Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The lily of the valley bulbs I planted … five? … years ago finally blossomed.

2. My volleyball team added a new teammate who my friend Chris and I played with this winter and welcomed back several others from injury and time away. And then we faced off against most of the folks Chris and I play pickup with and got solidly beaten. But we had fun being together and that’s most important!

3. Grilled pineapple on our Tuesday tacos.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I get to play volleyball in some pretty amazing places, particularly for a landlocked city. I’ve played grass games in the shadow of the Washington Monument and adjacent to the World War II Memorial, and now, finally, I’m back playing sand games just behind the Lincoln Memorial. (They closed the courts during COVID to prevent people from gathering and then decided to refurbish them in the two years since. Judgment is reserved until we have some flooding rain, since they used to have a drainage issue, but so far the courts are very nice.)

2. Saturday morning Rudi and I met some friends down the street from their new apartment at the Florida Avenue Grill, one of the oldest soul food diners in the country, for brunch. In addition to good conversation, I had delicious French toast and grits and veggie sausage and eggs and considered for a period of time never eating again. (At least until Sarah and I spent more hours at the ballpark than expected later that evening waiting out a rain delay.)

3. The strawberry plants in the garden are covered with flowers, which is very exciting. To tide us over, I bought two pints of the first berries I saw at the local farmers market the other evening. They taste like early season berries, but still!

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I help coach kids and have been working with third graders and soccer for the past several months. This week, one of the kids who struggles with his emotions a bit and I just played one-on-one for the whole hour. He kept up a steady stream of chatter and I teased him a little bit about how in second grade he must not have learned about over and under very well based on the boasts he was making. We made it through the whole session without tears and with laughter, which seems like a win.

2. It’s been a while since I visited the park, so I headed up there for a while Tuesday evening. The sky was painted with the most gorgeous brush strokes.

3. Despite looking in both D.C. and Connecticut, I hadn’t come across any Hershey Eggs, my favorite Easter candy, all season. Sunday, Rudi returned from his bike ride in Maryland with three bags for me.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An evening spent in Annapolis gets us a walk around Maryland’s bayside capital, dinner outside, slightly cooler temps than back in D.C., a coffeehouse open late, and a Micky Dolenz concert.

2. With weather nice enough for shorts, I spend several hours in the garden, pulling weeds, raking leaves, and planting seeds.

3. The redbuds are at peak bloom, turning swaths of woodland and parkland a rosy violet.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Our first in-person baseball game of 2023, the final Spring Training exhibition match between the Nationals and the Yankees, was a fine, sunny spring day and brought the Nats a 3-0 win. (And then the Mets gave fans an Opening Day victory we got to watch on tv.)

2. We biked through the peak bloom of the D.C. cherry blossoms on Hains Point. Given people spent three hours stuck in traffic down there over the weekend, our unencumbered ride was remarkably pleasant.

3. Some friends are in the process of moving apartments and Rudi and I were able to give them a hand. We have benefited from help in the past and are always happy to pay it forward (particularly since we’ll need help ourselves again sometime).

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My friend Anna’s alma mater hadn’t made the NCAA men’s basketball tournament since before she was born and then, in their first appearance in over 40 years, upset a #4 seed. We joined her and a couple of her other friends to watch the second round, where her team fought valiantly, but lost.

2. One of the teams in our league has been a no-show for weeks and mostly people stick around to play pickup against their opponents. I noticed this week they had the first slot, so I roused our team to show up early and get in some extra time on the court.

3. I’m up in Connecticut spending some time with my folks. It’s weird coming up at this point in the season, because you literally watch spring disappear as you drive north. But it’s been fun seeing bulbs start to emerge in the couple days I’ve been here and to know that come what may, spring will find New England, too.

What’s been beautiful in your world lately?