I may decide later today to do a second Three Beautiful Things this week, but for now I offer you memories of three beautiful women who died this week:

1. When I got up in the middle of the night Wednesday and saw Kat‘s music choices, I knew that Odetta must have died. I wrote a post immediately (I know, I know. Sleep is important.), but mostly because I needed to listen to some of her music. Mum and Dad gave me a copy of her greatest hits cd last year for Christmas, so I put that on as I was hunting for some videos to share… Rudi, Eri, and I saw Odetta at the New Haven Folk Festival back in 1999, where we were blown away by the little woman withe the big voice singing out under the stars. I’m so glad we got to see her. (There is a free track available for legitimate download here. I’m having trouble with it at the moment, but I thought I’d put it out there for others to try.)

2. Monday morning, the book blogging world was shaken with the news that Dewey of The Hidden Side of a Leaf had died last week. Apparently she’d been ill and in a lot of pain, but had gritted her teeth and typed through it. Amazing. Dewey was the inventor of the Weekly Geeks (which I failed to participate in even once, although I always meant to…), the administrator of the 24-hour-readathon I did take part in back in October, and a voracious reader. The book blogging community is poorer without her, and our thoughts go out to her husband and her son.

3. Last night Rudi got the call he’d been dreading for a while now. His grandmother, Jonny, had died. His father was with her at the time, which does make it easier to bear. Jonny had suffered from Alzheimer’s and had been shifted out to Portland from Salt Lake when Rudi’s dad moved. She wasn’t happy about that move being forced upon her, but one of the blessings of Alzheimer’s is that you lose the bitterness of recent indignities as well as the good memories. In recent years Jonny had mistaken her son for her dead brother and couldn’t quite place Rudi, although she was always happy to hear from the “nice young man.” The last time we saw her, in the spring of 2004, she seemed happy, showing us her coloring books and her stuffed cat, introducing us to her friends at the nursing home she lived in, and showing us her room. We are left with the legacy of a woman who, before her illness, was a tough broad. She moved with her young family from the Netherlands to Salt Lake after WWII, learned a new language, got a job, and made a comfortable life for them. She doted on her grandson when he eventually came along, cared for her daughter-in-law through two earlier miscarriages, and generally enjoyed life with family and dear friends. She had a big smile and laughing eyes, and that’s how I shall remember her from now on. (Rudi memorializes Jonny himself here.)

Three beautiful things from this Thanksgiving Thursday:

1. We got off to a later start than planned Wednesday for our 8-hour drive north. We missed all traffic jams and, because of our timing on 95, managed to bail onto an alternate route to avoid heavy delays in Maryland and Delaware.

2. John set up his Christmas tree for Sunday’s watching of the Steven Colbert Christmas special. The tree is a Charlie Brown affair, but was his parents’ first tree after they got married way back when.

3. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. “Alice’s Restaurant.” The Macy’s Day Parade, ending with the arrival of Santa Claus. The Dunkin’ Donuts run with Dad. Cooking as a family. I love them all, year after year.

Disappeared on you there, didn’t I? Sorry about that. But, gosh, I’ve been tired! I did manage to drag myself to knitting last night, but only because it was on the way home. Rudi and I are heading to a 7 p.m. movie preview tonight, so hopefully that will help me feel a bit more peppy during the evening hours…

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Just before we left, they covered over Macy’s windows in the downtown store to prep them for the holiday display. The poster I saw this morning says the store will unveil them next Tuesday evening. It’s always exciting to see how they choose to decorate.

2. It’s been such fun looking at the photos Rudi and I took in France. (Rudi has started to get his online, but I’m a bit slower. I’m hoping to get them up over the weekend. Definitely before Thanksgiving.) I love how evocative photos are in putting you right back into a moment.

3. Posey, Jeremiah, and Della were very excited to have us home and seem intent upon preventing us from leaving the house again. John is a sweetheart and took good care of them for us, but we’re their people and they love us best. It’s good to come home to that.

Despite knowing intellectually that today was Thursday, I sort of forgot that I ought to post three beautiful things from the past week. Possibly because I’ve been blogging about beautiful stuff all week… Regardless, it’s a tradition and who am I to break with it now?

1. Despite the sign-rattling wind, it was great to see the sun today. We haven’t had many blue skies during our trip, so it was especially nice to see it as our vacation wraps up.

2. The waiter at Les Deux Garcons pretends to misunderstand our order, and we realize that it’s a joke. In French.

3. In the same way that French life seems a step more civilized with it’s closing for lunch and its greetings, it also seems to retain an appreciation for childhood as a special time. Rudi and I have now passed a number of toy stores and rare is the one displaying computer games or electronic toys. Dolls, toy cars, tinker toys, and hands-on games still populate the French childhood. Even the tv ads show toys that we would have been comfortable with back in the ’70s and ’80s. I know it’s good to have kids who are acclimated to computers, but it strikes me that maybe that’s why we have a culture of kids diagnosed as hyperactive. Regardless, it’s nice to see a culture where children can be children and not mini adults.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An errant leaf that resembles a parking ticket draws me down the road just as a blue jay soars past.

2. The waitress at the restaurant where we had dinner runs next door to break my 50 Euro note so I can leave her a tip. And a random stranger at the Montparnasse Metro station uses her card to open the turnstile when my suitcase gets stuck and refuses to budge.

3. Obama. Yes we can and yes we did. The days ahead are grave, but people needed to believe that their voices mattered — and this proved that they did.

I’m having a rather frazzled end of the month, but it’s good to take a few deep breaths and focus for a few minutes on what has been beautiful in the world recently.

So, I offer you three beautiful things from the past week.

1. My former coworker Sarah, who went to Peru for a few months, is back in the States. While lunching today, she told me about the new job she starts next Wednesday — a paid position with an organization she used to volunteer with.

2. Remember last month when I told you about my friend BW, who inspires a love of and thirst for knowledge about politics in her high school students? Well, this week, she and her students have gotten more well-deserved recognition for their interest and involvement in this election cycle:

• The Teachings of a ‘Republicrat’
• NFA Students Surprised to Discover Political Leanings

3. I wrote about it last night, but my best friend Danny, generally known here as Grey Kitten, married his fiance, David, today at a courthouse in San Diego. This was not, perhaps, the celebration they would have planned if time had not been of the essence, but I know it was a happy one and one that friends and family have been awaiting for years now. In my book, any wedding that involves two people who love each other, respect each other, and are good for one another is cause for celebration. So tonight I shall lift a steaming mug of hot chocolate toward a lovely couple in California and I hope you will join me in doing the same.

What beautiful things have you noticed recently?