There were a bunch of things to choose from today. These are just three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Our freezer came unlatched while we were out of town (I probably failed to make sure it was shut all the way when I threw a couple things in right before we left) and as things melted, they shifted, which meant a big mess when our friends John and Nicole stopped by to feed the cats. The container of homemade ice cream ended up on the floor, but because it was made of Pyrex, it didn’t break and leave glass shards all over the kitchen.

2. Finding a pair of teabags in the desk drawer when I thought I was out.

3. After a stressful day and strenuous yard work, floating in a nearly deserted hotel pool beneath a waxing gibbous moon.

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

It’s been a long day and I want nothing more than to sleep, so I’ll make this fast.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A black sports car drives past sporting a plush, hot pink mustache on its grill.

2. I decide that the night is too fine to head right home, so pedal behind the White House, rather than in front of it. I’m rewarded for my exercise with the sight of Marine One landing.

3. When a breakdown en route to the airport causes us to miss our flight, Delta’s counter employees in Baltimore and Detroit are ridiculously helpful in getting us onto the only planes that will get us to Salt Lake tonight.

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

I told myself not to forget the thing that early in the week I thought would make a good addition to this list. But as so often happens, it slipped my mind. It’s a possibility it will come back as I write, that my memory is locked in my fingertips somehow and it will burst forth into the keyboard any moment now. It’s also possible that it will return after I hit post, just to laugh at me, Nelson-style. Or perhaps it’s flitted off into the ether, leaving only its echo behind to mock me.

But with it or without it, I offer you a list of three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A beautiful, sunny, unseasonably temperate Sunday afternoon in August spent with Rudi at the pool, in the garden, and sprawled on a blanket in the park.

2. Rudi’s friend Chris won tickets to a Nationals game and invited us to join him at the park. The seats were close enough to the field that we could see Bryce Harper’s every grimace, that one of the coaches traded a baseball for a snack from the kid sitting in front of us, and that the ball girl was wearing a white sports bra under her jersey. I mean, if you’re close enough to pick up on someone’s undergarment choice, you’re close.

3. My best friend of 22+ years (Wow. I hadn’t done the math recently. We are old!) suggested that I could call her if I found myself without other occupation on Saturday night. Honestly, a couple hours with her on the phone is better than almost any other way I could spend an evening, save, of course, for spending it with her in person.

Nope, it didn’t come back. But those three are good, too, don’t you think?

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

Happy August! It’s Thursday again, which means it’s time once more to look back on three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A woman walks down the street carrying a golden retriever puppy in her arms.

2. Sam and his wife, Alexis, and her family were all in town for a vacation and chose to spend Saturday afternoon with us at Nationals Park watching the Mets game. Since Sam, Rudi, and I have known each other since before Rudi and I were a couple, and since we don’t see each other often anymore, it was really nice to have a few hours together (including an extra one caused by a rain delay) to catch up.

3. Rudi and I went out for gelato and, because the night was fine, took our cups over to in front of the local museum and sat out there together in the dark for a while.

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

Time for three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An arts council in Bethesda has cordoned off a small block, erected a screen, and set up chairs. We spend the evening watching The Princess Bride.

2. As we’re speeding to the Monkees concert on Sunday, we race past ballroom dancers performing in Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue. And as we were on on our way back from a Shakespeare performance that never materialized, we happen upon a percussion ensemble, Polyphonic Marimba, performing in a triangle park in our neighborhood.

3. The heatwave breaks and I emerge from the Burrow this morning to temperatures in the upper 60s. We turn off the a/c for the first time in a month.

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

A busy weekend filled with concerts and seeing friends has nearly arrived, but before it does, let’s look back at three beautiful things from the past week:

1. On Sunday, we headed up to Delaware to the beach. We spent the entire afternoon soaking up sunlight, playing in the waves, and generally relaxing. Then we decided to follow it up with a movie at an independent, single-screen theater (which opened in 1949), which was showing The Lone Ranger.

2. The stars were ultra-bright while driving home from the beach. Living in a city, you forget how bright stars can be and how many of them there are. Depending on the road’s direction, I had a view of either Cassiopeia or the Big Dipper.

3. After more than two straight weeks of being sick with some bug that I just couldn’t shake, I woke up Tuesday feeling fine.

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