If it’s Thursday, it’s time to look back on three beautiful things from my past week:

1. We Skyped with John, Nicole, and Juliet for the first time since they moved out west. John and Nicole look good, and Juliet has blossomed in these months since her first birthday, adding recognizable words, basic sign language, walking, and carrying things to her repertoire since we last saw her.

2. It’s been in the 90s the past two days, so yesterday at lunchtime I walked over to the park area with the splash fountain and stood in it and read for a bit.

3. A small group of friends gathered to celebrate Rudi’s birthday. We ate cold pizza (it’s a long story, but Turkish thugs prevented me from bringing it home quickly) and cupcakes and sang maybe the most atonal version of “Happy Birthday” I’ve ever heard. We really appreciated that they were able to come over to ring in his 44th with us.

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