Saturday dawned clear-skied and brilliant blue, a welcome change after Friday night’s hail storm. For the second week in a row, I rose with the early birds, awakening at an hour when most people were still fast asleep. But there was a special reason to get moving with the sun — we were heading to the beach!

We’d heard fearsome tales of the Bay Bridge and its mythical traffic jams, so Rudi wanted to get an especially early jump on the trip. I am not, however, a morning person, so Rudi’s desired start time inched later and later until it was a more reasonable 7 a.m. when we walked out the door.

Suffice it to say, it was a beautiful day for spending at the shore. Bethany Beach, Delaware, is a cute town, reminiscent of some of the beach towns along Route 1 in Connecticut. It isn’t as built up as some of the other beaches in the area, such as Ocean City and Rehoboth, supposedly are, and its boardwalk offers only a small selection of vendors, so it tends to attract more families than singles. Having grown up at family beaches, I felt right at home with little kids scrambling around us.

By one, a little more than two hours of our visit had lapsed, and I was already thinking fondly of the day as one of the nicest days I’d spent at the beach this decade. Sarah, Rudi, and I were just reapplying sun screen when I happened to look up, glancing between bodies at the water off to my right.

“I think,” I announced, trying to keep my cool, “that I just saw either a dolphin or a shark.” (more…)

Congratulations are in order to my best and oldest friend, Karen, for bringing a dear baby into the world on Thursday afternoon.

I have not asked permission to post this snippet of a picture Michael sent me of his new son, but I hope they will forgive an aunty for being proud and wanting to share his sweetness:

Two weekends ago, I spent a warm Sunday afternoon lounging in Mitchell Park, which is a few blocks from the Burrow.

The sky was blue.

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I’m off by a day or two because of the long weekend. I’m not complaining, though.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. On Saturday, I spent time in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut. Rudi did the same, substituting New Hampshire for Rhode Island. With the exception of Maine, we covered all of New England. It was good to be home.

2. On 91 north of Brattleboro, the highway travels through and above your typical northeastern forestland. But Vermont’s air is so much cleaner than southern New England’s that you really notice the pine scent as it wafts through your windows. (And earlier in the morning, I could smell the sea at one point, even if I had a tough time actually finding the South Shore.)

3. If I can have a book in my possession, I’d much prefer to read rather than listen to it. (I’m not putting down those who listen to audiobooks, but my brain processes the two experiences in totally different ways, so I find it impossible to say that when I listen to a book that it’s reading.) That said, clearly one should not peruse a novel while driving. I had Plum Lucky on my iPod, so bounty hunters Stephanie and Diesel kept us company while we were stuck in late-night traffic on the Garden State. It seemed appropriate somehow, since the book is set in New Jersey.

I promise by tomorrow I’ll be awake enough to write a proper post. Maybe it’ll even include photos. I won’t make rash promises, though.

In the meantime, I direct you to visit this site. Purportedly graphs about baseball, I think there’s something that everyone will find interesting there, whether it’s that batters generally face northeast, that Washington baseball franchises have a .412 lifetime win percentage*, or that if you strung all the pitches thrown during the 2006 MLB season together, you could reach from St. Louis to Mumbai, 8,318.5 miles away.

We’re up in Connecticut for a long weekend (and for Rudi to ride across New England). I spent much of today napping in the car, so I am now much less tired and stressed than I was yesterday.

It’s Thursday, though, so we must conclude the day by reflecting on three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Susan, Rudi, and I spent Sunday night at the movie theater. But we preceded it with cupcakes from Baked & Wired (the best cupcake bakery in D.C., if you’re wondering). Mine was chocolate peanut butter and delicious.

2. A hot day demands cold iced tea. I prefer the powdered, sweetened variety that comes in a canister.

3. Sunday afternoon, I decided to head to Mitchell Park to lie in the sun and read. Ultimately, when I arrived, I opted to sit at a picnic table in the shade, instead, but I ended up being outside for hours with my book. A breeze ruffled the trees, bees buzzed from flower to flower, dogs and their owners romped in the field, and birds called overhead. And best of all, just after I arrived, two 20-something guys showed up. One had an upright bass, the other had a tenor sax. They riffed for several hours, filling the park with jubilant jazz.