Fragments of a weekend:

• A last-minute invitation to join Susan, Phillip, and Holden for dinner.
• A repeat viewing of the Sherlock season premiere — this time with less interference from traffic blotting out the clever lines and plot points.
• Knitting — a pair of Rudi’s socks made some serious progress.
• Reading — Scumble has sucked me in.
• Chores, but too few.
• Gardening — the first strawberries have been harvested, there’s a solitary pod amongst my pea flowers and two tomatoes growing on the low-light plant, and the dozen plants we purchased last weekend were jammed into the plot. The lack of progress among spinach and lettuce varieties remains puzzling.
• A trip to Estonia seems appealing.
• Farmers market — morels and strawberries and potatoes are the highlights.
• A 12-mile bike trip (longest of the season!) along the C&O Canal. No ducklings or deer this trip, but lots of turtles and five families of geese with a total of 22 goslings.
• Cupcakes.
• Calls home.
• A dance party in Dupont Circle — hula hoopers and urban dancers whose breakdancing and African dance skills would have tickled the heart of Lydia Grant.
• Curry dinner in time for Sherlock.

I’m so confused. I keep thinking that today is Wednesday, but it’s not. So I’ll share three beautiful things with you, right on schedule:

1. Okay, so the dentist visit itself was not beautiful, but I have learned the way to manage my anxiety about these semi-annual appointments is to make an afternoon of it. After the exam was over, I wandered through the Eastern market shops, moseyed through a bookstore, and bought some bubbles. Then I stopped by the library to pick up a couple books and the kitchen store to buy some popsicle molds (to go with the book I bought last month). Then I took myself out for a milkshake (with fresh strawberries) and a homemade PopTart (blueberry cheesecake), bought a couple macarons to take home for dessert, and hung out in a park knitting and reading. Almost makes the dental cleaning worthwhile, wouldn’t you say?

2. Sherlock is back.

3. We stumbled upon musical performances from The Keegan Theatre as we were crossing Dupont Circle. I don’t know what show the Irish folk singer was with (An Irish Carol seems a likely contender), but he was excellent.

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

This week’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Favorite Comedy Movies. She personally opted to discard romantic comedies from her list, but as I see them as a sub-genre, I’m keeping them in. Plus, screwball comedies are the best comedies ever written!

1. The Thin Man — This lives on my iPod, in case I am someday stuck on a train or just need a quick pick-me-up. I like to describe this film as screwball noir, much to the frustration of my friend Michael, who once said in exasperation, “It’s not film noir just because it’s filmed in black and white!”
2. The Princess Bride — This may well be my favorite movie and is definitely the movie I can quote the most lines from. It has something for everyone.
3. My Man Godfrey — William Powell and Carole Lombard, whose on-screen chemistry lasted long past their off-screen marriage.
4. Duck Soup — The incomparable Marx Brothers at their best. In case you are under the surprisingly common misconception, The Marx Brothers are nothing like The Three Stooges or Abbot and Costello. The Marx Brothers are smart and funny and you should watch this film.
5. It Happened One Night — Cary Grant and Claudette Colbert on a road trip.
6. The Pink Panther — Karen knew, despite our disagreements on some other key films, that I would love Peter Sellers. Once I understood this wasn’t remotely like the cartoon, I was all in.
7. A Grand Day Out — The funniest of the Wallace & Gromit films. Another series I once refused to watch because I confused it with another (in this case, Gumby).
8. L’Auberge Espagnole — The comedy of living abroad.
9. Pirates of the Caribbean — Pirates are hysterical. Especially when they’re modeled after 1960s rockers.
10. Little Miss Sunshine — Quirky family comedy.

After Rudi leaves for work in the morning, I’m home alone with the cats for a bit. This is what that was like last week:

Jeremiah asleep on the couch

Corey asleep on Rudi’s desk chair

“Sleep is for the weak.” — Posey

I finished the first sock of the latest round of Sock Madness this evening. I’m about a third of the way through the second sock, but only three slots remain for our team. I suspect I will be knocked out by mid-day tomorrow (okay, technically today, but you tell time your way and I’ll tell time my way). And either way — advancing or ending my competition — I’m okay with it. I’ve knit some great socks, and this colorwork technique — mosaic knitting — is totally new to me. So it’s a win all around.

Anyway, I’m turning in for a little shut-eye before we head off to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in a few hours. I’d hate to doze off during the sheepdog demonstrations!

We’re in the round of Sock Madness where large numbers of competitors really start being eliminated, so I’m knitting frantically, but not optimistically, along. Luckily, I’m also learning a new technique at the same time, so it’s exciting as well as stressful.

However, it’s not just sock knitting all the time around here. There are also beautiful things tucked in here and there to help keep me upbeat. Here are just three of them from the last week:

1. Rudi and I pack a Thermos of tea and some cookies (maple syrup pecan shortbread) to take with us to the garden. We snack on them as we dig, water, plant, and harvest. Spring eating at its best.

2. I purchase a peony. It is a swollen, hot pink bud on Sunday. Each day it opens a bit more until this morning it is a gigantic, pale pink, crepe paper blossom as big as my head. Such a cheerful addition to the kitchen!

3. Five ducklings paddle along the canal with their parents. Periodically, they stray a bit too far from mama, and then they have to wind themselves up, pull out all the stops, and speed along on the surface of the water to catch up.

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