I’m writing this early, so I’m sure other beautiful things have happened while I was in Denver. They, however, will have to wait for a separate post, since this time around I’ll be reminiscing about these three beautiful things:

1. The fresh oranges Rudi brings back to me from Florida are utterly divine — sweet … and pink!

2. Putting your cold feet on someone’s warm legs under the bed covers.

3. The arrival of a new baby is a thing to be heralded from the towers of a great cathedral or to be broadcast on the evening news. It timeline seems a bit trickier, however, when you’re awaiting a baby adopted from overseas (pregnancy-announcement-birth vs application-acceptance-waiting list-birth-interminable paperwork-adoption). The process is, as it ought to be, finicky and particular, and bureaucracy likes to make sure things are stamped just so and are filed in triplicate before they pass you on to the next step. The good news is that for my friend Rebecca and her husband, Rick, the final step of the process has been achieved. Last week the Guatemalan government gave them a big thumbs-up on the adoption of their beautiful (now seven-month-old) son. They are now merely waiting for the American embassy to process his American paperwork and in six to eight weeks they’ll be rushing to Central America with open arms. Every picture I see of him has him smiling, so I can’t wait for him to have the only thing more a child could want — parents who can care for him, a family that is eagerly awaiting him, and more love than could fill the distance between Washington state and Guatemala City. What a wonderful Christmas present he’s going to be!

I’ve been exhausted all week and have taken to going to bed as soon as I get home, getting up for supper, and returning to bed. I think it’s allergies, as I’ve also been sneezing a lot when the Claritin wears off. I know it will pass and I will spend a portion of the weekend in bed snoozing while Rudi parties with his mom at her med school reunion in Florida.

In the meantime, I offer you three beautiful things from this week. I admit it was hard to choose, because it’s really a lovely time of year.

1. I dressed up for work yesterday and enjoyed the odd glances I got on the Metro. But when I got off at my stop, there was a gaggle of preschoolers waiting to get through the stiles. They were all knee-high and bedecked as ballerinas and pirates and superheroes, but they audibly gasped to see a full-grown witch pass them by.

2. Rudi and I bought new hoodie sweatshirts at the last Threadless sale and I’ve been living in mine because of that incomparable softness of the inside of a new sweatshirt. I don’t ever want to wash it!

3. Rudi and I baked cookies Friday evening to take to Sweetpea‘s party. Usually, Rudi does the cooking and I handle the baking, but Rudi had pointed me to this recipe and was much more skilled at the shaping of these than I. We had great fun and I packaged them up in a bowl with a cloth napkin, popped them into my Red Riding Hood basket, and thought nothing more of them. I handed them to the hostess when we arrived and she delighted me by being grossed out. And she wasn’t alone. What merited such a seasonal reaction? These.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. The rain that woke me from a dead sleep in Detroit on Thursday night and that has been soaking us here in D.C. yesterday and today. This is the most rain we’ve had since April they said on the news this morning. It is a real blessing to hear it pit-pattering against our windows and on the leaves overhead.

2. While in Detroit last week, I spent a night in Greektown, where I purchased four pastries to bring home as souvenirs. (Don’t you love edible souvenirs?) Rudi and I split all four and got to sample godly baklava, a custard roll, a chocolate-dipped coconut bar, and a nut and honey filled delectable I can’t remember the name of. The young woman who helped me wrapped each pastry in wax paper, placed it in a white box, and tied it with red string. I was delighted and so was Rudi.

3. Since the weather has cooled off, it’s been a week of wearing fun hats for me. I have two newsboy caps (one in green corduroy and one in brown tweed) that I wore earlier in the week. Today’s was a cute felted fedora-ish number I bought (at a Gap) in London. If it stays cool, I may break out one of my handknits later this week or maybe a witch’s hat for tomorrow night’s Halloween party.

It’s not remotely beautiful to lose a furry friend, but the amount of joy and love they add to one’s life can’t begin to be quantified. Please stop by Debby‘s blog and let her know you’ll be thinking of Chris and her.

I’m home from Detroit and will have more to say about my trip tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, I offer you three beautiful things about being back home:

1. Cuddling with Rudi and the cats on our couch.

2. Hot tea at whatever time I want it.

3. Being the loving person I am, I brought home the pastries I bought in Greektown last night. Rudi and I ate half for dessert tonight and are saving the other half for tomorrow. They really were just as good as the reviews made them out to be!

I’m queuing this a bit early, so it does not reflect the most recent events. Therefore, three beautiful things from earlier in the week:

1. Suzanne is getting married. I’m so excited for her.

2. We pass a small girl who is bubbling over with laughter. I look at Rudi who smilingly asks me if “laughing girl” will be in this week’s list of beauty. Indeed.

3. At our company picnic, they have organized a volleyball tournament. We have several players on our team who have played before and we occasionally succeed in getting three controlled hits on our side before sending it over the net. As a front row player, I admit that I’d never understood the joy of a well-handled bump before, but it really is beautiful when the rest of the action is dictated by such an understated play.

PS: Posey is sitting on my lap as I type this and staring at something intently on the desk. Since I can’t see any bugs and since she often relies on her good looks to get by, I try to figure out what she’s watching. She shifts away from my hand as I block her line of sight and eventually I realize that she’s watching the upside-down reflection of us (and my hand) in the mirror in the center of my computer speaker. Tee hee.

If it’s Thursday, it’s time to look back on some beautiful things from the past week. Here are three from my weekend:

1. It is 95 degrees on Saturday and Shelley’s children are in their bathing suits playing with the hose and with water balloons. We spend the latter part of the evening around a campfire in their backyard, and Irisa, still in her bikini, curls up in my lap.

2. Mum makes apple crisp for Dad’s birthday. Usually pie is Gramma’s domain, but for Dad, Mum demands sole baking rights. The pie is chock-full of tasty apples and the crumbly topping is sweet and cinnamon-y.

3. I sleep in over the weekend, which means I miss the normal morning chats Dad and I have over breakfast preparations. So when Mum heads up to bed at midnight on Sunday, Dad stays downstairs to chat over cups of tea.

Anything beautiful going on in your life this week?