Time for Three Beautiful Things Thursday…

1. So many people these days plant beautiful, long-lasting, fragrance-free roses, it is absolutely delightful to pause at the house a block and a half up from us where the roses run wild in their tiny yard. I admit I stop each and every time I walk past and stick my nose in their flowers. They must think me quite fresh.

2. One of the best things about my office is that we frequently have lunch meetings (one of the best things about my job is that I generally do not need to go to those meetings). After the attendees eat, the food is offered up to the rest of us. Today’s lunch was a vegetarian sandwich, cheese and crackers, Caesar salad, soda, and chocolate chip cookie.

3. On the iPod this morning, I got Vance Gilbert’s anguished “Takin’ It All to Tennessee,” where he completely captures the horribly selfish, yet completely devastated feeling you have when your friends are leaving you to move elsewhere: “Don’t you love me?” I also had Pink Martini’s “Una Notte a Napoli,” a Latin love song perfect for dancing from the Metro to the office. Add to that Tracy Grammer’s heartbroken delivery of her most recent songs, penned after the death of her beloved Dave Carter, and the ability of music to unite us becomes obvious.