Hi there! I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, but those thoughts haven’t materialized as words on a page in a week. Thank goodness for Thursdays, because we always post on Thursdays.

I’m perched here in my rocking chair, teetering slightly into some laundry that ought to be dealt with (and not really by being sat upon), Corey spread across my lap, nudging his head under my right hand in the hope that I will stop bouncing it up and down on the keyboard and instead will rub his temple in that way I can. He’s going to have to wait a few more minutes.

The hallway and kitchen lights are on and help provide some ambient light, but mostly it’s coming from the monitor and the lamp I insisted we buy when Rudi came home from the hospital and I was forced by kindness to surrender my spot on the couch to him and take over his chair. I don’t know how he’s gotten by all these years without adequate lighting, but I’m very happy with the purchase, as is he, I assume, since it’s the first light he turns on in the living room now. It’s also nice as the final light to go off in the room, since it doesn’t bleed into the bedroom nearly as much as the overhead lights. Thus why it remains on now when Rudi and the other two cats have gone to bed.

Now that I’ve set the scene for you, let’s proceed with the post, shall we?

Here are three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi and I decided late Saturday afternoon when warnings of high winds and torrential rains forecast for the following day reached us to go in search of the elusive Poolesville sunflowers. McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, which I wrote about a couple years back, has four fields of sunflowers, which I had hunted for, but failed to find twice.

The first field we came to had a few yellow flowers on their last legs, but was mostly a swath of brown, with only the centers of the flowers left, bent over and wizened. We consulted our map and drove to the other end of the park, where we found a field of torso-high green stems, pre-bud. So, trusting that a fairy-tale would not lead us astray, we sought one of the two fields in the middle of the park. While I wouldn’t say it was at peak, it was mostly just right:

2. While walking along the path through the swamp to get to the field, I realized that there were dragonflies perched atop nearly every tree lining our way. Some were way up high, but others were on lower branches and willing to be photographed:

3. Tonight was the final concert at Fort Reno for the summer and Rudi and I spent a couple very pleasant hours lounging on our blanket under clear skies, eating a picnic dinner, and listening to music. (I will confess that I accidentally mistook the first band’s music for 20 minutes of equipment testing, which probably means it’s doubly important I attend concerts like this that are out of my wheelhouse.) Usually, attending Fort Reno means waiting out 90+-degree temps and hoping for a breeze after the sun sets to cool things off a smidge. This year, no breeze was necessary, as today’s high was only in the mid-80s. This free punk music series attracts hipsters and oldsters, families with small children, and interns alike and has occurred annually for 45+ years at the remains of a Civil War fort. This year, though, new rules were inadequately and belatedly shared with the organizer and threatened to derail the shows until a compromise was brokered by third parties to let the concerts occur. There are no promises for next year, so if this was the final show, we were grateful to have been part of it.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. We invite a few folks over for Sunday supper and two of them are able to join us. There are the tense few hours while we clean house and prep food — and the hour after they arrive where we finish preparing it — but it goes off well and we are so glad to have asked them over.

2. The purple bean plant I bought from a high school horticultural club has developed the stunning orange flowers they promised me.

3. Apricot and walnut bread from the farmers market, toasted with butter.

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

I’m tired and still need to wash the dishes before I can go to sleep, so let’s make this a quick post, shall we?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The park near our house shows a movie every month during the summer. Tonight was lovely, with starry skies, dry ground, low humidity, and pleasant temperatures. As a bonus, I actually liked the film version of We Bought a Zoo better than the book, despite the drastic changes they made to the story.

2. My post-dentist treat is often macarons. This week, the featured flavor, strawberry-basil, is unexpected and blows me away.

3. Reading Rainbow Rowell’s new novel, Landline, the week it came out. She is hilarious in person and on Twitter (her Tweets regularly get read aloud to Rudi), and it came through in this book about a comedy writer in crisis.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The biggest, brightest rainbow I have ever had the joy of seeing appeared Tuesday evening amidst a drenching rainstorm and a dinner party.

2. Following a rainy Thursday afternoon, the 4th of July 3-day weekend dawned bright and pleasant — and stayed that way through Sunday night. It allowed for reading outside and dining outside and watching fireworks on the Mall and checking out the Folklife Festival and going to the pool and hanging out with friends and generally having the nicest July weekend in our history of living in D.C.

3. We eat corn on the cob three times during the first week of the season. Delicious!

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

For goodness’ sake. Two weeks in a row I’m late with this. Yesterday I just forgot it wasn’t already Friday…

Anyway, here are three beautiful things from the past week:

1. I won a contest on Twitter from Books on the Metro (who generously leaves reading material on D.C.’s mass transit for its users), which netted me a copy of Robert Galbraith’s brand-new (and slightly grisly) Cormoran Strike novel, The Silkworm. It arrived from my favorite local bookseller at the end of last week, wrapped in cheerful paper, and I have been parceling it out over a few days’ time to savor it (but it will be done today).

2. Outside the coffeehouse, a bench hugs the building. I notice it seems dry as I enter, so I take my tea outside to enjoy the rain and my book.

3. I harvest the first tomato from our garden: it’s a single cherry tomato, that Rudi and I split in a tiny, delicious morsel.

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

I have been hit hard by sinus-related woes this week, which meant that at the time I’m normally writing for you, I was curled up in bed asleep. But I woke up this morning remembering I’d forgotten (or something like that), so this morning we get a slightly belated three beautiful things from the past week:

1. We spent the weekend up in Connecticut. By taking off Friday, we got an early jump and were in New Haven in time for a late pizza lunch and Italian ices. We spent Saturday afternoon wandering around Northampton, where I bought socks and yarn and stickers. Sunday I spent some time in the hammock reading. And otherwise, I got to hang out with my parents and grandmother — picking peas in the garden, making scones, and doing crossword puzzles — which is just what I wanted to do most.

2. We also got an early start on the drive home, which meant that as we crossed into New Jersey, I thought of ice cream:

3. Marcus texted Rudi over the weekend to say he was coming to town for work and did we want to have dinner on Tuesday. Of course! When we walked up to the restaurant, he greeted us with hugs and said he hoped we didn’t mind, but he’d brought a couple guests along with him. And inside were my friend Amani (his wife) and her brother, Askari! It was a wonderful surprise!

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