Three Beautiful Things

1. I am having a frustrating day. It feels good to admit defeat, to stop work and play a bit of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess . 2. Nick comes home bearing a bag of goodies from Lush . We add a bath night on to our weekend plan; and spend some time poring over Lush Times, the catalogue so we know what we'd like to try next -- Lovely Jubblies décolletage cream is high on the list. 3. To receive an email saying "Good job".

a. I have a guest post up on Teresa Stenson's blog, This Writer's Life . Thank you for having me, Teresa. b. I was very excited yesterday to look at Google Reader and see that there were 60 posts in the 3BT feed bundle -- thanks to all the dedicated regular 3BTers. Or why not subscribe to my long-list of favourites , which is updated every Sunday. If you regularly share three beautiful things on your blog, please let me know at ican3bt@threebeautifulthings.co.uk . Here are five of my favourite posts from the past week:  Plutarch on bread and a blueberry spill . Lynne has a blossom picture, but she isn't going to be good . Becoming Human has been watching umbrellas . Uncle Todo visits Whitney. Raymond Pert's exam candidates want to keep the poem . 1. To pull on the washing line and let it go so that it bounces and shakes off the row of shining water drops. 2. "I love a Sunday treat," says Nick as he takes me down to The Brew House Hotel for af...

I got some super good news yesterday: I've placed a 100-word story in GW Thomas' Flashshot . It'll appear on October 10. If horror, sci fi and fantasy are your passion, but you don't have much time, subscribe (for free) and get a daily story sent to your inbox. 1. Louise the hairdresser comes to show me what she's got in mind for my wedding day. She bundles me up in heated rollers, which puts Shirley Temple curls in my dead-straight hair. There is just time to boing one before she brushes them out again. Once it's done, she shows me in the mirror how she has arranged it to show off the colour variations caused by the sun. 2. I get a call from the Bureau de Change. The envelope of 100 euros that I lost on Thursday while shopping has been handed in. I am jaw-droppingly fortunate. 3. We clear out my old bedroom so I can sleep there the night before the wedding, and get ready in the morning. Picture by Stock.xchng

1. A belly comfortably full of breakfast. 2. A phone call from my mother to say that she and Daddy are safely back from their holiday and have had a magical time. She gossips about other members of the group and listens to my woes and describes the things she has seen and gives me some advice. 3. Nick and I have our favourite restaurant all to ourselves. It has wood-fired pizza oven, and Nick says that next time, I must sit facing the kitchen so I can see it, rather than having to watch the flames reflected in the window.

1. A couple of weeks ago, I admired to glass peacock Christmas decorations in a shop. But I wasn't going straight home, so I didn't dare buy them for fear they would get broken. When I visited the Czech Republic a few years back, I bought several similar decorations, but reached home with several packets of glass shards. Today, I go into the shop and they are still there, so I buy them both and bear them home safely wrapped in tissue paper. 2. Nick takes me to a sale of military books in a hotel, bribing me with the promise of tea. While he searches for bargins in two green boxes, I perch on the windowseat and admire the grounds. I can see in through the window of another wing of the hotel, where a pair of hands is carefully laying a tea table with a white cloth and crisp napkins. I imagine it might be ours. When the time comes, we go back to the lounge and are led to that very table. 3. Halfway through tea, a lady in a primrose yellow frock with many layers of net and a very s...

1. Sitting at work looking forward to a weekend of giving Nick my undivided attention. 2. As we turn into the drive of the hotel, a shaft of sunlight shines through a beech tree in full autumn glory. 3. We are shown to our tea table, which is covered in a white cloth. It's by the fire, and there's a large and soft sofa waiting for us. 4. Chatting to Nick while I wash my hair. I love the way he enjoys something as simple as me taking a bath or putting on a pair of tights.