When I walked out of the house this morning, the redbud on the corner was practically iridescent against the storm grey sky. I didn’t do a great job of capturing its grandness (although you can see the rest of my efforts on Flickr), but this is the best of the bunch. And here are three more beautiful things I wanted to share from my past week:

1. We flooded in the torrential rains of Sunday night, but I had thought that might be the case and had prepared by moving the things I thought likeliest to be damaged. I got up at one point to check, discovered the incursion, and moved everything else (that had been inconvenient to move if we weren’t going to get wet) and by morning merely had to dispose of sodden newspaper and launder sopping wet towels.

2. Danny texted to say his writing group’s collection of short stories was available on Amazon. There really is nothing quite like seeing one of your dearest people’s name on a book cover. (I know I’ve mentioned it before. I’ll probably mention it again. If any of you publish a book, I’ll share it, too.)

3. While I did not find a wallet last weekend, I did buy jewelry — bracelets — at the boutique that’s going out of business next month. One is fun, with Art Deco-style cats, and the other pretty, with colorful glass and pounded silver made by a couple in North Carolina, according to the store’s owner.

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