Three beautiful things before the end of Thursday:

1. Sarah and I have been hunting for cider doughnuts in the greater D.C. but have been unable to find any to satisfy our seasonal craving. While up in Connecticut, a google search revealed doughnuts for sale at a farm two towns over from my folks’. The whole family piled into the car and a drive through the countryside brought us to a family farm within 20 minutes. We ate the bag of doughnut holes on the ride home and consumed a bag of full-sized cider doughnuts the following day, but I saved a bag to bring back to D.C. so that when Sarah recovers from her bout of piggy flu and ear infection, she, Rudi, and I can have a little party.

2. The best part of being sick when I was a kid was that I could watch tv all day. Recent television programming has done away with daytime syndicated reruns, instead relying on talk shows and news programming and stuff that generally no one wants to watch, even when they’re healthy. One of the only good things about the digital tv transition is the addition of RTV, which shows old programs. Tuesday, a stomach bug kept me home from work, giving me the chance to take advantage of this benefit for the first time. I watched Kate and Allie, Bachelor Father, Adam 12, Dragnet, and Marcus Welby, M.D. in between naps. It totally redeemed the sick day.

3. I was upstairs in the bathroom when I heard my mother scream. Flinging open the door, I was relieved to hear nervous laughter coming from downstairs.

“Maybe you’d better stay up there.”

“Spider?”

“Nope.”

“Mouse?”

“Nope.”

“Snake?”

“Yep.”

“In the house?”

“Uh huh.”

I trooped downstairs. A baby garter snake had accidentally let itself into the front hallway and was trying to figure out how to escape. It had wedged itself into a narrow fissure below the front door’s threshold and periodically would wave its little head and flickery tongue out in a desperate bid for freedom.

I grabbed a magazine card and got down to try to ease the snake into coming out where I could rescue it.

“I’m surprised you don’t have your camera out,” I remarked to my mother.

She disappeared, but returned in time to hand me a section of newspaper to scoop up the snake when it slithered out from under the door and tried to escape behind it, much to the delight of my parents’ two cats.

Mum opened the screen door, but once I was outside, she asked me to pause so she could snap a shot of her interloper.

“Wait! Just one more shot!” she called out, as the snake, impatient with the snapping shutter, dropped from the newspaper to the ground and slithered away.

(Admit it, bloggers… Doesn’t it sound familiar?)

What’s been beautiful in your world recently?

It’s Thursday night in Connecticut and the living is easy. Plus, it’s time for three beautiful things:

1. My friend Laura was honored tonight as a finalist for Connecticut’s State Teacher of the Year award. The committee ultimately may have picked some kindergarten teacher to honor, but I know who’s number one in my book (and in those of all the students whose lives she’s touched in the past 13 years).

2. At the hearing on the bill for marriage equality in D.C., 81 of 96 people who provided testimony spoke out in favor of extending civil marriage to same sex couples. That’s more than four-fifths. When I first started attending hearings on making domestic partnerships legal in Connecticut the crowds (and the speakers) were probably equal in number. What a wonderful change in the last decade!

3. Mum turned 60 today and I was able to come home to help her celebrate. Mum, really you’re all three beautiful things this week and every week. I love you!

What beautiful things have been happening around your world?

It’s Thursday! Time for three beautiful things from the last week:

1. A rainy Saturday means pajama time on the couch, hot tea, books, and knitting.

2. Warm zucchini bread spread with butter. (And Rudi pointing out that grating zucchini is a lot faster with the food processor than with the cheese grater…)

3. A bulldog stares out the window, standing on top of what I hope is a ceramic jack o’lantern.

What’s been beautiful in your neck of the woods recently?

Another week gone… And with it, three beautiful things:

1. A construction-free ride home from Connecticut. We accomplish the ride in a record-setting six hours…

2. Warm soup and baguette on a chilly, rainy night.

3. New kneesocks — black and white stripes with orange accents — for the Halloween season.

What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

Thanks for the outpouring of concern earlier this week. I am feeling better and expect this weekend’s trip to Connecticut will put me firmly back into good spirits.

And along that train of thought, here are three beautiful things from the past week that have helped make my soul sing:

1. I have downloaded every picture I’ve taken since 2006 onto my computer (and the few kid photos people have emailed me, hint, hint) and set up my screen saver to cycle through them. Because Rudi and I have been watching more of our tv over the internet (thank you PBS!), I spend more time in my rocking chair while my computer sits idle. As familiar faces flash past me — weddings, holidays, sporting events, just hanging out, big events and small — I feel like you’re all in my living room with me.

2. Have you seen The Berlin Reunion yet, which commemorated last week the 19th anniversary of German reunification and the upcoming 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall? The Boston Globe has pictures of the political theater, and you just can’t help but be moved.

3. As I sat in Rock Creek Park Sunday afternoon, two large dogs walking by with their people suddenly looked intently over my shoulder. I turned, expecting to see another dog, but instead discovered a doe, probably 50 feet from the picnic bench where I sat talking to Erik on the phone. A rustling in the brush on the hillside behind the bike path alerted all of us in the vicinity that this deer was not on her own. A cyclist stopped and sat down, hoping to lure the companion into the open, and the dog owners held firmly to leashes. Soon, an adolescent doe picked her way out to follow her friend and then both bounded down the bike path, tails erect, until they veered off toward the creek far away from the rest of us.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that today’s TBT is dedicated to my dad and my great-aunt Maude, who both celebrate birthdays today.

What’s been beautiful in your world lately? Feel free to share in the comments.

I know, I know. I missed Thursday. I meant to write yesterday when I got home from cocoa with Amani, but, well, I was exhausted and toddled off to bed after dinner without remembering what day of the week it was.

So here are three belated beautiful things from my last week, served up with apologies:

1. At the cafe, a man sits with his coffee and a doberman the size of a Great Dane. The dog follows with careful attention the movements of two sparrows who are teasing it.

2. In Salt Lake, eating out is a highlight. Several breakfasts include fresh fruit — pears in a coffeecake and berries on French toast and oatmeal — and my raspberry-chocolate chip milkshake is so thick it’s served with a spoon instead of a straw.

3. After joining Garrett and Bethy and their friends for drinks and dessert, instruments are broken out and the songs flow joyously for the next couple hours.

What’s been beautiful in your world this week?