Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I crashed my bicycle over the weekend (entirely my own fault), but was surprisingly lucky in terms of the outcome. It was a cool, damp evening, so I was wearing galoshes, bike gloves, and long sleeves, which cut down on the amount of skin I left on the pavement and increased my slidability. I was wearing my helmet with the sun visor, which bounced off the road instead of my nose or teeth. My right wrist is sprained, but not broken; my aches mostly faded before I had to go back to work Monday; and my scrapes, cuts, and some livid bruises (many of which are in places only Rudi and people at the pool should see from where I hit the brake levers when I tipped over the handlebars) are healing. People in the cars stopped on either side of me shouted immediate offers of assistance from their windows and pedestrians en route to the fireworks proffered water and additional ministrations, as Rudi helped me get off the roadway and onto the sidewalk.

2. While we knew that there would be fireworks nearby during our usual Friday evening picnic, we didn’t realize they’d be practically overhead.

3. My garden plot has a lot of foliage, which attracts insects, both good and bad. Some of the best, though, are the fireflies who greet me like curious fairies when I stop by near dusk. Dozens of them take flight and hover over the pathways, blinking lazily and making sure I’m not doing anything rash.

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

I finished the final chapter of Saint Mazie earlier tonight, so it’s on to a new book tomorrow. Another work of historical fiction, All the Light We Cannot See, already read by so many of you, is probably next up, although I have several other choices if it doesn’t grab me.

Having finished my two-at-a-time socks over the weekend, I’m back to working on my Lazy Katy shawlette. I’m working on completing works-in-progress and unfinished objects for my annual Tour de France knitalong contenders (the polka dot jersey, in case you were wondering). I’ve got less than nine rows to go in the lace border, and then I’ll be done with this project. I’m excited. You should see some other long-neglected projects next week.

Yarning along with Ginny.

I dozed off contemplating a knitting pattern last night and forgot to hit publish on this post, so, just as we’re observing today (in the U.S.) as July 4th (observed), let’s also consider today as Thursday (observed). Here, then, are three beautiful things from my past week:

1. On Friday morning, the Supreme Court upheld the importance of love, the significance of marriage, and the dignity of everyone to who wants to honor the first with the second by declaring that the Constitution of the United States grants them this entitlement.

2. A Vincent-worthy bouquet on my desk at work:

3. A gallon of delicious blueberries picked in a mere hour. One of my favorite snacks of the year:

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