I’m heading over to help our friends pack before their movers arrive tomorrow, so I thought I’d post this before leaving:

Three beautiful things from my birthday week:

1. My parents drove 8 hours down to visit me, spent 3 hours here, and then drove 8 hours home, just to bring me birthday presents and a chair. Hard not to feel loved when people will spend 16 hours in a car just to spend a little time with you.

2. My coworker had a dinner party on Valentine’s Day and made such a sumptuous feast that her guests had no appetite for the seasonal candy she’d put out. I arrived at work yesterday to find a bag filled with probably a pound of M&M’s and Reese’s hearts waiting on my desk.

3. I spied crocuses on Saturday, a year to the day I saw the first bulbs of the season last year.

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

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. A new (lavender) bra on our first day out together.

2. I hand my travel mug to the Starbucks employee to fill with cocoa and, because I’ve ordered a smaller size than fits in my cup, they hand it back topped with several inches of whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

3. In a week of disappointing decisions, a Washington judge and the West Coast appellate judges who ruled against the Muslim ban.

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

Three beautiful things from yet another hard week:

1. I saw the first green shoots of the bulbs around town this past week. (They always appear in January down here. It always seems wrong, but optimistic.) Spring will come, no matter how bad it gets.

2. Trader Joes had their cheap bunches of daffodils ($1.50 for 10 stems) when I stopped in last weekend. Two bunches join the pussy willows on top of my fridge (the only place the cats can’t/haven’t chosen to get to), cheering up my kitchen.

3. We had a dusting of snow fall one night. While I’m glad to know spring will come, it’s nice to have a reminder that winter will not pass us by entirely. (Mostly I’m getting by in my jean jacket this year. That’s not winter wear!) The snow was pretty as it fell and clung to branches and grass, but did not require shoveling and had essentially disappeared by morning.

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

My second orchid in full bloom

Three beautiful things from a brave new world:

1. Badlands National Park (and later Golden Gate and others) tweeting climate change facts after being expressly forbidden to do so by the president. And the alt-Twitter accounts set up by National Park Service (and, later, other federal) employees. And the mayors and councils of all the sanctuary cities, including D.C., reaffirming their status. It’s reminded me of The Red Badge of Courage, and the chorus of Billy Joel’s “Goodnight Saigon” plays in my head as I read their Tweets.

2. Pussy willow stems are cheap at the farmers market, so I buy a few to cheer up the kitchen. The cats are entranced by their smell, and Corey is particularly fascinated, perching on his hind legs, squirrel-like, for several minutes, so he can get closer.

3. One last dinner with close friends before they move away.

And because we really need more beautiful things this week:

4. Friends send a postcard from their trip to the Grand Canyon. I appreciate being thought of during their travels.

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

Before we head into this day of days, let’s look back on three beautiful things from my past week, particularly because I’m having a hard time picturing beautiful things in the days to come:

1. My parents gave us a gift card to our favorite D.C. pizza place, so for the first time in ages, we went out to eat just because.

2. A friend from my old job sends a gossipy card and printouts of her family. Her older son, whom I once babysat, is 30!

3. Karen and I spend hours on the phone, just like in the old days. It’s good to talk about everything and nothing.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Macy’s has updated their store windows to feature mannequins sporting formal wear fit for inaugural balls. Two nursery minders walk past with a half dozen of their three-year-old charges. The male caregiver points to the jauntily clad male dummy and firmly tells the kids, “That’s me dancing with …” The children scream with laughter and shout “No!” in unison.

2. We host a dinner party to celebrate Russian Christmas and Rudi gets to make foods he grew up with — borscht and pierogis. Friends add a Ukranian cabbage pie and Russian tea cookies and drinks, and we have a very festive evening.

3. Today’s weather was unseasonably warm, so I head outside for the evening and read in just my sweatshirt. (It snowed last weekend and is forecast to again Saturday.)

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