I told myself not to forget the thing that early in the week I thought would make a good addition to this list. But as so often happens, it slipped my mind. It’s a possibility it will come back as I write, that my memory is locked in my fingertips somehow and it will burst forth into the keyboard any moment now. It’s also possible that it will return after I hit post, just to laugh at me, Nelson-style. Or perhaps it’s flitted off into the ether, leaving only its echo behind to mock me.

But with it or without it, I offer you a list of three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A beautiful, sunny, unseasonably temperate Sunday afternoon in August spent with Rudi at the pool, in the garden, and sprawled on a blanket in the park.

2. Rudi’s friend Chris won tickets to a Nationals game and invited us to join him at the park. The seats were close enough to the field that we could see Bryce Harper’s every grimace, that one of the coaches traded a baseball for a snack from the kid sitting in front of us, and that the ball girl was wearing a white sports bra under her jersey. I mean, if you’re close enough to pick up on someone’s undergarment choice, you’re close.

3. My best friend of 22+ years (Wow. I hadn’t done the math recently. We are old!) suggested that I could call her if I found myself without other occupation on Saturday night. Honestly, a couple hours with her on the phone is better than almost any other way I could spend an evening, save, of course, for spending it with her in person.

Nope, it didn’t come back. But those three are good, too, don’t you think?

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

Happy August! It’s Thursday again, which means it’s time once more to look back on three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A woman walks down the street carrying a golden retriever puppy in her arms.

2. Sam and his wife, Alexis, and her family were all in town for a vacation and chose to spend Saturday afternoon with us at Nationals Park watching the Mets game. Since Sam, Rudi, and I have known each other since before Rudi and I were a couple, and since we don’t see each other often anymore, it was really nice to have a few hours together (including an extra one caused by a rain delay) to catch up.

3. Rudi and I went out for gelato and, because the night was fine, took our cups over to in front of the local museum and sat out there together in the dark for a while.

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

Time for three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An arts council in Bethesda has cordoned off a small block, erected a screen, and set up chairs. We spend the evening watching The Princess Bride.

2. As we’re speeding to the Monkees concert on Sunday, we race past ballroom dancers performing in Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue. And as we were on on our way back from a Shakespeare performance that never materialized, we happen upon a percussion ensemble, Polyphonic Marimba, performing in a triangle park in our neighborhood.

3. The heatwave breaks and I emerge from the Burrow this morning to temperatures in the upper 60s. We turn off the a/c for the first time in a month.

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

A busy weekend filled with concerts and seeing friends has nearly arrived, but before it does, let’s look back at three beautiful things from the past week:

1. On Sunday, we headed up to Delaware to the beach. We spent the entire afternoon soaking up sunlight, playing in the waves, and generally relaxing. Then we decided to follow it up with a movie at an independent, single-screen theater (which opened in 1949), which was showing The Lone Ranger.

2. The stars were ultra-bright while driving home from the beach. Living in a city, you forget how bright stars can be and how many of them there are. Depending on the road’s direction, I had a view of either Cassiopeia or the Big Dipper.

3. After more than two straight weeks of being sick with some bug that I just couldn’t shake, I woke up Tuesday feeling fine.

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

It’s Thursday night and I suddenly find myself needing to churn out a brief post on Ravelry about tomorrow’s Tour de France stage, so this will be a quick recap of three beautiful things from the past week:

1. An old friend lets us know he’s coming to town suddenly, just before we’re due to depart for the weekend. We leave work early and meet him for lunch, which turns into a relaxing four-hour recap of life, family, travels, and mutual friends.

2. When up in Connecticut for a weekend, the original scope of the visit seems all too short. Our respective bosses give last-minute permission for a extra day of leave so we can spend a little more time with my family (also allowing Rudi some time for cd/dvd shopping).

3. Volleyball on Wednesday is played in sweltering, pregnant* conditions. As I creep home afterwards, soaked in sweat and under darkening skies, I think, anytime after I get home it could start raining. Not ten minutes later, the storm rages into the area. I walk back outside and stand on the stairs as a cool torrent of water pours over me.

* The atmosphere, not me.

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

First Thursday in July, time for three beautiful things:

1. Fresh sheets on the bed and just showered me between them.

2. Part of the strawberry patch in the garden plot cleared for beans.

3. After the magnificent D.C. fireworks show concludes, hundreds of lights come from the dark water of the Potomac, where dozens of kayakers and rowers are heading north on the unlit river.

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