Three beautiful things from my past week, now part of Carole’s Three on Thursday:

1. As you might be able to tell, this is a banana flower, cultivated by the Japanese for a more temperate climate than other species. What is not obvious from my photo is that it’s growing at my community garden, right here in D.C. The tree is about ten feet tall and that flower is larger than a football. The tiny banana fruits you see are apparently inedible, filled with only a little bit of fruit and lots of black seeds. I’m sure that now that we’ve had a freeze, the flower has died, but this was last Friday morning, still blooming well into November.

2. With the cold snap, the gingko trees dropped many of their leaves prematurely, so instead of a nearby block turning golden, as it usually does in the autumn, the street was covered with green.

3. My orchids usually bloom right around Thanksgiving. That also coincides with the birthday of my Uncle George, who sent them to me for my birthday the year before he died. This will be our fifth season together, and the flowers began unfurling yesterday morning. I’ve moved them from my office windowsill to my desk for the moment so I can enjoy the day-to-day differences at this stage. It has a second stem shooting off in the opposite direction (those are roots you can see in the background) and the other surviving orchid has a stem growing, too, but it usually holds off blooming until the new year.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world recently? (And, oh! Would taking part in the Virtual Advent Tour next month make your life beautiful? If so, sign up!)

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The new bikeshare company Rudi works for had their official launch party tonight. There was food and drink, trivia, speeches, a balloon artist, and a general feeling of merriment among attendees. Plus, everyone raved to me about how great Rudi is, which is always nice to hear.

2. For the first time in ages, we went out for a meal at a restaurant. An Irish pub has opened under the yarn store around the corner from us, so we went to check them out. The fish and chips were tasty (as was Rudi’s entree), the assumption was that I’d want cream with my tea (as opposed to lemon), the bread pudding we split for dessert was ginormous, and the service was good. We’ll be back.

3. Arriving home from a long bike ride two minutes before the rain moved in.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately? (Hit up Carole to see other people’s Three on Thursday posts.)

If it’s Thursday, it’s time for to look back at three beautiful things from my past week (and to share them as part of Carole’s Three on Thursday meme):

1. We’re finally starting to get a few trees changing color in the area. This one is in the schoolyard by my community garden. (We don’t have many maples down here, so I like to photograph every one I see.)

2. My favorite architecture in D.C. (and my favorite restaurant on the Mall) is the National Museum of the American Indian. Friday morning, I attended a talk there and got to spend a little time afterwards soaking up the ambiance.

3. The building where I work has public gallery space on the first floor. Today a juried show featuring art made by my colleagues opened, including two sets of work by women in my office. One paints pictures of animals and the other weaves wall hangings. Their work, as well as the rest, was very enjoyable to see.

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

Three beautiful things from my week past:

1. Friday afternoon, Michael texted to say that he thought we should have a group outing for the final professional sporting event at RFK Stadium — a D.C. United soccer match. (Other teams to have played at RFK: the Senators, the Nationals, the Washington [racist name redacted] football team, the Freedom, and both men’s and women’s World Cup national soccer teams.) The arena was looking a little dingy, but the fans were enthusiastic, the first half of the match was solid, and it was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

2. Last week ended with a second bouquet from the vet’s, which I’m guessing was a mix-up, but which was still lovely and appreciated. On Saturday, we went to the opening of a new shop/cafe which carries things only made in D.C., and the owner pressed a bouquet on us as were leaving. Twist my arm, why don’t you?

3. After a warm start to the week, temperatures have finally dropped again, giving a much more seasonal feel to outdoor time. Wool socks and accessories have been broken out, as have blankets, cats are extremely cuddly, and I poached quince last weekend. Soup is next on my agenda and my long-fingered bike gloves will need to be found and put back in my purse for impromptu nighttime cycling.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately? (Check out Carole’s Three on Thursday for other trio listings.)

We still haven’t sorted out our WiFi woes, so I figured I should post this before I left the office so I don’t have to thumb type another post. (Actually the typing is fine. It’s the photo placement that’s a pain going over 4G, as anyone who saw the original image placement in last night’s post surely realized.)

Anyway, here are three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My misplaced wallet turned out to have been carefully hidden away in the pocket of my bag. (I didn’t panic because my sunglasses were also AWOL, so I’d assumed they were partying together at work after hours, but it’s still nice to be reunited and to know my credit cards weren’t out on a spending spree.)

2. I have Halloween-themed lights up both at work and at home. (There may also have been some Halloween candy purchased.)

3. My Sunday market basket included two ginormous stalks of broccoli, a massive bunch of kale, and four petite butternut squash (not quite honey nut size, but as close as I could find). (It also included a bag of Roma tomatoes, which I’m hoping will turn themselves into a delicious soup.)

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

Check out other people writing about Three on Thursday at Carole Knits.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The vet’s office sent us a lovely bouquet this week in memory of Posey.

2. Despite missing my original flight (decidedly not beautiful), I had a really nice visit to Connecticut over the weekend. We celebrated Dad’s 75th birthday, and I got to hang out with my folks, enjoy late summer flowers and early autumn color, catch up on sleep, and spend time with Karen hiking, chatting, and consider vocabulary. I also got to eat some of my favorite foods, including homemade scones and apple pie, pizza, doughnuts, and chicken divan.

3. As hard as it is to leave everyone in Connecticut, it was nice to return to Rudi and the cats and the comforts of being home.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world recently? If you’d like to see how other people talked about three things, check out Carole’s Three on Thursday post.