Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. It’s the last week of baseball’s regular season. In between rain storms, I got to catch two Nats games. They lost both to Kansas City, but it’s hard to argue with September baseball.

2. I bought some new plants to put in the garden for the fall season — greens and flowers and herbs and a couple things I’m going to try to overwinter for harvest next spring/summer. I didn’t do a good job getting to the garden as much as I should have this summer, but I have high hopes of reclaiming the end of the year.

3. I noticed toward mid-August that my knees and hips were starting to be a little achy, a sure sign, I’ve found, that my sneakers are no longer supportive enough to play volleyball in. (I have volleyball sneakers for indoors, but tend to play grass in trail running shoes.) After spending a few weeks trying on what was available (and grumbling about prices), I ended up out near National Harbor at the Asics outlet after dropping Rudi off at the airport on Friday. They were running a sale, which allowed me to pick up two pairs of sneakers that should keep me in good stead for the next couple years.