Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Our friends Sam and Alexis are coming to visit this weekend. Rudi was under the impression that they arrived tonight, but they aren’t in fact coming until tomorrow. This gives us an extra day to clean. (Not getting to spend Thursday evening with them is not, however, a beautiful thing.)

2. While on my Sunday bike ride along the C&O Canal, I saw a Baltimore Oriole fly by. He had the brightest plumage and just looked so jolly.

3. I won passes to see The Heart of the Game, which is a documentary about a Seattle high school basketball team, at a local movie theater last week and invited Amani to go with me. She and I are the only two people I know in town who played high school basketball, so I figured we both might see something in it that those who hadn’t played the sport would. (I think that was true, but anyone who loves women’s basketball, sports in general, seeing kids triumph over their personal situations, or an underdog story would enjoy it as well.) Amani gave me a ride home and we chattered most of the way about playing basketball, high school vs. college teams, Division I vs. Division III teams, and boys’ vs. girls’ games, as well as societal implications brought up by the film. I had forgotten how much fun seeing a movie just with a girl friend could be and I fear Rudi may get ditched a bit more often in favor of such outings.