Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The honeysuckle was on point last weekend. I don’t know if, like birdsong, it’s just normal and we’re better able to perceive it because of less pollution or if it is, in fact, a great year for it. Either way, though, and the scent just filled the air.

2. Rudi picked up an avocado at the store while out this afternoon, so we got to have guacamole for a post-work treat.

3. My new tshirt arrived at the of the week. It was a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen, José Andrés’ charity that feeds people in disaster-stricken areas, and features a heart wearing a face mask.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The first strawberry and peas from my garden (as well as more greens).

2. Rudi is friends with his fifth-grade teacher on Facebook. (If you know Rudi IRL this will surprise you not a bit.) Anyway, she paints and she was giving away some of her prints, and she sent this one to Rudi, which arrived on his birthday eve:

3. I had spent my last cash on quarters more than a week ago, which meant while we had clean underwear, we haven’t been able to buy bagels. I stopped by the atm yesterday and Rudi ran out first thing this morning to the bagel shop to buy two bags of day-olds and two fresh-from-the-oven everything bagels that I got to wake up to the aroma of.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The drug store had name-brand Easter candy for 90% when we stopped in last week, which meant big bags of candy were 45¢. Rudi carried the heavy bag home.

2. One of the farms that specializes in tomatoes was selling flats of seconds at the farmers market. I came home with more than a dozen huge greenhouse tomatoes that looked just perfect to me.

3. Rudi procured both dish soap and quarters for the washing machine this week. (Who would have guessed $30 wouldn’t have been enough to get us through this?) I don’t love chores, but I definitely prefer to be able to do them when they need doing.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. As you may have seen in yesterday’s photo, I moved the citrus to the living room table. (I say that as if we have any other table in our apartment.) Its newfound proximity to my workspace on the couch means it’s the first snack I grab. (Also, we excavated the blue bowl from under a pile of things and put it back to use, which is super exciting.)

2. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff did an author event put on by my local bookshop. The hosting platform did not want to be put into the background on my phone and still play the audio, so it made an excellent excuse to stay out on my walk until the event wrapped up. And I felt Amie’s description of their introvert-extrovert (paraphrasing, but essentially: I’m like a six year old and everyone I meet is my new best friend. Jay eventually runs out of words because he hasn’t been able to recharge.) approaches to touring.

3. Cheese and crackers as an appetizer.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The first loaf of bread I made from our sourdough was decidedly … meh. But the next time I decided to try the bread machine recipe from King Arthur’s Flour, which as you might expect, was a winner. It has made excellent breakfasts this week.

2. Our bucket of strawberries lasted us until yesterday, when we used up both the last of them and the slightly soured heavy cream I had in the fridge in a fool. Before that, they graced ice cream and yogurt. I’ve ordered another bucket from this week’s farmers market and expect to finally get around to baking that shortcake.

3. This week’s tv watching brought a series finale for God Friended Me and a season finale for Star Trek: Picard. Both were fine, hitting their emotional marks and wrapping up loose storylines, and I was glad to have spent the time getting to know their characters.

How about you? What beautiful things are you finding as you make your way through this new landscape?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My sixth and final video conference call of the day was an all-staff happy hour. I had all the necessary ingredients for strawberry daiquiris, except for ice and rum for Rudi’s glass. One trip to the liquor store (by Rudi, during call #5), and both needs were met. Five minutes into my call and I was sitting with a very pink drink and congratulating colleagues who’d gotten engaged (in person) and defended their dissertation (via Zoom) this week.

2. I finally got around to baking Mary Berry’s shortbread, which I think is now Rudi’s favorite of my homemade cookies. I had bought semolina flour specifically for this recipe, but the comments suggest that you can substitute rice flour or all-purpose, although the latter will certainly make it less sandy in texture. Also, I didn’t have demerara sugar, but I do have a variety of sparkly sugars for decorating and cocoa topping, so simply subbed that in. (Confession: I didn’t measure it; I just sprinkled it until it seemed like the appropriate density.)

3. My system of dry bags, rolled towels, and newspapers (and less rain than expected) kept the flooding in the Burrow to a minimum.

What beautiful things have been getting you through this last week?