Thursday again, eh? I’m not quite sure how that keeps happening, but I can hear echoes of Zero Mostel going through my head.

Here are three beautiful things from my last week:

1. When we arrived at the beach late Sunday afternoon, it was practically deserted, leaving it empty for Rudi and me to splash in the warm water, dance in the sand, and watch the sandpipers.

2. For the final jazz concert of the summer, Susan came down to join Rudi, John, and me. I arrived early enough to snag a blanket-sized space next to a nice guy who offered me a swig from his hip flask.

3. My coworker Sarah returned today from two weeks in Australia. She brought chocolates — mine have honeycomb in them.

What’s been beautiful in your life lately?

Two long busy days at the office leave me ready for the weekend. But first, it’s time to share three beautiful things from the last week:

1. The kitten lies on my lap with his head resting on my arm. As we drive home, I pet his head and can feel him get heavy in the same way a baby does when it falls asleep.

2. Sarah, John, Rudi, and I head out to a pick-your-own farm to celebrate Labor Day and the coming of fall. Rudi and I come home with a heap of apples and 11 pounds of tomatoes, most of which are currently in the oven turning into sauce.

3. Amani and Marcus have seemed like such a good couple since they started dating at our annual conference four years ago. And on Sunday night, they looked so … content … to solemnize their relationship and to finally begin their life together.

What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

Any week that includes time spent with my family up in Connecticut is sure to be packed with beautiful things. Here are three of them:

1. My trip is bookended by darkness. My train trip to the airport offers glorious pink hued skies which later are reflected on the Atlantic below the plane. On the flight back, we fly through haze that eventually clears just at the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I can see down south to the coast, and cotton candy clouds reflect the sunset on the other side of the plane.

2. My parents’ house is surrounded by gardens and trees and they work hard to make it an attractive place for the local fauna, being especially successful this year with goldfinches and hummingbirds and butterflies. One evening, as I sit on the back deck, chatting with Rudi on my cell phone, a little brown hummingbird whirs around my head and peeps at me before flying off over the roof.

3. My parents have a hammock along the side of the house, tied between two shady trees, within easy reach of a handy table where you can put a drink or a book or a knitting project. I lie there in the afternoon for a nap, rocking gently in the breeze, and wake feeling utterly refreshed.

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

I head to Connecticut tomorrow for a long weekend with my family. I expect it to be full of beautiful things — loved ones, a hammock, great weather, books, knitting, PBS — and hope to come back feeling refreshed and ready for the fall. Before we move forward, however, we need to look back and find three beautiful things from the past week, which I record here with Jeremiah draped over my shoulders:

1. Not feeling well on Friday night, I canceled plans with Julia on Friday night and came home and slept. By Saturday morning I felt a lot better. And Julia was able to join us for a post-beach dinner that night instead.

2. Prior to Sunday, the extent of my exposure to Great Big Sea was streaming an album of theirs earlier this year. But people have always said that based on the bands I like that I’d appreciate them and Sarah‘s a big fan. They were all correct, and I spent Monday morning playing videos of songs they had performed under clear, moonlit skies and before an enthusiastic Wolf Trap crowd. I predict a few new cds in my near future. (If you aren’t familiar with Great Big Sea, but like Barenaked Ladies, Eddie from Ohio, or Moxy Früvous, you might consider some, too.)

3. Finally, we’ve had an absolutely fantastic week of summer weather. (I can’t say how weird it feels to write that in August!) The highs have been in the 70s and 80s. The lows have been in the 60s. Some days were cloudy. Others were clear and blue and sunny. But either way, it doesn’t matter; it’s just been glorious.

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

Did you realize there’s only one more Thursday in August after today? No, neither did I. Alas, it would seem that if you want to spend the rest of your summer soaking up the rays and eating barbecue, you’d better get out there this weekend…

Here are three things from my past week that struck me as beautiful:

1. Way back in the spring, Sarah and I went to a yarn festival, where we also bought some soap. Mine has been sitting on my bookshelf waiting for us to need a soap refill — a moment that finally arrived over the weekend. The scent I chose, Fluffy Pajamas, is mild and comforting and makes me extra excited to perform my daily ablutions.

2. Erin McKeown was this evening’s Millennium Stage performer. Since I would gladly pay money to see her (and have), I was delighted that I could get out of work and over to the Kennedy Center in time to catch her set. I’m even more excited to hear that she’ll be performing locally again in October. (Also, you can watch Erin, too, if you’d like in the archived version of her performance.)

3. As I was trying to get some unruly plants to stay in my garden plot rather than straying into the common paths, I looked down and found that one of my plants had grown this:

One of my plants has a baby peanut! I covered it up to keep it nice and toasty until harvest time in the fall.

ETA: I forgot one! I worked from home on Monday waiting for a perishable package that had been mis-routed to Little Rock and delayed. While portions of the experience were frustrating, I was highly impressed when the mail carrier telephoned me to say that she’d seen all the notes I’d left saying I was home but that I clearly wasn’t hearing her knocking on our outside door and could I please come sign for the box. Institutions may sometimes fail, but people come through in the end.

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

Thursday again! Is it possible they’re coming faster than they used to? Regardless, here are three beautiful things that happened since the last one rolled around:

1. The sound of an entire room reverberating on “om” at the end of a yoga class is magical.

2. Arcade Fire, an 8-member band from Canada, fills up the stage with multiple instruments and people running from one to the next, but it’s honestly one of the most joy-filled stage shows I’ve seen. They whip the crowd up to a frenzy and leave everyone in a happy mood to head home.

3. Rudi and I head to the Circle to enjoy the end of the weekend. I feast on blackberry and coconut gelato, while Rudi opts for yellow peach and watermelon sorbet. As the sun slips down in the sky, we move homeward and are treated to a clear sky filled with a gorgeous sunset of pinks and salmons and oranges.

What’s been beautiful in your world this week?