Whoops! Yesterday, I had a piece of writing I had to finish for this morning, which made me forget the piece of writing I do every Thursday night!

Here, however, are three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Being able to share food makes me happy, so I was delighted when Julie, my friend Chris’ wife, said she’d be happy to take some of the Swiss chard from my garden. I dropped a bunch off Sunday and the following night was delighted to receive a photo of the dish she made and a message saying how delicious it was. Then, yesterday, I finally got around to making some shortbread and foisted some of it on my friend Neal, who is in the final throes of work deadlines before vacation.

2. The homespun series of free concerts at Fort Reno has become one of my most anticipated rituals of summer, and last night the stars finally aligned for me to head up and enjoy a laid-back and meteorologically temperate night of punk rock.

3. We’ve had a bunch of thunderstorms this past week, sometimes in the more traditional evening hours and sometimes overnight. The ones that happen when I’m in bed are my favorites, because they make for such good sleeping. (I also like sleeping during rock concerts, so clearly I have a penchant for noisy settings.)

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My friend Katie’s team of journalists won the Congressional Women’s Softball Game even with some appalling calls. She had an amazing game, scoring both the first run and the final out.

2. Sarah and I watched the new Indiana Jones movie and found it an enjoyable romp in keeping with the franchise.

3. I am an admin for our pickup league Whatsapp group and have been manually adding people to my phone and then to the app for months. One of the founders of the group today showed me our group has a QR code interested people can scan and my life will be so much easier now.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Sarah and I head to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens this morning to see the lotus blossoms and water lilies in bloom. They were quite spectacular.

2. Dragonflies love the heat and it’s so fun to watch them flitting around open fields as if they’re playing tag.

3. Sarah and I watch fireworks from the river walk on Independence Eve, rather than stay in the ballpark with the other 36,000+ attendees, then beat the rush to get summery ice cream cones, which we eat in Adirondack chairs in the park.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The garden is, knock on wood, doing really well. I harvested enough peas and chard yesterday for a meal, picked my first cherry tomatoes, and spied both an adorable wee fairy eggplant and two tiny yellow squash. And the pumpkin has grown up into the bronze fennel, giving the pollinators their choice of yellow flowers.

2. We spied the last few minutes of a rainbow that followed a torrential rain that happened while we were shopping.

3. My friend Sergio and I had dinner after our game Monday night. It’s always good to go out with the whole team, but sometimes it’s nice to get one-on-one time, particularly with one of the old gang. We talked about everything from AI to families to fireflies and left feeling good despite our losses earlier in the evening.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I’m watching Scarecrow and Mrs. King on Tubi and enjoying seeing the D.C. scenery. At least in this first season, they do seem to have done a lot of exterior shooting in the city.

2. My friend BW calls and we have a proper catch-up for the first time in ages.

3. The first corn on the cob of the summer (often disappointingly bland) was surprisingly delicious. As was the first peach, which got mixed into my yogurt parfait with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi and I picked two buckets of tart cherries last weekend and as of this evening, they’re all pitted and most are in the freezer.

2. I spent the better part of the week at my friend Neal’s house, taking care of my favorite doggo, Naya. And then he came back and I got to return home to my best boys, both of whom seem quite happy to have me back.

3. We are in prime berry season, which means in addition to the cherries, I’ve also bought strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries at farmers markets this week. I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s yogurt parfaits!

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