Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Chris, Jasen, and Gloria are able to make it out to play at the last Saturday volleyball at Walter Pierce Park. (Saturday volleyball doesn’t stop; it just becomes more selective until the spring.) A handful of us go out for food afterwards, and it’s really nice to catch up with the group.

2. My friend Sergio is back, nine months after his daughter was born. I would have put money on his not being able to return until at least a year had passed, so this is a treat. I ask him to thank his wife for us, because I know she’s the one who’s making this possible.

3. Three big tomatoes come home with me from the garden. The temperature was due to drop, so I picked them a bit early, figuring they’d be the thing I’d be most upset to lose.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. We sit outside on Halloween evening, surrounded by our pumpkins and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. That includes a small toddler, for whom we are her very first ever Halloween stop, as well as a pair of British siblings, one of whom is dressed quite boldly as a Red Coat.

2. With my middle school coaching over for the season, I’m able to make it to my volunteer coaching gig for its last week of the year. It’s fun to see the wee smalls again. I start up a new assignment with the group later this month, so it’ll be fun to see how that goes.

3. My team goes up against my friend’s, which he has carefully assembled to fill specific roles. I have gone into this game prepared to lose, but determined just to have fun, as my teammate is moving away, and this will be her final game with us. Periodically, we have magical games, where our trust and communication level up our individual abilities, and this is one of those weeks. We do end up losing, in the end, but we take a set and push the others close to the limit, and we wrap up the night feeling pretty awesome about things.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday option from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share ten random books from our shelves. I am feeling sleepy and lazy (and eventually put the computer down and went to sleep), so instead opted to share ten of the books I have out from the three libraries I have cards at. (Many libraries have reciprocity with nearby communities, and I highly recommend this as a tactic if you spend a lot of time on holds lists.)

1. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (I started this from one library and had to return it unfinished. It’s now overdue to a second library system, and I’m hoping to check it out from the first library again before the end of the year.)
2. The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner (currently reading)
3. Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys by Liz Ireland (There are surprisingly few Thanksgiving reads. I’m hoping this one isn’t terrible — or, at least, that it’s good terrible. TBR)
4. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (audiobook; currently listening, but parts are highly stressful)
5. How to Have a Killer Time in D.C. by Sam Lunley (audiobook; started but haven’t gotten back to it)
6. The Nightmare before Kissmas by Sara Raasch (finished last week — solid read for Halloween or Christmas, and the sequel has to do with Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day)
7. No Less Strange or Wonderful by A. Kendra Greene (halfway through, but haven’t picked it up in weeks)
8. Falling like Leaves by Misty Wilson (started)
9. Cinder House by Freya Marske (TBR)
10. When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley (TBR)

How about you? What do you have out from the library right now? Are you reading those books or ones from your personal collection instead?