So, last week, we had some family health emergencies on top of regular family health crises, and in the wake of spending 20 hours a day in the hospital, I lost track of the blog. But since the only time I’ve missed a weekly TBT things post was after my grandmother died, I wanted to share three beautiful things from last week, just half a week later than usual:

1. Karen and I got a lovely afternoon visit in together, with stuffed French toast, a dry walk along the river, and a chat. It was needed.

2. Rudi and I went down to our alma mater for its 50 Years of Volleyball celebration. I played a single year, but it had a profound impact on my life. The team didn’t pull off a win, but they did have some solid plays and we enjoyed watching the game in person. And we met the coach, the director of athletics, my former captain’s daughter, and a bunch of the current players’ parents.

3. This year, I was in charge of making Dad’s birthday pie. It wasn’t as good as Mum’s, but it was a solid check-plus, which we’re taking as a win. Plus, I sliced enough apples for the Thanksgiving pie and froze them and some pie crust, so we’re doing well!

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Saturday’s and Sunday’s sunsets were both gorgeous, if completely different. Saturday’s was deep pink altocumulus clouds piled above and behind the Washington Monument. Sunday’s, seen near the end of my Virginia-Connecticut flight, was thick stripes of pastel haze.

2. Rudi rescued a chipmunk from drowning in the bucket of water I emptied from the basement dehumidifiers.

3. I’ve turned the heel of the sock I’m knitting and am chugging on toward the toe.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to check in with our 2023 bookish goals and see how we’re doing. I’m not optimistic:

1. Read 52 books. (I’m actually on track to hit this number for the first time in years.)
2. Read more of my own collection. (I’m at five, but have a whole pile of personal books up here in Connecticut with me.)
3. Listen to more audiobooks [12]. (I’m at nine, and have several in progress, so this seems doable.)
4. Read more diversely [1/3]. (I’m closer to a quarter, but it’s still possible.)
5. Read more nonfiction [5]. (I’m nearly done with my fourth, so if I get that Grann book when I return to D.C., it’s possible.)
6. Read more internationally. (Japanese manga has been my friend this year. I’ve read three so far.)
7. Read more poetry. (I’ve bought more poetry books, but haven’t actually finished one this year. Time to work on this!)
8. Read at least two classics. (Failing at this one utterly so far.)
9. Put a book in every bag I own and read them instead of playing on my phone while I’m out. (Often true.)
10. Actually review everything I finish. (Have I reviewed anything this year?)

Huh. Turns out I was doing better than I thought. Only three of these are utter failures so far, and while I probably won’t get all the book reviews for the year in, the other two are possibilities.

How are your bookish goals going this year?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Anna very sweetly asked me to join her virtual bookclub last month. This week, I survived both reading the first book and the first meeting with Anna, her sister, and half a dozen strangers.
2. Our landlord stopped by with more quarters for the washer and dryer, not having heard that the app interface had been fixed. When we let him know it’s working, he handed the rolls to us. (Rudi provided social media assistance in getting the machine leasing company to come out to service them.)
3. The weather has been cool enough to wear leggings this week. That’s one of the really nice parts of seasonal changes — getting reacquainted with your wardrobe.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share the Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book:

1. 1. Gigi, Eve, Dani, and Chloe’s grandmother, from the Brown Sisters’ trilogy by Talia Hibbert
   2. Cal, the carpenter, from Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes
   3. Ginger, who lives in a lighthouse, from Linda Holmes’ Flying Solo
   4. Gwyn the cousin from The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling (This is cheating, because she absolutely has her own book, but I haven’t read it yet.)
   5. Ainsley, the new friend, in Sonya Lalli’s Serena Singh Flips the Script
   6. Dex, the BFF, from Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
   7. Georgie and Clem from The Greenglass House series by Kate Milford
   8. Sofia, the daughter, in Amor Towles’ The Gentleman from Moscow
   9. Berta, the housekeeper and crime-investigating partner, in Maia Chance’s The Discreet Retrieval Agency series
   10. Palamedes, the knight, from Michael Scott’s The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series (again, cheating, because I know Scott wrote short stories to fill in the back stories, but my list my rules)

This was way harder than I expected it to be after the first character.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My Saturday volleyball team, which had already won back-to-back league championships before I joined them, won its third.

2. I picked up some peaches and nectarines (likely some of the last of the season) at the farmers market today. (The Mid-Atlantic was the luckiest place on the Eastern Seaboard to live if you like stone fruit this year with late frosts harming those south and north of us.)

3. Anna and I had brunch on Sunday, which was a delightful, if early for us both, thing for her to propose. I splurged and got both French toast and a side of cheesy grits.

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