Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Gramma had a mild stroke over the weekend, but has rallied significantly as the week has gone on. Today she moved into a nursing home for a short period of rehab before she returns home.

2. Today the high exceeded 70 degrees, which made wearing a tshirt, sitting outside for lunch, and biking home from work possible and pleasant.

3. On Sunday, I found myself in Savage, Maryland, for a yarn event. The French bakery* that is usually at my farmers market, but that’s been absent this month, happens to be located in the same building, so after I finished my shopping I went for a snack. To my surprise, the woman came rushing up to the counter exclaiming her shock and delight at finding me there, rather than in my usual habitat, and then told all of her colleagues that I was one of her regulars. We’ve had some pleasant exchanges over the years they’ve been coming to the market, but I’d always assumed they were impersonal, and certainly never expected to be recognized away from it. My almond croissant, still warm from the oven, tasted even better than usual.

*Bonaparte Breads, owned by French expats, makes croissants as good as any we had in France when we visited.

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

It’s the final ski racing weekend of the season, so I’m on my own again. Here’s what I’m hoping the weekend holds for me:

• Knitting on my new Sock Madness pattern.
• Spending time outside.
• Uploading photos from Hungary.
• Submitting my Errandonnee report.
• Tackling laundry mountain.
• Listening to an audiobook.
• Buying cat litter.
• Shopping at the farmers market.
• Attending the Hometown Yarn Party.
• Taking a yoga class.

How about you? What do you hope to do this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Waking up after dozing off needles in hand with just enough time to finish my sock toe, take pictures, and send an email before the end-of-round deadline.

2. A friend is in from out of town, so she and another friend and I meet for dinner and, more crucially, dessert. (It’s funny, but she is back in town often enough that we may see her more since she moved away than we did when she lived nearby.)

3. One of the coffeehouses we frequent is short on seats inside and out, but does boast a bench in front of their window. The overhang is just wide enough that we stay dry from the drizzle as we sip drinks and share a piece of Pi Day pie.

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

Technically, this photo is a lie.

I am NOT currently reading Lola and the Boy Next Door because I just spent six hours power reading it nearly non-stop. Stephanie Perkins writes YA contemporary romance and composes fun protagonists and swoon-worthy love interests. I might like Cricket, the scientifically minded guy in this story, even more than I liked St. Clair in Perkins’ debut novel, which is saying something significant.

And while that looks like the top of a sock and DOES, in fact, constitute two concerts’ worth of knitting, I’m just not completely sold on it becoming what I told it to be (which, yes, was a sock). It’s sport-weight yarn and it feels too thick to be a sock, but it maybe just wants to be a thick sock? I’m still mulling… which is fine because the next round of Sock Madness should begin by the weekend.

I’ve been really sleepy since returning from Hungary Tuesday evening, and what waking time I’ve had has been devoted to Sock Madness knitting. The first round ends, with or without me, in the wee smalls of Sunday, so I hope to have time after that to begin uploading pictures and regaling you with stories of our trip.

In the meantime, here are three beautiful things from the past week:

1. We spend two relaxing evenings in Budapest lounging in Turkish baths. The buildings, which date from 1566 and 1570, each contain multiple thermal pools ranging in temperature from 82 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Daylight savings time returned to the U.S. while we were away, which was pleasant for two reasons: One, we only had to readjust five hours instead of six, and, two, it’s still light out when I leave the office.

3. As it is whenever we’re gone for a period of time, the cats have been particularly clingy and lovey since our return.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. D.C.’s biggest snowstorm of the winter comes while we’re out of town, so I don’t have to do any shoveling. (It may also remind our landlord that we do an excellent job of snow removal. It’s good not to be taken for granted.)

2. It takes us three flights to get to Budapest. All of them leave roughly on time.

3. I keep dozing off when we stop, so Rudi doesn’t argue when I say I need to go back to the hotel and go to bed. I get something like 10 hours of sleep, so now I’m better equipped to go out and take on a world in a language I know only a few words of. (Kindly, most people here know English.)

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