Marvelous Monday: Week 44

Yesterday I spent part of the evening watching football and baseball and working on the jigsaw puzzle, and this morning I woke up with sore legs, the feeble result of crouching over my puzzle for so long. Does this mean my puzzle sessions are the fitness equivalent of a Saturday long run? No?

Switching gears: you guys know I like to start the week by tallying up marvelous little tidbits in a lighthearted way, but it would feel strange to post today without also mentioning that I'm thinking of friends out east and hoping they (and everyone else) are safe tonight in the midst of this massive storm. It is pretty hard to get one's mind around the images (and amount of rain and wind) people on the East Coast are seeing right now.

Here are a few highlights from the start of the week here in Minnesota:

1) I baked pumpkin bread. It's a recipe I found in my new subscription to Everyday Food that I got for cheap through a Groupon. It is good, but it definitely blurs the line between bread and cake and would be even better with a cream cheese frosting on top.

2) Reading report: I just started The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a book my mom lent me. I am also starting to stockpile reading material for our trip next week, and today I picked up The Glass Castle and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail from the library. (I've reserved Wild at least twice in the past and because of various mishaps have not been able to pick it up in the designated window until now!)

By the way, our trip will be Great Smoky Mountains-focused, so please share any themed reading recommendations! (Besides A Walk in the Woods, which is probably already coming with me.)

3) I went for a short run at lunch - I'll slowly easy back into running over the next month - and noted several birthday messages chalked along a stretch of sidewalk for someone turning 21 today. (I presume it was along this person's walk to school.) The messages reminded me of sweet things my pals did for my birthday in college, and I think I grinned for the whole block.

4) Wish and I went for a long and leisurely walk after work, and the light from the setting sun was beautiful.

5) My family had lunch together yesterday, and my mom cooked a butternut squash lasagna full of sage and cheese and delicate lasagna noodles that she had rolled out with her pasta maker the day before. It was so good, and I merrily accepted some lasagna wrapped in foil when we left. I've been excited all day about leftover lasagna for dinner.

What about you, Reader? Are you cooking with pumpkin and butternut squash and that kind of thing, too - and as usual, what are you reading?