Played a game of Civ this weekend, first time in a long while.

Mom came over for dinner tonight — first time we’ve seen her since the omicron peak.

Finished rereading The Letter of Marque by Patrick O’Brian, book 12 of the Aubrey–Maturin series. This one felt more full than some recent ones: more naval action, more intrigue by land, more of Maturin’s laudanum addiction, and an interesting look at how a private letter-of-marque ship differs from a Royal Navy ship.

Finished rereading The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O’Brian, book 11 of the Aubrey–Maturin series. We’re in the back half of the series now, and O’Brian clearly wants to introduce new plots and situations, as there’s only so much that can be done with the Royal Navy. Here we have more treachery, a court case, and a thief-taker, leading to a miscarriage of justice and a satisfying climax.

Walked along Lyon Creek, around Mountlake Terrace, and home: three hours, 9½ miles.

Finished reading The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow. This was a slow, dense, enjoyable read; the authors attempt to reinterpret prehistoric and historic societies, and (even with a few rhetorical sleights-of-hand) succeeded. I’ll probably look back on this book as perspective-changing.

Thinking about my former coworker from Ukraine, and my former coworker from Russia who was embarrassed by how his birth country was behaving.

Walked down to Pike Place Market (about 10½ miles, 3½ hours), and then (after taking light rail up to Northgate) home (4 miles, 1¼ hours). Talked with William and Jon along the way.

Had a bit of snow last night and this morning — maybe a quarter of an inch of accumulation, basically all melted by now.

Spring cleaning today, plus a walk to the grocery store for a loaf of bread.

Went over to Nathan’s and played Pax Pamir with him and his friends Bryan and Dina.

Finished reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. I loved this, even though the story mostly ended up being “what did Duchess do this time, and how are the rest of them going to clean up after him?” (Wait, he did what?? But — !)

Finished rereading The Far Side of the World by Patrick O’Brian. A lot happens here, but still he leaves large gaps that earlier books would have filled in, and the ending is one of his most abrupt yet (though it wouldn’t have told us anything we couldn’t figure out on our own).

Current earworm: “She Bangs the Drums” by the Stone Roses.

(It took me a few days to finish Matrix, not just 24 hours — it took me a while to figure out what I thought of The Mask of Mirrors.)