I’m still picking salt and sand out of my hair, but Thursday is waning, so I’ll post first and then shower.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi and I took the day off to head to the beach. It was our first time visiting Bethany Beach on a weekday, and the vibe is much more laid back than on the weekend. We picnicked on fresh fish sandwiches, played in the surf, read as we dried off, and played tag with the tide. (It won the first round, but we were victorious in the next two.) The sky was blue, the humidity was low, and if it was in the 90s, the beach is the ideal place to weather that kind of … weather. After we changed out of our suits, we bought ice cream cones and ate them as we walked along the boardwalk before heading back south.

2. The drive home across Delaware and the Eastern Shore is to the west, which meant we were chasing a large glowing orb for the first half of the trip. Because the skies were clear, the color changes associated with the sunset were particularly lovely.

3. I spent Monday night at the ballpark, but at a different one than usual. I headed out to Bowie to catch the Baysox, the Orioles’ AA affiliate, play the Redding Phillies. It’s been a decade since I’ve seen a minor league game, and I had forgotten how enjoyable they are. It was dog night, so my aisle-mates included a white husky with different colored eyes; the passel of children sitting behind me reminded me of the Peanuts gang with their chatter; my seat was in the seventh row, behind home plate; and the Baysox won (three RBIs off two homers). The stadium employees were all pleasant, and the stadium itself features a carousel. Plus, I got to have a tasty stadium dinner of a veggie burger, tasty fries, and pink cotton candy.

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

Happy summer! How crazy is it that Independence Day is two weeks away? I’m not ready! Let’s slow time down on this sultry evening and look back at three beautiful things from the past week, shall we?

1. My Bikeshare membership comes up for renewal. (Bikeshare is the system of shared bicycles located around the region. Pick up a bike from the automated stands in one place (like by your office) and ride it to your next destination (such as the grocery store, the park, or home).) The annual cost is not inconsequential, so I consider my options. But because the system tracks your usage, I am able to see that in the last year, I used CaBi 75 times, rode 91.47 miles (that would most likely not have been biked otherwise), and burned two days’ worth of calories. I hadn’t realized I had used it so often. Although I have my own bike, I find that the benefits at least equal the cost (if not outweigh them) for a continued subscription.

2. Twice in the last week, I’ve gotten to see favorite movies from the 1980s on the big screen. On Saturday, we headed up to Silver Spring to catch The Princess Bride on the AFI’s huge screen. It was fantastic — complete with occasional interludes of audience recitations. Tonight, Back to the Future was shown on a screen set up in Dupont Circle, and we trundled our camp chairs over there to watch. There was lots of applause at the key moments — and a real life DeLorean for us to check out (no sign of the Flux Capacitor).

3. I have not yet made homemade ice cream (although the canister is now in the freezer to enable making it this weekend), so we stopped at Larry’s for cones on our way home tonight, because two days in the upper 90s seemed to demand frozen concoctions. Rudi sampled the Mud Pie for the first time, but I opted for my favorite, Paradise, which was a fresh vat when we walked in.

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

It’s Thursday! Time to report back on three beautiful things from the past week:

1. A fancy-dress event requires fancy nails. I combine my normal shiny purple nail polish (colorway Buffy the Violet Slayer) with a sparkly paler purple (colorway Twinkle Toes) to give myself glitter-ball violet fingertips.

2. We have a berry trifecta this week — strawberries turned into popsicles and muffins, cherries for a picnic’s dessert, and blueberries for a snack and a salad topping.

3. Julia and I meet up for tea after work and spend a few hours catching up. It’s been a while.

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

I am basking in aloe and awash with Vitamin D with tea in hand and cat at my side, so it’s clearly time to look back on three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Fava bean spread on baguette, enjoyed as part of dinner three nights in a row.

2. Our first Friday night picnic is a wash-out due to tornado-spawning storms. Sarah, Nicole, John, Rudi, and I turn it into a pizza party.

3. Today, Rudi, Sarah, Sarah’s brother, Brian, and I had tickets to the afternoon game of the Nationals and the Mets. The day was warm, but not too, with a hint of a breeze. The sky was blue, with occasional clouds covering the sun to give us a break. I ate a tasty falafal sandwich and had free sodas (today’s designated driver coupon, as well as Tuesday night’s, when the line for the stand where it was redeemable was several innings’ long). The Mets won. Then, because it was such a nice day and because Brian couldn’t drive back to Virginia until after rush hour and because it was still early on a day when we all ought to have been at work, we went out for an early dinner and sat on a patio along Barracks Row.

(A bonus: We harvest our first full-sized tomato from our garden ever. It is a shade-happy variety, which makes for a happy plant in our plot under a tree. The second tomato is just starting to turn red, so I imagine it will be perfect when I’m next able to pick it on Sunday. It serves as the star of our salad.)

How about you? What was beautiful in your world this week?

June is nearly upon us, but May is having one final, glorious stand at immortality. Before she fades away, let’s look back at three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Fireflies emerge in the park as twilight fills the sky.

2. Peas from the garden eaten straight from the pod while standing in the kitchen.

3. We clean out the freezer and toss some things that were indistinguishable from the freezer burn coating them. (Note: plastic grocery bags are not adequate for long-term freezer storage.) There is now room for popsicles and homemade ice cream and ice cubes (radical, I know!), and I can see how many baggies of strawberries I have left from last season for daiquiri-making.

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

It’s the Thursday before a long weekend and if that’s not a reason to count the beautiful things that have led up to today, I don’t know what is. Here are three from the past week:

1. A young girl and her mother out for a stroll are sitting on a wall, taking a break. The girl has clearly brought her stuffed dog out to stretch his legs too, since he’s on his leash — a navy blue tie.

2. A storm is coming. You can feel the electricity in the air. It’s almost as invigorating as being at the ocean.

3. Knowing that it’s supposed to cloud over sometime in the afternoon, I head to the park early (for me), taking my thermos of tea and (late) breakfast with me. I get several hours sitting at a picnic table reading before I’ve usually left the Burrow.

And, while strictly this isn’t beautiful, because it made me cry, its beauty lies in its perfection. A line from Sherlock: “I was so alone, and I owe you so much.” Friendship summarized in agonizing clarity.

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