Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I went for a pre-work bike ride today in an effort to actually see daylight in person. There was frost on the grass, but the sun was out and the air wasn’t unpleasantly cold (although it did remind me I should look for my other knit headband). Plus, I got to stop and pick up a bag of bagels on my way home.

2. In prepping for my weeklong staycation, I’ve requested a whole heap of holiday reads. Each morning, I get a nice ping about which ones are waiting for me. I’ll be running over to the local branch tomorrow evening to pick a pile of them up.

3. I ran into Rudi’s friend Matt at the concert last Saturday. It was nice to chat with someone I knew in person for a few minutes.

How about you? It’s been a rough month. What’s been beautiful in your world?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I’m not saying that the Burrow is overflowing with tomatoes, but the fall tomato bounty has been very good to me. And I’ve been pretty lucky so far in that they’ve continued to ripen indoors. The trifle/mixing bowl I’m holding had been full a week ago, and I’ve been moving them into other containers as they start to show signs of developing color. The tomatoes on the tart below were the ones that I moved into the fridge as they started to soften.

2. The colors last weekend were particularly vivid, and I had to stop several times to take in the beauty of the turning trees. I’m glad the weather cooperated for us all to be able to enjoy them, since I’m guessing the rain will have pulled many of the leaves to the ground.

3. We’re going to have a new president. Everyone knows it; it’s just taking some of them longer than we care for to admit it.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your lives lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. More people voted in this election than ever before. And even though it was not a clear repudiation of the appalling lack of leadership and compassion at the national level the way I’d hoped there’d be, there were bright, bright spots, with the possibility (::fingers crossed!::) of at least one more to come.

2. I’ve gotten outside for a short walk two sunny mornings this week.

3. Thai food takeout (panang curry and veggie spring rolls) for Election Night supper.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I ran into my friend Katie, from my volleyball team, as I was on my way to the garden. It was great to catch up in person.

2. I got up early on Wednesday (my one meeting-free morning) to head to our local yuppy grocery store/restaurant/bar because they recently launched a weekly apple cider doughnut special. The doughnuts were … terrible … but now I don’t have to get up early on any subsequent Wednesday to rush over there. (To be fair, it does sound like fryer oil temperature and their desperate attempt to keep up with the demand is to blame here, so it’s possible they could rectify the situation in the future. But I don’t need to pay to find that out.)

3. A relapse of warm weather meant I went to the park to read after work while wearing shorts and a tshirt. I mean, sure, eventually I was using my phone’s flashlight to finish the chapter, but I wasn’t cold!

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi has gone out to Salt Lake for the foreseeable future. I miss him, but I think it will be good for both him and his mom. I’m glad that he had the flexibility to be able to go.

2. After hitting four stores over three days in search of bathroom cleaner and finding only empty shelves, I stop at the local mom & pop, where their shelves are full. They also had baking supplies back in the spring, so I must remember to hit them up earlier in my hunt.

3. I had pre-ordered cinnamon buns to pick up at Sunday’s market before we knew Rudi would be gone, which meant I had four to eat over the week, rather than just Sunday and Monday breakfast.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Soybeans at the midweek farmers market.

2. Neighbors and family friends out in Utah who can stand in as caregivers for us.

3. The Seattle Storm won the WNBA championship this week over the Las Vegas Aces. Since the Storm had three UConn women’s basketball alumnae and the Aces had none, I didn’t have to feel mixed feelings about who won. Plus, the Storm is helmed by Sue Bird, who at 39, is the second-oldest player in either the men’s or women’s NBA.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?