Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I’ve harvested peas and strawberries and escarole this week — and seen two other exciting signs: Above is a black swallowtail caterpillar on one of my bronze fennel plants. And below are flowers in my potato patch, which have sprouted to ridiculous heights this year.

2. As I’m already on his side of the river, I text Sergio to see if he’s interested in a drink. (As it’s a Sunday afternoon, I do imagine it might be apple juice in a sippy cup.) He invites me to the playground to hang out with him, his wife, and his young children, and then later back to their place for supper on their balcony, which feels particularly kind.

3. Rebecca invites me to her place, where I get to see her beautiful rainbow bookshelves (it wouldn’t work for me, but I love that it does for her), before we head up to her building’s roof deck for snacks, a panoramic view of the city set to the National Cathedral’s bells, and a fluorescent sunset on an absolutely gorgeous evening.

What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl celebrates all things summer. I’m choosing to share ten books from my TBR list with summer in the title:

1. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
2. Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle
3. Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
4. Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
5. Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff
6. The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
7. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson
8. The Summer I Saved the World … in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz
9. A Summer at Sea by Katie Fforde
10. The Summer before the War by Helen Simonson

How about you? Any summery books you’d recommend?

Three beautiful things from my last week:

1. We knew my parents had a bear, because it had taken down the bird feeder once already this spring. But Sunday morning, my family got to see this mama and baby black bear up close and personal for the first time.

2. Karen and I got to have lunch and a walk and a talk Sunday afternoon. The weather held steady and we were dressed properly, and it was great to catch up.

3. My dad’s doctor’s appointment was over quickly on Tuesday, so they were finishing up just as we were on our way out of town to return home. We met up for ice cream before parting ways for real.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Katie has a housewarming party, and about a quarter of the volleyball team is able to make it, including Sergio and his family, which means I get to play with a toddler and hold a three-month-old.

2. The first strawberries and salads made only with lettuce from our garden were consumed this week. Plus, there is at least one pod growing amidst the waist-high peas greens, there are half a dozen green chilis, the cucumber is covered with flowers, and the potato greens are knee-high.

3. Rudi’s birthday was Friday, and we celebrated with several of his friends outside at a brewery — just AFTER a torrential rainstorm.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share books featuring traveling. All of these earned five stars from me:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: Pen pals are so fascinated by each other that one travels from London to the Isle of Guernsey to meet the rest.
2. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin: A young girl runs away to find the Man in the Moon
3. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds: Is the boy in this novel in verse in the same place as the one who got on the elevator just seven flights up? I’d like to think not.
4. 49 Days by Agnes Lee: In this sparse graphic novel, over seven weeks, a young woman must journey across unfamiliar terrain to come to terms with being dead — while her family must contend with still being in the land of the living.
5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis: Four siblings evacuated from London travel through a coat closet into a magical, winter-stuck land.
6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: A girl, a boy from her class, her young brother, and three otherworldly beings travel to space.
7. Exit West by Hamid Mohsin: Two refugees leave behind their Middle Eastern home and step through a door to what they hope will be a new life.
8. Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell: A girl everyone believes to be orphaned runs away to Paris in search of the mother she remembers from her babyhood.
9. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart: A nomadic father flees a particular moment in time with his child, but, unlike him, she wants to find her way back home to Washington state.
10. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck: In this heartbreaking love story, a woman must drive across the country to let her husband, who has turned into a shark, go into the wild.

Do you have favorite books about a journey?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Despite the cancellation of our kids’ program, the adult leagues go on despite the threat of thunderstorms. Neither rain nor lightning materialize in our vicinity, and we not only get our game in, but also patio time at the local watering hole for drinks and dinner afterwards.

2. A single restroom has been in the works at the park where we play on Saturdays. My pal sent a photo earlier this week without any construction fencing around it, so we are hopeful this will mean it’s open this weekend. (The women, particularly, will be grateful, as the guys just disappear into the wooded verge.)

3. Plenty of rain has fallen this week, which means I haven’t had to trudge water down to my thirsty garden plot. Since the pool adjacent to our community garden opens next weekend, I’m hopeful the water has been turned on, and I won’t have to lug more from home until the fall.

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