Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Hearing that Mugsy, my parents’ shy cat who’s been living in a single room since moving in with them in March, finally wants to explore the rest of the house. (It should be noted that the kitten, Pickle, does NOT consider this a beautiful thing and tracks her progress into what he considers his territory.)

2. The first day of summer coaching goes well. We have 20 kids and multiple volunteer coaches, the temps stay south of 90°, and the smoke from the wildfires is still to our north.

3. The new laptop Rudi gave me for Christmas finally gets to come off the sideline when Microsoft announces that my old one (which has been having battery challenges) will no longer run Word. Transferring the files from one to the other takes time but happens seamlessly, even going so far as to keep my web browser tabs open.

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 ten books we’re looking forward to by authors we haven’t read before. Here are mine:

1. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
2. Autumn by Ali Smith
3. The Parisian Heist by Jo Piazza
4. One & Only by Maurene Goo
5. No Season But the Summer by Matilda Leyser
6. The Secret Astronomers by Jessica Walker
7. The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne by Summer N. England
8. The School for Thieves by Peter Burns
9. Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel
10. Miss Ruki by Fumiko Takano

Have you read any of them, and, if so, would you recommend them? What new-to-you authors are you eager to dive into?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My dear friend getting to go home from the hospital

2. A team baby shower with really cute volleyball-themed onesies

3. Fireworks on back-to-back nights

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. John, Nicole, and Juliet were in town and we got to spend a lot of time with them. We visited museums, hung out, ate, listened to music, and caught up with Michael, Julia, and Sarah for an indoor picnic.

2. I have been asked to water a couple plots of gardeners who are away for the holiday. I have decided that responsibility includes harvesting anything that ripens during that time (since it would otherwise be eaten by the local fauna).

3. Air conditioning, because today hit 102 on the thermometer and felt like 113.

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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share the books being published before the end of the year that we’re most looking forward to. Here are mine:

1. Dark Reading Matter by Jasper Fforde
2. Partita by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
4. Tales from the Territory by Travis Baldree
5. We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman
6. Grim Tidings by B.K. Borinson
7. Anger Is Only a Shadow by Elizabeth Acevedo
8. Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves
9. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Murder by Ally Carter
10. Traitors’ Nest by Francis Hardinge

What’s coming out in the next six months that you’re excited to read?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Four of the guys and I pull off a well-played victory over the undefeated team at the top of our league. It cements our spot at number three and pumps us all up.

2. After a couple hours of playing volleyball on a hot Saturday afternoon, I drop my net off at home and continue down the street to the ice cream parlor, where they have my favorite flavor in. They warn me it will be a while until it’s next back.

3. Juliet has been at a dance camp in Maryland and we go up to watch her troupe’s performance. She’s one of the youngest kids, but holds her own in their modern performance, which reinterprets “The Pink Elephants on Parade” from Fantasia.

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