Three beautiful things from the week before a long weekend:

1. The windows in John’s condo are huge and look out over 16th Street.

2. A tiny girl, who clearly was still mastering the freestyle walking thing, staggers up and down the street as her mother follows. When her father emerges from a restaurant with the stroller, she lurches over to him to help push. She and Rudi engage in a series of “hi!’s” and waves.

3. With his new haircut and strolling around the Burrow in his boxers, Rudi reminds me of an underwear model. (But don’t tell him, okay? This will just be our secret…)

Even though I keep thinking today ought to be Friday, I’m having a tough time understanding how it got to be this late in the week already. Nonetheless, here it is — time again for three beautiful things from the past week:

1. As I hurry to the metro, I pass a man in paint-spattered pants out on his front walk. He is painting bright splotches on a large (4’x6′, maybe) canvas.

2. I ride downtown Saturday afternoon, cutting through Lafayette Park on my way. Because they’ve closed Pennsylvania Avenue nearby to cars, it’s a great, safe place for pedestrians and tends to attract a lot of foot traffic. A guide leads a tour group, explaining tidbits of information about the area. A little girl in a white lacy dress and flowers in her hair runs down the path to my left. Women in matching gowns are clustered to my right and I glance around, searching for the bride. She’s walking behind the flower girl, looking lovely. Meanwhile, a ferocious game of street hockey is going on in the closed street.

3. Jordi and Charles (a D.C. for Dean friend) got married on Saturday night and were kind enough to invite us to help celebrate with them. The ceremony was simple and quick, held in an outdoor courtyard under an unseasonably pleasant August sunset. There was little fuss and you could tell from looking at the two of them that this was really a perfect match.

We adjourned inside for the reception, where photos of the couple and their friends and family covered the shelves around the room. A note indicated that we were welcome to take shots we loved home with us as their gift to us. A group of us grabbed a table together and we spent the evening talking and refilling our plates from the buffet lines and generally making merry. The music started early and continued late and covered every decade from the 1940s on. Our crowd, being perhaps a bit older than most of Charles and Jordi’s friends, particularly enjoyed the ’80s hits. Both Charles and Jordi spent lots of time out on the dance floor and you could see that the two of them were actually having fun at their own wedding!

By the time you’ve lived a third of a century (stop gasping, Mum, it’s true), you so often come away from weddings with a list of things you would have done differently if it had been you. Not so this time. It really was the perfect day.

Three beautiful things from this past Olympic week:

1. Michael Phelps seems to be part eel. Nearly every time he gets in the pool, a record breaks.

2. Because I was a volleyball player in high school and college — and a remarkably sucky server — I am always so impressed by the jump serve. You throw the ball up two stories in the air with sufficient English to keep it near you, run forward several steps, and then jump up and hit the ball with your hand hard enough to make it fly forward over the net (and hopefully into a spot not occupied by an opponent).

3. The Chinese men perform on the gymnastics rings as if they’re standing on the floor. Their moves are fluid and, as Rudi points out, you can just watch the different muscle groups kick in as the gymnasts swing from one move to the next.

I awoke today finally feeling a bit better. Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions of how to feel better! Here are three beautiful things from the past week:

1. This week, recycling bins appeared downtown next to trash cans. When we moved down here five years ago, hardly anyone recycled. I’m absolutely delighted with the change of attitude over time.

2. As I walked back to the office with my sandwich, the skies grew menacing and the winds picked up. By the time I’d reached the roof deck, rain was starting to speckle down, forcing me inside. A chapter later in my book, and the spritzing was done. I moved back outside to discover the heat and humidity had broken. In the shade, I actually needed my cardigan.

3. On Sunday, the weather was so beautiful that I opted to go on a bike ride and then head to the pool to swim. On my way down to the river, I passed a heron. My bike decided to cooperate by letting me into my highest set of gears for the first time this season. The water was refreshing, but not cold, after my ride. And the sun shone down like it really believed that life was good.

Ahem, is this thing on?

I still haven’t unpacked from my vacation, so rest assured the blog isn’t the only neglected thing in my life this week. Rudi will be away this weekend riding up yet another mountain, so I will have plenty of time then to tell you about the adventures of the last week. But there is time now to share some of the little details of the past seven days. Three beautiful things:

1. A man wearing a baggy t-shirt and exercise pants walks past me walking the tiniest terrier I’ve ever seen. It was maybe the size of my hand, and a D.C. rat would have required three or four of it to make a satisfying lunch.

2. I returned home to find a small package waiting for me. My dentist had sent me a compilation cd to thank me for referring Rudi to him. I’ve had doctors thank me for referrals before, but never actually had them offer a gift. It was a classy touch.

3. Irisa, Shelley and Mike’s seven-year-old daughter, is growing up. The night they arrived, she explained to Rudi how she’s been practicing rolling her eyes. My mother will assure you that I am the queen of this skill, so I was sure to offer my expert advice over the weekend. Shelley was delighted, I’m sure, but this is the role of aunties everywhere — to help with valuable life skills that parents would prefer you not acquire.

I’m away, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get reading material. Here are three beautiful things from the past week:

1. I walk into the bathroom after Rudi leaves for work. I’m greeted by the smell of coconut lemongrass soap, which Rudi picked up because he knows how much I love coconut. It always reminds me of the beach and makes me so happy.

2. My festival-bought sundress has yards and yards of fabric and the skirt billows around me in what seems like a romantic way as I trot down the Metro escalator.

3. A sparrow bathes in some loose dirt, wallowing in the dust.