Three Beautiful Things

1. This is the weekend when she officially walks over the teenage threshold. She has organised most of the celebrations with lists and sticky notes, using us like extra arms and legs to make things the way she likes.  2. We bring in flowers and alpine strawberries and snips of herbs for the cake plate. 3. One good jump scare gives our nervous systems an airing.

1. 150g of rainbow nonpareils has been delivered, and it looks sufficient for our needs. 2. Every time I see her, she is working with scissors and card, preparing pastel decorations for her party. 3. To my startlement and delight, there is aircon in the footwell of Pete's open-top Saab; and we need it, even riding home under the high half moon well after 10pm.

1. Seeing a familiar face coming up the stairs at the station. 2. There is the promise of nasturtium flowers in furled buds with a snip of red and yellow showing. Maybe tomorrow or maybe the next day. 3. No one feels like eating much -- but there are some bones of cold chicken to pick at, and thin slices of bread and butter.

1. Breakfast in the garden during a heatwave. Down the wall and over, the tidal sounds of next door's bathwater, and someone else, further away, sings softly. 2. Sat deep in the sofa in the draught from the open window, we can hear people going up and down the hill. 3. Peering through binoculars at the moon-by-daylight, viewing the great craters and the shadows in the dust.

1. I make a remark about the edit I've just done -- really just for good manners and to tell the writer that I see the labour that lies beneath, and to acknowledge that this short text will be very good news for the body concerned. The writer reciprocates with context, including a level of drama that very much pleases my nosey self. I love the way measured corporate sentences hold safe a whole world of human beings and their outlandish doings. 2. We get the impression that he is very pleased with his maths work today. And we keep looking at each other saying, 'He's very pleased with his maths.' 3. There's no lemon left for my soda water -- but I remember that some mint has been quietly and competently growing in the garden.

1. To dip-sample my small library of poetry and micro texts to find a quick consolation. 2. Pinks, striped with red like seaside rock, scented, if you care to bend down, of cloves. 3. I have in my stash just the right stickers for her revision notes.