It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to look back at the week and share three beautiful things from it.

1. Recycled toilet paper at Safeway, since Walgreens has discontinued their green line of household products.

2. Because of a dentist visit, squeezing in a visit to the main library before a meeting. During the weekly Twitter chat I like to take part in, they offer free books (to keep, rather than to borrow) to people who stop in during that time, but it’s way earlier than I take my lunch. It was nice to finally meet the folks behind the Twitter account.

3. In this final week before summer transitions into fall, the weather has been clear and cool and perfect. Even the most curmudgeonly complainer wouldn’t be able to fault it.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A lounge chair opens up on a packed afternoon at the pool. The deck is covered with tiny, dropped acorns at the deep end, making it an uncomfortable alternative space for spreading out a towel.

2. A Labor Day sale allows me to replace the beloved purple hiking/winter boots I lost last Christmas after accidentally leaving them on the roof of the car.

3. The Mets, who currently sit atop the NL East, sweep their series against the Nats, who are in second place. Each game is fraught with more drama than a Mets fan would like (although about how much we expect), but a win is a win at this point in the season.

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

Three beautiful things from the week that transitioned from August into September:

1. The house at the corner, which has spent most of our tenure in D.C. unoccupied and on and off the market, has been sold and the new owners have landscaped the yard.

2. Sarah and I went out to dinner, and when the waiter brought us the dessert menu, Sarah had the wisdom to decide that she could do without, so I agreed we’d just take the check. I would have opted for dessert if the decision had been left up to me, and I would have been so sorry to have eaten any more after heading back out into the warm, humid air for a couple miles of walking.

3. The co-captain from my summer volleyball team emailed to ask if I wanted to play volleyball again with them this fall. I’ve already signed up in another league, but it was really nice to be asked.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The Grand Canyon from 33 thousand feet, all pink & beige & craggy.

2. Seeing a rainbow is beautiful in its own right, but looking down on one from above is amazing.

3. My volleyball team went out for drinks, and the bar had a whole selection of virgin ones. I opted for their plum soda.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A box truck is taking up the car lane and half of my bike lane. When we reach a red light, I move up past him and gesticulate wildly (but politely) to show him that he was invading my space. Normal behavior would be for a driver to pass me and then (maybe) half a block later resume the same behavior. This truck stayed out of the bike lane as far as I watched him. Later, I was on the bike path and instead of going around me without notice, a cyclist announced he and a mate would be going by after a jogger running the other way passed.

2. Earlier in the summer, a friend new to gardening asked my advice about herbs he’d planted that weren’t doing well. From his description (and my subsequent Googling), I suggested it was either something minor or a fatal illness. This week, he shared the bounty of his basil plants to thank me for giving him ridiculous and unhelpful plant diagnoses.

3. My volleyball team, having only won two matches during the regular season, did not have high hopes for the post-season. But we beat two teams (including the #1 seed) to get to keep playing next week.

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

Three (more) beautiful things from my past week:

1. We eat Sunday supper on the back deck at my folks’. Torches (and copious amounts of bug spray) ward away mosquitoes. The weather is perfect. Our barbecue is delicious. And the heavy-duty strand of lights my parents and I hung the day before off the side of the house allow us to see clearly even after the sun has set.

2. Eri and I meet up Friday evening along the Hudson River. We drink smoothies and sit in the park and meet a gigantic and friendly cat on a leash (and his equally friendly owner) and eat veggie burgers and fries outside. Karen and I meet up for lunch on Sunday in my old town. We walk along Main Street and end up at a cafe that moved in after I left and eat tasty crepes and drink Avery sodas on their front patio. We conclude our visit with a trip to the coffeehouse, my favorite spot on the planet to get steamed milk.

3. We pull over to pick up a couple ears of corn from a pair of boys who’ve set up a stand in their front yard. A self-propelled car left over from toddler days holds spare ears.

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