Today would not be one of the good days, which is why it’s all the more important to think of some of the beautiful things that I saw this afternoon. Here are just three:

1. The water in one of the “bays” off the Potomac near the airport sparkles, reflecting the clear, cold blue sky and brilliant midday sun.

2. Leaving the airport, I wonder if I will end up in D.C. or on Spout Run Parkway. Rudi assures me each time I pick him up from the airport that the detour is not necessary and that roads in Virginia do NOT move about like Hogwarts staircases. I mentally pat myself on the back when I notice the sign that offers me the exit for Memorial Bridge and correctly make the turn. Self-congratulations, it turns out, is a bit early, as I fail to exit the highway and end up back on my timeworn path. A final escape is offered to me, though, and I find myself off the highway, next to my parents’ old apartment complex. A twisty jaunt through Georgetown and I’m back in Dupont Circle.

3. I circle the neighborhood hunting for a parking spot … for nearly an hour. Each time I approach the light at Florida and Phelps, it turns red. Finally, I say aloud, “I’m getting pretty sick of this. What am I missing?” Turn right, drive a block, and the final spot a block from my house is open with nary a car in sight. I hope I hadn’t driven past it twenty times.

If it’s Thursday, it’s time for Three Beautiful Things from the past week:

1. Yesterday after I found out I had to work on my Saturday birthday, I let myself indulge in bad behavior. I ate a slice of cheese pizza for lunch and followed it up with hot cocoa and M&M’s. (There isn’t much that chocolate and cheese can’t fix…) I spent several hours with the knitting group. And I came home and wrote yesterday’s list (which I’d started contemplating earlier in the afternoon). And y’know what? I really do feel better about it all today.

2. The sock I’m currently working on is being knit with yarn that changes colors as you go along (i.e., the yarn itself is dyed different colors; it’s not like a mood ring…). The colors remind me of the rainbow sherbet my brother used to order at Friendly’s when we were kids.

3. Yesterday morning I came outside to a world coated in ice. Ice storms are nasty things in general, as they make travel quite tricky and sometimes dangerous. But they also give a shiny glass-coated appearance to everything, as if a fairy has come along and touched all the trees and bushes with her magic wand.

This week has been filled with Inaugural activities, most of them positive. Sure there have been long lines, cold temperatures, delays, and tourists (lots and lots of them) wandering the city with delighted, if dazed expressions on their faces. But at the same time, there were no arrests, a visiting Metro volunteer saved the life of a woman who fell onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train, and people were generally pleasant and patient regardless of somewhat trying conditions. So I’ll offer you three beautiful things from what I’ve seen around the nation’s capital:

1. A young woman wearing fairy wings is ahead of me in the volunteer line at RFK.

2. A little girl and I converse on the Metro Wednesday morning about the Inauguration. “What was your favorite part of yesterday?” prodded her father. “The candy.”

3. At the concert on Sunday, they ask everyone to please remain in their seats while the Obamas exit the premises. A crowd of half a million share a wave of laughter because only 200 or so lucky souls have seats. I hear it again on Tuesday (but this time on CNN) when they make the same announcement to the two million people who’ve been standing on the Mall for hours.

Folks, it’s sunny here! Sun! Blue skies! Sun!

(Okay, as anyone from New England knows, a clear bright day in the middle of winter means cold weather is impending. But, really, it’s only just around freezing right now, so I don’t think it’s that bad out. This weekend might be another story, when I plan to stand outside for hours at a free concert, but for today, it just adds to my general giddiness.)

And on that note, I offer you three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Monday mornings are tough normally and this week was even harder than usual. I am feeling glum as I hurry from the metro station to my office, when I pass an older woman on the sidewalk. Our eyes meet and I smile reflexively. She smiles back and the day feels more possible.

2. A possum skirts the window well on her way out into the neighborhood just about 8 every night. None of the cats have noticed until this week when Della is on my lap when it happens. She was also there last night when a raccoon waddled past. If it weren’t so cold by the window, I suspect she’d set up camp to watch for intruders…

3. I win the December raffle of free cookies from AlbuqCookie, a company I learned about from the knitblogger who did their photography back this summer. The owner contacted me to find out where he should send my prize and I told him he’d brightened my sick day. When the cookies arrived, he’d included a note hoping the cookies would help me feel better. (The cookies, you ask: Chocolate piñon biscotti. Delicious. Solid without being hard. Definitely fresh. High quality chocolate and tasty pine nuts… From a previous purchase I can also recommend their pistachio chocolate chip biscotti (which have cranberries in them) and their green chile pecan sandia cookies, which have more kick than the chocolate pepper chile shortbread.)

Three beautiful things from the week past:

1. The long-haired guy who sings and plays his guitar at various D.C. Metro stops is at mine for my return to work on Friday. I smile as I pass and I hear him over the speaker as I continue down the street saying he hopes his music makes our days cheerier and to remember that God loves us. I feel like I’ve had a benediction from Mr. Rogers.

2. Not taking Friday off meant that I got a work blog post up (I learned about albatross), which, in turn, meant that Monday wasn’t nearly as painful as it might otherwise have been.

3. I have puttered away the day before Rudi finally coaxes me out into the world. The day is waning as we walk to the grocery store, so we decide to divert to Georgetown for a hot drink to sip as the sun sets.

I realized after I went to bed last night that it was Thursday and that, for the first time, I’d forgotten to put up a three beautiful things post. I considered dragging my tired butt out of bed so as not to mess with tradition, but since I was coming to work today, I thought better of it. So today you get yesterday’s post of three beautiful things from the previous week:

1. Our annual New Year’s Eve movie marathon had a rather shaky portion to it (more on that this weekend), but we ended strong with Bedtime Stories. It was everything I want in a fairy-tale: an affable hero, a villain you can root against without remorse, and a happy ending.

2. I got the chance to see both BW and Karen while home at Christmas, as well as to make a Christmas night phone call to Grey Kitten — a good end to 2008. And yesterday we spent time with the Cap Hill gang with a wonderful New Year’s Day brunch, before I was able to catch Erik on the phone for a long-overdue chat. I love spending time with my friends and hope that this is part of a larger theme for this new year. Here’s to more phone calls with those far away and more gatherings with those nearby.

3. Rudi and I decide at the last minute to add two more doughnuts to our drive-through Dunkin’ Donuts order on the drive home. The woman at the window hands us a bag filled to the top and tells us she’s added a few more for free.

The beautiful thing I thought of last night as I was falling asleep that I told myself twice not to forget eludes me right now. If I remember it, I may share an addendum…

Why is it that hitting publish suddenly brings it to mind?

4. We change our return plans so that we are driving home at night. The lights along the Garden State Parkway cheer us, since New Jerseyites are possibly the most festive and ardent outdoor decorators I know and whole neighborhoods seem to participate. A mobile park along Route 1 offers tin soldiers at the entrance — and the most vibrantly lit tree. It stands at least two stories tall and every branch is coated with white lights. It literally glistens in the breeze as a beacon to road-weary travelers. I wish the people who decorate the official National Christmas Tree on the Mall would call them up for some tips.