Three beautiful things from the first week of July:

1. Taking a half day at work lets me sneak out to late afternoon ballgame. There was no line at Shake Shack, where they serve fancy versions of Blizzards. Going by myself means I can listen to the game on the radio under my headphones. Despite giving up a worrying number of runs, the Nationals win the game.

2. Corey finds an air pillow from some package has drifted to the floor. He can now often be found using it as a back or head support.

3. There have been some pretty phenomenal clouds in the past week:

(The last shot also shows a decent example, if I say so myself, of crepuscular rays, a rather ugly word for a delightful trick of light.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this past week?

Three beautiful things from the last week of June:

1. Sarah and I spent Saturday afternoon picking blueberries. Unlike the day we opted to pick strawberries, which was a bazillion degrees with crazy humidity, it was pleasant out and I came home with more than six pounds of berries, half of which Rudi and I have eaten straight out of the bucket in the fridge.

2. My new sand court volleyball team seems nice.

3. I scrub the tub and it’s no longer grimy.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The bedroom where we stay on vacation is a cheerful yellow. It’s like waking up in sunshine.

2. My favorite meals of vacation are breakfasts in the full sun of the deck.

3. On our trip home from vacation, we get the chance to see ECN and Erica, two of my favorite college friends. We eat ice cream and watch the sun set over the Hudson and catch up.

(Speaking of our vacation, I’ll have photos to share with you this weekend.)

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My friend Shawn surveys us to ask who’s interested in ice cream from the nearby parlor. I expect he’s going to get something for us to share, but instead he arrives back at the blanket bearing cones for each of us.

2. The house my brother rented for our family vacation has a view of the harbor.

3. Before we leave town, I freeze the strawberries I have in the fridge and end up with three quarts of berries for later in the year.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. After stupidly sunburning my arm during our drive home Monday, I biked to work the next morning in short sleeves. Almost immediately, my arm began to tingle. At lunch, I went out with a shawl.

2. Quarts of shelling peas left at the end of the market, and the farmer who cuts me a deal as a regular customer.

3. I saw my first fireflies of the season this week.

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

There beautiful things from this first week of June:

1. My local library hosts a lunchtime bookish Twitter chat every week, and, over time, you get to recognize the regulars. Anne and I shared a similar taste in novels and we got to chatting; then it turned out that Sarah knows both of us and thought we’d get along outside of books. So the three of us got together Wednesday for supper and had a lovely evening talking about books, politics, travel, and food. It’s nice to meet kindred spirits.

2. The brakes on my car have been tetchy for a while, but several long drives in the next few weeks planned, I figured it was time to take care of them. It was so exciting to discover how responsive they were this morning, even if it meant Rudi and I jostled in our seats a bit.

3. We convince some friends who were going to be in the area of campus, but not actually attend any reunion activities, to join us for the Saturday picnic.

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