The Weekly Wrap: September 6, 2026

There were two days in a row this week that I woke, unexpectedly, from a deep sleep before 6am. Pair that with an unplanned late night because of a rowdy thunderstorm and my brain was complete mush.

​I dragged through the work day on Friday. Thank goodness it was a work from home day. I stayed in cozy clothes and drank some extra coffee. At one point, I caught myself just blinking at my laptop screen without comprehending anything. It was not the best day.

But now it's the middle of a long weekend and we're trying to soak in some extra pool time. It's not the last pool weekend of the season, but it might be the best chance left to savor a cooling dip in hot weather. Then again, DC always has a week in October that feels like July. 

I'm still catching up on sleep so maybe a nap in the lounger by the pool is also warranted.

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• Plane taps. [WaPo - gift link]
• The point of the pied-a-terre tax. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• Alternatives to shopping when you're looking for a dopamine hit. [The Life Edit]
• Handwriting, as much as I love it, is not a magical solution. [Engaged Learning Collective]
• Halfway through reading this newsletter, I went to update my library's website. [Stop Making It Hard]
• Crayfish are invading the Netherlands. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• Dolly wrote the anthem for a movement that's still at work. [Planet Money]
• Seashells are the story of humanity, earth, and our climate. [Short Wave]
• Sports betting is not a sound investment strategy. [The Indicator]
• 1-800 history (and you'll likely get a jingle stuck in your head). [99% Invisible]

• The Sheep Detectives is way better than it has any right to be. The premise is chaos. There's no way a movie about CGI sheep solving a murder should work. But it does. And it does it really well. This film is utterly charming. And the way the sheep actually solve the crime makes sense. [Amazon Prime]

• I messed up making one-pan basil chicken meatballs with “orzotto." I skipped putting the lemon zest in the meatballs because I thought it would be unnecessary. Turns out, it was a vital flavor component. Also, I criminally under seasoned the meat mixture. But, aside from that, this one was good. The orzotto ends up being wonderfully cheesy. [Caroline Chambers]
• I might have been trying to force fall with one pan apple cinnamon pork chops. I dropped the pork chops in the sous vide instead of searing them off. And I added the cloves to the apple and onion mixture. I did toss the pork back in the pan at the end to mix it all together. This dish made our kitchen smell like an autumnal wonderland, particular because I paired it with roasted sweet potatoes. [SkinnyMs]