Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I have been lazy with my sourdough starter and had let it hang out unfed in the fridge for a couple weeks. This week, I fed it and it perked right up.

2. I had an expiring birthday coupon with Asics, and the trail runners I like for outdoor volleyball were on clearance. I didn’t need new sneakers yet, but I will certainly need them at some point this year, so it’s nice to have a new pair ready to go as soon as my knees and hips tell me that the old pair should be retired. (This is my best advice for 40-somethings who want to remain active in sports: listen to your body and replace your equipment more often than you used to.)

3. I’d seen them on other people’s blogs, but hadn’t come across them in real life yet, so Saturday, I took a snack, knitting, and a book and walked to the park via the route most likely to reveal snowdrops. I didn’t even have to make it to the Quakers’ churchyard; two doors down from me had some gorgeous clusters growing in their front bed.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I had a nice birthday last weekend. My friend Rebecca baked me cupcakes, my parents sent a cake, I got to talk with my BFF and others, and I had text messages from nearly everyone else. Plus, I slept in, bought myself books (including one from a new-to-me bookshop across town), ate a free ice cream cone, and had pizza for supper, in addition to watching The Princess Bride, reading, and knitting.

2. A former teammate was in town visiting her boyfriend, and we got to meet up for a late breakfast earlier this week. It was nice to catch up (and to eat cheesy grits).

3. Somehow, and I don’t even know how, I cast on too few stitches for my first pair of socks of 2026 — and I didn’t realize it until I was pretty much done working the heel. Yesterday, I put the sock on a circular needle so I could try it on before I began the foot, and it didn’t fit. But when I’d realized that 14×4≠64, I thought, “I bet it would work as a fingerless mitt,” and it does. So I only had to rip out the heel and then figure out steps for a mitt (since I haven’t made a pair in a decade), rather than rip the whole thing back. I hope to finish the first one tomorrow and immediately start on the second so I’ll have the pair knit in time for spring!

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

Three beautiful things from my previous week:

1. The frost on the upstairs bathroom screen at my parents’ resembles a hedgehog.

2. A friend is pregnant.

3. I overshot my intended destination by a metro stop and decided to right the problem on foot, rather than waiting for a train heading back the opposite direction. Since there were Girl Scouts outside selling cookies, clearly the universe meant for me to get off in Ballston instead of at my usual stop.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi returned from his coaching trip on Sunday. Sure it was with a bad head cold, but it was nice to have him home to use up all the tissues I bought on sale while he was away.

2. We were shorthanded for coaching this week, so I ended up on the dodgeball side, rather than with my usual volleyball kids. As were packing up all the equipment at the end, Beth told me that during her check-in with the kids at the beginning one girl had raised her hand to demand to know where I was.

3. Jeff Bezos gutted the Washington Post‘s reporting staff this week, so I canceled my years-long subscription. I want to support savvy journalism and understand how crucial it is to democracy for independent newspapers to survive. But integral to that is actually employing reporters and covering local news. I am beyond disappointed, but feel buoyed that I have sent a message.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Everyone on my block shoveled, so for the first time in the 22 years I’ve lived here, you can safely walk the whole square. (This stops being true in short order.)

2. My friend Sergio reached out to ask if I wanted to come hang out with their two small kiddos. I did, so I spent a couple hours answering “Why…” questions, admiring the emergency vehicles that pulled up to their block, and making funny voices for toys so they could get a little work done. Sergio and Michelle fed me lunch and Sergio provided rides to and from their metro station, so it felt like a little vacation from my life.

3. Jess and I were the only ones from our team who were going to be able to make the game, and you need at least three players to not forfeit. So I pinged Aroush and Jordan, who braved the bad conditions to come to our rescue. The other team didn’t have any women, which is also a prerequisite, so they forfeited to us. We then played 4×4 and beat them anyway, which felt satisfying indeed.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I went to the big Safeway in Georgetown last weekend and ran into one of my middle school players and her girlfriend while I was there. It was really nice to see them and to touch base.

2. My team’s season started this week, and half the team was unable to make the game. A friend had offered to sub in when I needed an extra player, and while I hadn’t expected to accept on week one, it felt great to see him after a couple of months.

3. Sunday offered conversational snow — the sort that you remark upon, but which requires no work from you. I tucked myself into boots and the hot pink cape my mother made me and took myself out for a walk. As I paused on the bridge to take a picture of the snow drifting down into the creek below (the snow did not show up in the shot, so it looks just like every other day), I noticed the girl behind me paused as well. I glanced her way and she said, “I’m sorry. I had to take your photo. You were the only color in the entire landscape. Do you mind?” And I didn’t, because I was.