Three beautiful things from our past week:

1. We eat four of the apples we brought back from Vermont tonight, and one of them, Hidden Rose, has pink flesh. The others are the small Lamb Abbey, the oddly shaped Calville Blanc d’Hiver, and the red Mollie(‘)s Delicious. My favorite is the Calville, which is sweetly tart and crisp.

2. We arrive at the ocean two days after the remnants of a tropical storm have passed through. Surfers are plentiful, but it’s with a start, after overhearing a comment, that I realize what I originally thought was a class of wetsuit-clad boarders is actually a pod of 50 or so seals body-surfing in the breakers.

3. A daddy long-legs has gotten wet and can’t escape the campground bathroom sink. I offer it a literal helping hand and it climbs out and up onto the tap, where it proceeds to shake its legs off and lick (or something that looks similar) them dry.

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

Three beautiful things from our past week:

1. Sam & Alexis’ son, Max, is merely three weeks old when we get the chance to visit. He is adorable and tiny and neither Rudi nor I break him while we hold him.

2. Last year, our fall road trip to New England came after the peak foliage season here had passed. This year, we’re in the midst of it and have seen some gorgeous color:

3. Just as I say, “Gosh, if it were six hours later, there would be a rainbow with this rain,” I spy a noon rainbow just over the horizon.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week (it’s late and I’m tired and hungry, so I will attempt to make only one of these items about food):

1. When I go to the farmers market during the week, I like to pick up something sweet for tea. Today’s treat was Kouign amann, a French cake from the Breton region. It was dense and flaky simultaneously, rich with butter, and topped with caramelized sugar.

2. Saturday was our annual trip to pick apples with Sarah, John, and Nicole. We each came away with a decent-sized bag of apples to keep us happy for a couple months, and the day was comfortable and dry, which the forecast had threatened might not be the case.

3. Sunday afternoon, well before I was expecting to hear from him, Rudi rang my cell. After this winter, you’ll be unsurprised that my heart sank into my shoes at seeing his name come across my screen. While I don’t wish anyone else an injury (and particularly not gentle Chris), I was really relieved when it turned out not to be Rudi who’d crashed and that he was calling to say he’d be late because he was picking up his wounded compatriot at the hospital.

and 4. (I lied. But you’ll understand why in a second.) Salad topped with french fries. You’re welcome, and I’m sorry (not sorry).

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A couple blocks away lives a painter who frequently works on his front patio. This week, I notice that the bush behind where his easel stands is flecked with sky blue and neon green speckles.

2. Just after passing a shop window filled with boring neutrals, I notice a woman crossing the street wearing a shimmering magenta headscarf.

3. Rudi and I headed to the DelMarVa peninsula for a weekend of camping, bike riding, and frolicking at the beach. We were also treated to three evenings of breathtaking sunsets, including this one, which shows the Assateague Light and a crescent moon, as seen from our campsite on Chincoteague (of the Misty books):

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

Three beautiful things from my week past:

1. A person carrying a Loony Toons umbrella gets off the escalator I’m getting on.

2. The jackhammering going on beneath my window at work ends for the afternoon.

3. The pitter patter of raindrops on the tree and against the railing and the air conditioner lull me to sleep.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Tomatoes from our garden, eaten by themselves, on tacos, on caprese sandwiches, on salads, and on vBLTs:

2. Volleyball started up again this week and even if I wasn’t playing fantastically, I was still playing.

3. Corey was acting a little rambunctious on Saturday and I remembered that we had a couple of ribbon toys that we’d tucked away when it became clear he was incapable of not swallowing string-like objects if left unattended. I pulled out a wand that has a six-foot-long, polar fleece tail and soon had all three cats chasing and jumping in pursuit of it (after which, it got put away again, because Corey totally chewed it in half in the 15 seconds I wasn’t paying attention while we played).

And, as a bonus, here’s this week’s bouquet, bought at the farmers market by my office:

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