Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Fort Reno concerts started back up last week, which seems fitting because it’s impossible not to equate heat waves and the free local series, now in its 51st year, held at the highest point in the District, where even on the most miserable evening, it feels like a slight breeze gives you some relief. We introduced our new friends to the concerts and they are excited to share the experience with their teenaged nephews when they come for a prolonged visit in a few weeks.

2. Every year, the Fort Reno organizers designate one of its evenings as the Night of a Thousand Cakes in memory of the late local musician John Stabb’s birthday. Attendees bring cakes and other goodies to share, and I’ve been lucky enough to make the evening fit into my schedule several times over the years. This year, I left the baking a little late in the day and then discovered partway into the coffee cake recipe that I had no eggs and no sour cream. I did have farm yogurt, which is pretty tangy, so I made that substitution without even blinking. And did you know that you can substitute both a quarter cup of yogurt and a mixture of baking soda and vinegar for an egg? Since I needed two, I used both, which worked perfectly. We didn’t get a thousand cakes, but we did exceed Amanda’s hopes for at least ten, and a smaller crowd than usual means Rudi and I got to take home our leftovers!

3. Yesterday and today’s Tour de France stages have been filled with beautiful fields of sunflowers. Some people might watch for mountains or cathedrals or even the bike racing, but I watch for flowers — sunflowers and lavender — and coastlines.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The blackberries that grow along our garden fence are finally ripening. I have to compete with passersby, fellow gardeners, and birds, though, so most of the ones I pick are still a little on the tart side.

2. Four inches of rain fell on D.C. in a single hour on Monday morning, but mostly it stayed on the outside, where it belonged.

3. I am up to my third home-brewed ice tea success of the season. The first two were fruity herbal teas my folks gave me for Christmas a couple years back — pomegranate pear ginger and hibiscus raspberry currant — and today’s was Moroccan mint. I brew a pot at a time and then store it in the fridge in an old gallon glass milk jar. We’re out of simple syrup, but I mix it with lemonade for aromatic twists on the traditional Arnold Palmer.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I’ve probably said this before, but I love seeing superhero movies on opening weekend, because there is an incredible vibe in the theater from people who love the genre and the format and who can’t wait to find out what this story holds for them. It’s like a communal form of reading. We caught Spiderman: Far from Home on Tuesday night at the Uptown and while it wasn’t a sold-out crowd, there were a lot of people there. And you could just tell that we were all excited to find out where Marvel was going to take us in our next adventures. This iteration of Spiderman is a sweet one and this was no exception, with Peter and his classmates off on a European summer trip in which Peter plans a romantic scenario to let M.J. know he’s in love with her. We aww’ed and we buzzed and we gasped at all the appropriate moments and generally left the theater pleased with the movie and our time together.

2. Like many cities, D.C. used to have a system of streetcars to transport people around the area. Dupont Circle was home to its only underground station, built in in 1949 and used for the next 13 years until the streetcars were taken offline in favor of buses. The station spent the next decade or so as a bomb shelter, but then was abandoned until the 1990s, when a developer — obviously a guy — thought a creepy underground murder tunnel would make an excellent food court. Unsurprisingly, it failed in spectacular fashion and remained boarded up and derelict until a couple years back, when it was turned into the occasional arts space. Friday morning, Rudi and I got our first chance to attend a free event there, and we were not disappointed with the ambience, which felt like a throwback to the slightly grittier neighborhood we’d moved into.

3. Yesterday I stopped by another local farmers market to return the flat and pint containers our cherries had come in to the farmer. They were selling delicious peach lemonade, which I enjoyed while walking to the pool.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. D.C. is in the midst of a heat wave, which makes doing anything feel gross. I went to the pool yesterday evening for the last couple hours it was open for the day and it was easily ten degrees cooler there than elsewhere in the neighborhood. (It’s adjacent to a park and woods that run down to a creek.)

2. As my friend and I were walking past my building to the bar this evening after our volleyball game, we happened upon my upstairs neighbor, who was out trying to share some of her homemade cookies.

3. I made pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes last year and I finally defrosted some of it to have for supper last night alongside our daiquiris, made with strawberries I’d also frozen last summer.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Our toilet seat broke overnight, which was inconvenient (no one wants their facilities to engage in butt pinching!) until I could get to Target to buy a new one today. The enamel on the toilet seat had worn and gotten more and more dingy over time, and I’d previously given thought, but not energy, to proactively replacing it. Rudi installed it tonight and it makes our bathroom look so much nicer.

2. I found a new stand at the ballpark, which sells pupusas, tamales, and enchiladas. My cheese and bean pupusas came with a side of tangy curtido, which I spooned into my pupusas, before folding them over it and eating it like a taco. I’m not sure if that’s how Salvadorans eat them, or if it’s just my take, but it was hot and delicious and exactly what I wanted for supper on a rainy night where the 3-hour rain delay eventually turned into a postponement.

3. We went to see Rocketman at the Uptown on Tuesday (their discount night) and it was phenomenal. Taron Egerton did a great job embodying Reginald Dwight (aka Elton John), and I adored Jamie Bell as lyricist Bernie Taupin. It’s clear that the two actors had great chemistry as would befit one of the magic pairings of rock and roll. Taron does all the singing in the movie, which is impressive; the soundtrack is produced by Giles Martin (George Martin’s equally talented son); and the costuming and staging are as theatrical as one would want for our most theatrical pop star. Catch this larger-than-life story before it leaves theaters for maximum advantage.

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

Three beautiful things from this past week:

1. I stopped at the garden after my volleyball game this evening and saw both the bunny and fireflies (they’ve been out for about a month, but they were hovering in quantity at dusk just along the woods’ edge).

2. The weather this week has been cooler and less humid and utterly fantastic.

3. Rudi’s work conference ended yesterday, which meant that he worked long hours the first half of the week and that we unexpectedly got to spend much of the day together today.

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