This week’s trio of beautiful things:

1) Karen and I have known each other for 15 years now (half a lifetime). And I don’t see her nearly as often as I want to anymore because we now live 6 hours apart. But she’s always there when I need her — for those small, every-day kinds of needs (like staying on the phone with me when I’m feeling lonely or providing a supply of recipes for my new bread machine) as well as the catastrophic needs (like helping me pack up and move my life, twice).

2) Sarah’s favorite vegetable is the English pea (peapod pea), and her mom sent her a big box full of them yesterday. And Sarah was kind enough to share them with me as I was in a frenzy packing stuff up to ship to my conference in Chicago.

3) Rudi and I have joined a summer softball rec team, which starts up this weekend (hopefully). Last Saturday, after our bike ride, we stopped at Rose Park to toss the ball around. We weren’t always accurate, but we did have lots of fun. There’s just something rhythmic (and relaxing) about the back-and-forthness of it on a clear late-spring evening.