I also read four other books which were all pretty good, but I will recap those in my September looking back!

Loving: The fall colors in Sweden! We don't get "seasons" very much in the Bay Area and being in Sweden reminded me of Autumns back home! 

Thinking: about my next vacation... just kidding! I'm thinking about how fast this last one went and how it will be to be back at work today (there are going to be so many emails to go through)! 

Frustrated: that I did not complete my entire hiking goal. However, the weather was poor and I was camping in a tent and I know I made the right decision. I just hate "giving up" without reaching my goals.

Feeling:  Hungry! When you are carrying all of your food on your back, you can only carry so much, which for me was about 3,000 calories per day. When you are hiking 10 - 12 hours per day, you just cannot keep up, calorie-wise. Ever since I left the trail, I have been carb-loading!!! Okay, really I've been overall calorie loading.

Anticipating: Going over all of my photos and reminiscing all the good parts of the trip! I did a cursory review and it's funny how I already forgot some of the early days. It's nice to recall them again and again!  

Watching: I did not really watch any TV while on vacation, but I did watch a few movies on the plane: Ms. Stone, When Harry Met Sally and Moneyball to name a few.

Working: will be interesting today. Usually September is not crazy busy, but I will have a lot of catching up to do after being gone for two weeks!

Grateful: that I get as much time off of work as I do. Technically I get about 20 days off (4 weeks) and I am required to take ten of the days consecutively, which I don't have much of an issue with! I know some people do not get very much PTO and I feel very glad that I do!

Listening: To audio books: A Man Called Ove, and next up Kitchen House. I did not really use my phone on the trail as I did not want to run down the battery in case I needed it for an emergency, so I didn't really listen to much!  

Reindeer!

Wishing: the floors would clean themselves. How is it that I clean everything before leaving on vacation but when I come home, there is still dirt everywhere? I blame the house elves.

What did you do this weekend? What are you currently wishing for? What are you anticipating? 

August was a good month! As usual, it was filled with lots of outdoor activities, family and friends! I love summer!

Running: In August I clocked 197 miles. About 122 of those were in the Wind River Range, and another 31.5 of them were from the Tamalpa Headlands 50k. Other than that, I actually had a couple of "easy" weeks! I actually biked about 41.6 miles though, which brings me to a total of about 141 miles, which is 78% of my 180 mile goal for this year! This month I kind of fell short on the yoga front, and I only did 2 sessions.

Reading: I thought I would read a lot on the hiking trip, but usually we were so tired that we went right to bed (sometimes as early as 7 pm). So, that plus the driving took out about 10 days of reading. However, thanks to audio books, I did "read" 5 books in August (sorted by preference / audio books in italics).

Her Every Fear ****
Think Like a Freak ****
Dreamland Burning ****
The Light of Paris ***
The Body of Death ***

Travel: I was not really home for even one weekend in August! The first two were spent in Wyoming; the third near San Jose and the last in Marin County at my grandma's 85th birthday! It was a busy month of events and travel.

Haystack Mountain, Wind River Range, WY

Wind River: Looking northeast from Chimney Rock @ 12,000 ft

The Eclipse. I didn't look at it, I swear!

SF Giants game with Dad

SF Giants game with Dad

Etc.: The garden is in full swing. I have tomatoes coming out of my ears! Speaking of ears, the corn has ears now too! I am not sure when they will be ready to pick, but it's so exciting to have a new vegetable in the backyard. Also ripening are the figs, cucumbers and zucchini. Still pending potatoes (maybe) and hot peppers. Interestingly, this year I had a lot of volunteer squash and tomatoes (aka, they replanted themselves from seeds from last year) and they are actually bearing fruits! I have canned regular tomatoes and tomato salsa and will probably do another batch of canning next month, likely tomato sauce and/or more plain tomatoes.

I think this qualifies as a plethora.

Snack Time! 

How was your August? What is your favorite in-season fruit or vegetable?