Apologies for disappearing. I was packing Wednesday for a trip to a funeral when I heard from Rudi that he’d broken his arm on a ski vacation and needed outpatient surgery. Honestly, while I knew what I wanted to write (and packed my laptop so I could do so), I just lacked the mental energy to get it done until I returned home tonight.

But the cats and I are reunited! Rudi is recovering and generally is in decent spirits! And I got to see my folks and my bff and some extended family!

So, to get us back on track, here are three beautiful things from before this past Friday:

1. While I was away for peak bloom, I still got myself down to the Potomac and to the Tidal Basin for just-prior-to-peak cherry blossoms. Lovely, as always. (It’s one of the things here that always lives up to the hype, even if I don’t always choose to brave the tourists down by the water.

2. Last Saturday, I had set up my volleyball net down on the Mall and about 10 of us were playing when we watched a mounted park police officer pass by. We noted it as unusual, but resumed play for a bit, but then I realized the officer had brought his golden-maned horse right up alongside the court. Honestly, I was expecting him to chase us away because we lacked a permit (technically you need one for any activity attracting 10 people or more), but he just said, “I think this is the first time my horse has seen a volleyball.” Clearly, everyone rushed over to pet the horse and then we had to wait a bit for the crowd that had gathered on & adjacent to the court to shift. Then, the officer asked us to gently hit a ball over the net so he could see if his horse reacted. “A helicopter could land 50 feet from here, and he wouldn’t blink. But if there’s a fire, he’s bolting. So it’s good to see how he responds.” The horse was fine with the ball, but failed to return it over the net.

3. A creatives networking group Rudi and I belong to usually holds its meetings early on Friday mornings, so I haven’t attended many recently. But they generally hold their anniversary celebrations in the evenings, and this year Rudi and I were both in town. We metro’ed over to the newish Latin American food hall, La Cosecha, ate some tasty Salvadoran papusas, and got to see an art show for free. It made for a very nice date night.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Wednesday was a gorgeously warm day, so I spent a good portion of the afternoon and evening outside. As I was talking with my mom on the phone, I caught the reflection of the sunset and moved to get a better angle. Wow!

2. Usually dinners when Rudi is away are a pretty hit-or-miss affair. Sometimes leftovers, sometimes bowls of cereal, and occasionally something easy I can cobble together on my own. Last Sunday’s fell into the latter category, but was a fresh baguette, microwavable fondue we bought earlier in the winter for just this occasion, and a glass (in a real wine glass!) of sparkling cider that’s been sitting unopened in the fridge for months.

3. Mulch is one of those scents, like fallen ginkgo fruit, that is mostly unpleasant. But it’s also so specifically of a moment in time that when I smell it, I’m immediately moved. Workers have been redoing beds all over the region this week in the lead-up to the warmer weather and cherry blossom crowds, and it’s hard to walk for far without the pointed odor of worked tree and planter boxes and front landscaping poking your brain and reminding you that spring is here.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Saturday was too windy to play volleyball outside, but that meant I had time to check out a new-to-me bakery (excellent croissant, mediocre chai) and have Rachel come over for a cuppa and to pick up the tea she had included with our annual order.

2. This week’s floral bounty included the magnolias and the first hyacinths.

3. This week’s lunar eclipse was kind of a dud with low clouds appearing just at totality, but there were some lovely sunsets to make up for it.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Daffodils and croci are finally starting to pop here. It’s about a month later than I’ve seen daffs in recent years, but probably closer to when we should see them.

2. I headed down to the Mall on Friday evening to catch the Great Planetary Alignment. It was very cool, and I’m grateful to the stargazing app I have, which mostly helped me identify what I was seeing. (If you click through to Flickr, you can enlarge the photo to see the sliver of moon just on the horizon, as well as Mercury and Venus, I think. Jupiter and Mars are further up in the sky, out of shot, and Saturn had already set. Neptune and Saturn required magnification, which I didn’t have.)

3. John and Rebecca and I went out for Vietnamese food after volleyball on Saturday. The day had been sunny, but with a strong, steady breeze that sometimes pushed the ball yards away from its original trajectory and sent lightweight items (like the empty stake bag) flying for a block before I caught up with them. So a warm meal was especially welcome.

Things were warmer in D.C. this week, which, I’m not going to lie, makes it easier to find things beautiful. Here are three such moments:

1. It has been the chilliest winter in years, which means that I utterly misled people about playing outdoor volleyball through the colder months. But last Sunday tickled 50 degrees and I summoned folks to the Mall for the first time since mid-November. (The beach venue at the Paris Olympics has nothing on where I get to play…)

2. Rudi mentioned on my birthday that his social media was showing the year’s first snowdrops. The place where I’ve seen them most often in the past has kept their gates locked in recent years, so I had to wait an extra week until someplace more well trafficked popped.

3. It was so warm earlier on Wednesday that I headed up to the park to read and write some correspondence before meeting my friend Chris for a drink and a catch up. By the Spanish Steps, the daffodil heads were visible. Later than most years, but coming. And soon. (As an aside, cherry blossom peak bloom has been predicted for a month from today through the end of March. Squee!)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately? Oh! And before I forget, there is a Great Planetary Alignment this evening right after sunset (in D.C. Peak time varies based on your location. Check the link). Head someplace with a clear view to the west just after sunset to see all the planets of our solar system arrayed on the same plane. (A few will require access to binoculars or a telescope to view, but the rest should be visible with the naked eye.)

Three beautiful, birthdayish things from my past week:

1. I spent five hours at the pool hall with friends last Friday. We ate pizza and cupcakes and had many, many games of pool, with loud cheering and high fives for successful shots and close failures.

2. Texts, calls, gifts, and cards poured in through the weekend, from a container of muffins left on the stairs to our apartment to several boxes that the cats were delighted to claim as their own. (I kept the contents.)

3. On the morning of my birthday, Rudi and I went out for a doughnut breakfast and then headed to the zoo to meet the new pandas, who made their public debut late last month. It was a bluebird day, if a bit chilly, so the outdoor animals were largely recharging in the sun. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been to the zoo, which I always enjoy, particularly when it’s less crowded.

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