Three beautiful things from yet another hard week:

1. I saw the first green shoots of the bulbs around town this past week. (They always appear in January down here. It always seems wrong, but optimistic.) Spring will come, no matter how bad it gets.

2. Trader Joes had their cheap bunches of daffodils ($1.50 for 10 stems) when I stopped in last weekend. Two bunches join the pussy willows on top of my fridge (the only place the cats can’t/haven’t chosen to get to), cheering up my kitchen.

3. We had a dusting of snow fall one night. While I’m glad to know spring will come, it’s nice to have a reminder that winter will not pass us by entirely. (Mostly I’m getting by in my jean jacket this year. That’s not winter wear!) The snow was pretty as it fell and clung to branches and grass, but did not require shoveling and had essentially disappeared by morning.

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

My second orchid in full bloom

Three beautiful things from a brave new world:

1. Badlands National Park (and later Golden Gate and others) tweeting climate change facts after being expressly forbidden to do so by the president. And the alt-Twitter accounts set up by National Park Service (and, later, other federal) employees. And the mayors and councils of all the sanctuary cities, including D.C., reaffirming their status. It’s reminded me of The Red Badge of Courage, and the chorus of Billy Joel’s “Goodnight Saigon” plays in my head as I read their Tweets.

2. Pussy willow stems are cheap at the farmers market, so I buy a few to cheer up the kitchen. The cats are entranced by their smell, and Corey is particularly fascinated, perching on his hind legs, squirrel-like, for several minutes, so he can get closer.

3. One last dinner with close friends before they move away.

And because we really need more beautiful things this week:

4. Friends send a postcard from their trip to the Grand Canyon. I appreciate being thought of during their travels.

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

Before we head into this day of days, let’s look back on three beautiful things from my past week, particularly because I’m having a hard time picturing beautiful things in the days to come:

1. My parents gave us a gift card to our favorite D.C. pizza place, so for the first time in ages, we went out to eat just because.

2. A friend from my old job sends a gossipy card and printouts of her family. Her older son, whom I once babysat, is 30!

3. Karen and I spend hours on the phone, just like in the old days. It’s good to talk about everything and nothing.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Macy’s has updated their store windows to feature mannequins sporting formal wear fit for inaugural balls. Two nursery minders walk past with a half dozen of their three-year-old charges. The male caregiver points to the jauntily clad male dummy and firmly tells the kids, “That’s me dancing with …” The children scream with laughter and shout “No!” in unison.

2. We host a dinner party to celebrate Russian Christmas and Rudi gets to make foods he grew up with — borscht and pierogis. Friends add a Ukranian cabbage pie and Russian tea cookies and drinks, and we have a very festive evening.

3. Today’s weather was unseasonably warm, so I head outside for the evening and read in just my sweatshirt. (It snowed last weekend and is forecast to again Saturday.)

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

Three beautiful things from the transition between 2016 and 2017:

1. I did not get the majority of my Christmas cards out before the 25th, as I’d hoped, but finished them instead in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, which I justified as being part of the Twelve Days of Christmas and therefore perfectly fine. (I’m happy receiving mail at any point of the year. I’m trusting my friends and family are, too.) In need of a change of scenery, I packed up my stationery and relocated to a nearby cake shop. They had Christmas-themed cupcakes, a friendly barista who told me not to waste my money on their hot chocolate, comfy armchairs, a gigantic coffee table to spread my stuff out on, and a Christmas tree and other holiday decorations. (Also, when they forgot anyone was left upstairs, they switched to a very loud and upbeat playlist.) It was the nicest belated card-writing venue I could have asked for.

2. Sarah, Rudi, and I spent our traditional New Year’s Eve out at the movies. We had a pizza supper, walked over to admire the City Center Christmas tree, and watched Rogue One (a fine addition to the canon with a talented and diverse international cast), La La Land (ear wormy soundtrack, great costumes, and excellent cinematography), and Hidden Figures (phenomenal! a rare combination of a well-crafted script and gifted performances deserving of all the awards it should garner) over the course of ten hours. As always, it was a low-key, but special way to turn the page on the year.

3. Two of the three orchids my uncle sent me for my birthday four years ago are still alive, and, when I left for the holidays, there were buds on both. The nicest part of returning to work on Tuesday was discovering two of the buds on the yellow orchid had blossomed:

My uncle died three years ago this month, and I like to think the orchids blooming around Christmas — which he loved and for which he always provided a goodie bag to us, complete with scratch-off lottery tickets — are his way of making sure I have a nice holiday.

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

Three beautiful things from this past week of Christmas:

1. Being up north for Christmas allows me to spend time with not just my parents, but also Karen and her kids and my friend Eric. Our trip is shorter than usual, so I’m especially glad for those visits.

2. A friend phones to share news of her pregnancy.

3. I finally have time to poach the quince I didn’t get to (neither back when I bought them in November or before leaving for Connecticut):

Tami had inquired about my plans to poach the quince earlier in the month, so I thought I’d share in case there were others who didn’t yet know about this fruit. Quince are a member of the Rosaceae family and are related to apples and pears (both farms I’ve encountered who sell them at my markets are, indeed, orchards). When quince ripen in the late fall, they’re green-yellow to bright yellow and range in size from from a medium apple to a grapefruit. They’re also covered in a fine fuzz.

The most noticeable thing about them, though, is their strong scent. They have an intoxicating floral odor that I don’t think can be confused with anything else.

Most varietals can’t be eaten raw (they’re too tough — somewhere between kohlrabi and squash, I’d say — and too tart), so they require peeling, coring, slicing, and cooking. I use Clotilde’s recipe.

After they’ve poached for a few hours, they turn a lovely shade of pink. They mix in well with yogurt and oatmeal, and I may try Clotilde’s cake or tartlette recipe this year, since I have most of a big stockpot full. If you’ve ever eaten Spanish/Middle Eastern membrillo, that’s quince paste (quince is really high in pectin), and Wikipedia informs me that marmalade originally referred to a rough-chopped quince jam. Every way I’ve ever eaten it, it’s delicious.

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