This is one of those nights when I struggle to remember what I told myself earlier in the week would make a good item for today’s column. I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some, but these are good, too:

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. At the craft fair last weekend, I am drawn to an artist who uses fabric as her medium to produce landscapes. While what pulls me in are depictions of the kite festival, ultimately Rudi and I take home a tetraptych of a tree through the seasons. It feels very grownup to buy actual art to put on our walls.

2. One of our favorite parts of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival every year is the sheep dog demonstration, which is run by the same two shepherds and their border collies. This year, they have used a different breed of sheep than usual, and it’s clear these animals do not appreciate the gig. The emcee announces they’ve escaped the pen several times over the weekend and have had to be rounded up for real from the festival grounds. As we watch, the sheep decide they do NOT want to be herded through a chute and over a little bridge, because they start charging the dog trying to herd them. This is a first in our experience, and while the shepherds ultimately restore order (we learn why it is a shepherd carries a crook, for instance), it’s fascinating to watch a more legitimate demonstration, rather than what’s usually a pretty scripted event.

3. Colorful poppies and fragrant lilies of the valley from farmers markets join the spring’s final delicate bouquet of violets from the garden in vases atop the fridge.

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

If it’s Thursday, it’s time to share three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Closing my eyes for a bit after an early start to the day and many hours of working with the public.

2. The first asparagus of the season — eaten with Hollandaise sauce.

3. While in Connecticut at the beginning of the month, I bought a cheerful yellow dress. I wore it for the first time Sunday to a wedding reception and got lots of compliments on it, including from the bride, who was similarly attired in a brightly hued outfit.

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

Nine years ago this week, inspired by Clare’s blog, I started recording beautiful things in my life. Mostly it’s been a weekly — on Thursdays (because of the alliteration) — occurrence, but there have been some additional posts in there as life has mandated. As my most regular feature, this marks my 496th post on the topic.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. A new pair of contacts after wearing the previous pair too long, dozing off in them too many times, and, finally, getting sunscreen on them.

2. My new volleyball team does not have the on-court skill of my previous one, but the camaraderie is strong, and four of us enjoyed a post-game drink this week.

3. Tuesday evening, as sunset neared, the day’s final rain poured down like a snow shower. Off to the east, a double-rainbow blossomed.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rolling up my jeans on a warm afternoon.

2. A bouquet of violets plucked from my garden and put into a green vase atop the fridge.

3. Making it to the metro just as the rain hits.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Long denied the sea air, on my one free evening in Boston I take the T to the ocean in Revere. I walk along the beach, watching the beam from an offshore lighthouse cut through the fog, and marveling at the size of the clam shells washed up from recent Nor’easters. I had done some research to find a fish/sandwich shop for dinner, but it turned out to be a takeout-only joint. Disregarding the 40-degree temperatures and the storm rolling in, I take my dinner outside and have a tasty, if quick, fish feast in a beach-side pavilion before heading back to the city and my warm hotel bed.

2. After six years and many requests, Nationals Park finally added a veggie hot dog to the stadium’s menu.

3. My friend BW has a monthlong internship in D.C. this summer and texted me to inquire about an apartment she was considering. Turns out it’s less than a mile from the Burrow, which is the closest we’ll have lived together since we graduated from college 18 years ago. I’m beyond excited.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Sam and Alexis invite me out to a vegetarian restaurant, where I have fiddleheads, and to an ice cream parlor, where my dessert is a nut-filled, rosewater-flavored scoop. Karen takes the train up to Boston and we end up at an overpriced Italian spot for supper and, later, a Chinese bakery for cups of tea. Regardless of what I’m eating, it is best done with people I’ve known and loved for so long. It cannot be said enough how much I miss them and how wonderful it is to have them sitting an arm-length away.

2. Opening Day eventually holds a loss for the Mets, but because their opponents were the Nationals, I was able to pull in a staticky radio broadcast for the game at my desk.

3. I head to Boston’s North End in pursuit of a lunch place Sam recommends. Instead, I end up in Modern Pastry Shop, whose overwhelming smell of sugar and almond paste reminds me of Libby’s in New Haven. I buy a cannoli, which they fill on the spot with ricotta and top with powdered sugar. It is the best Italian pastry I have ever had, whether enjoyed outside with sugar blowing all over me or at one of the shop’s handful of tables with my oldest friend.

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