Etsomnia™ is being postponed by one day because an anniversary has snuck up on me, and I want to share it with you.
Yesterday, thanks to Facebook’s memories feature, I discovered that it was seven years ago that I got the idea for this blog! The early days of One Beautiful Thing were just daily posts on my Facebook wall (that only my friends could see). Here’s how they started:
“[I’m] reading a novel called Truth in Advertising. In it, two of the characters play something they call “One Beautiful Thing,” where they each have to report something beautiful they saw that day, no matter how bad the day. I can’t promise to play every day (I forget stuff), but I’m going to try…
“Here’s today’s: On the train this morning, I saw a couple who looked to be in their nineties. She was reading, and he reached over and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. It was so intimate, it made my heart go a little squeezy. And if it weren’t for this game, I might have never thought of it again. Your turn!”
– August 26, 2013
After keeping up the daily private Facebook posts for a few months, I moved them over to a public-facing Facebook page. Then a high school friend suggested my scribblings had the makings of a blog, and 6 years later, here we are. You can see that my original beautiful things were much more personal than most of my posts these days. By the time that my daily posts were going up on the public Facebook page, in the interest of protecting my privacy, I started sharing artists and performances and other external things rather than sharing quite so much about myself. Of course, I eventually got comfortable, so by now you know pretty much everything about me.
In that spirit, I thought it might be fun to ask my readers to share something beautiful in their world today. Please chime in if you’d like to play along.
XOXO
Donna
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My OBT 
August 27, 2020 at 7:35 am
Happy Anniversary.
My two beautiful things for today are (in no particular order):
1. The delicious pineapple jam I brought back from Colombia. It tastes delicious and it adds a whole new level to PB&J.
2. I looked out my window and see that the weeds I pulled out of my lawn are back in force. While this doesn’t make me happy, I have to admire the tenacity of the little bastards.
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August 27, 2020 at 8:31 am
I know what you mean about the weeds. There’s a house across the street from us that comprises 50% of my view when I’m working. The owners are in dispute with the program that built the house, so in the meantime, no one works or lives there. The weeds are having a party! They’re now waist height, and I swear I can see them laughing at me. However, on Tuesday, one of the bastards popped out a fantastic flower. Hard to hate something that has the ability to brighten up an unloved space. Very glad to hear from you!
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August 27, 2020 at 7:39 am
The sky….This mornings sky was a glorious color of red/orange.Of course we know that means’ sailor take warning’ and there is that terrible Laura blowing through Louisiana right now. My prayers are for everyone in her path. We may get a little wind and some rain but the most of it will be west of us.
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August 27, 2020 at 8:32 am
I’m grateful you’re out of it. Laura has done some terrible damage so far. The sunrise sounds glorious!
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August 27, 2020 at 8:23 am
Because of temperature my windows have more than enough moisture that I can’t see out this AM. As the day does on, the windows will clear and the sun will shine in on my kitchen plants. The hurricanes are not headed here this time. That makes me happy another day. — Hal
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August 27, 2020 at 8:34 am
I’m so glad the hurricanes are giving you a miss! I remember that about Florida. It made such an impression on me as a child. We were there for vacation, and I remember being on the swings at the hotel and the sky just opening up and raining like crazy. I cried because I thought the whole day was shot, but half an hour later, here comes the sun. That happened every day we were there. I started looking forward to it, and we all took bets about what time it would rain.
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August 27, 2020 at 5:39 pm
It is that time of the year here. Rain just about every day but hurricanes don’t cause the daily rains. They come off the gulf. I have now been here for six hurricanes. I live about as close as you can get to the center of Florida. Only two out of the six have come close to us and they really didn’t scare me. Now, that I made this post one might prove me wrong. I am not a real beach guy but even if I were, I would not live near the either coast. I have been here long enough to look forward to the rains so I don’t need to water the yard and my plants. Hal
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August 27, 2020 at 9:38 pm
We had quite a lot of rain and wind tonight (and a tornado watch, if you can imagine). We enjoyed it all, and yes, we talked about how nice it was we didn’t have to water the plants!
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August 27, 2020 at 8:37 am
We took a drive out to the beach yesterday and met the sweetest little Yorkie. I thought he had sand around his eyes, but they were his sugar whiskers–his owner told me he was 9 years old. Frail but adorable, and loved feeling the sand between his toes. Needless to say, I took an enormous amount of photos. He was precious.
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August 27, 2020 at 8:41 am
Sugar whiskers? What on earth are those? I tried looking them up, but I just kept getting some bakery’s website.
I love your description of the little guy!
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August 27, 2020 at 8:43 am
When a dog’s fur is white around his face (his whiskers turn white from old age), it is sometimes called sugar whiskers. I think that is the sweetest (no pun intended) description for an older dog.
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August 27, 2020 at 12:48 pm
Oh! That makes sense, and I love the term, too.
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August 27, 2020 at 10:20 am
Congratulations on 7 years! Of course One Beautiful Thing is my daily beautiful thing, but today in Colorado we actually have blue skies. For two weeks the smoke from forest fires in Colorado and California has covered our skies so they’ve been white and filled with the smell of smoke. Today I can see blue and actual clouds.
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August 27, 2020 at 12:51 pm
I’m so glad to hear the smoke has cleared. Wildfires are so scary. Wishing you continuing blue skies!
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August 27, 2020 at 12:22 pm
Congratulations! I admire your dedication – every day, every single day! – and start my mornings with your blog.
Today’s beautiful thing: I stood outside my door and listened to . . . absolute silence. I’m so privileged to live in an area where I usually hear no human sounds, where I can walk in my backyard forest for hours and not meet a human soul. I remain eternally grateful for this stage of my life.
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August 27, 2020 at 12:53 pm
It’s so sweet to hear how many people are regular readers of my little things! Thank you for sticking with me. I love your beautiful thing! Silence is something that’s pretty rare in NYC, though Beloved and I are lucky enough to live on the water in a little town. Most of what we hear is seagulls (and our neighbor’s 70’s classic radio!).
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August 27, 2020 at 2:30 pm
I am so very glad that you were inspired to create this blog. Your posts are always interesting, often uplifting, and you’ve created a wonderful community of followers too.
My first beautiful thing today is that all of my therapeutic pandemic baking is paying dividends and I am experiencing greater success with baking yummy treats than I ever have before. I have always been a very good cook but considered myself to being a crappy baker (only capable of basic things like cookies and loaf cakes and brownies) but now I think I can shut down my Inner Critic voice that tells me I am crappy at baking.
My second beautiful thing is that I finished my project to reorganize all of my teaching materials, art materials, and household stationery in the converted garage where I have also created a “spillover” larder. It doesn’t look smart or fancy but oh my goodness is it organized now. I know where every single item is in that room now. It feels satisfying.
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August 27, 2020 at 5:35 pm
I love the feeling of having successfully organized something! I am in the middle of a similar project at work, and it’s difficult, but every time a piece of it is done, VICTORY!
I’m impressed about the baking. I am also a good cook but a meh baker. I just don’t like to follow formulas, and baking is a much more recipe-reliant skill. I’d rather throw in things until it tastes good.
And I’m so very grateful for you, who have become my real friend, and for our wonderful little virtual community!
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August 28, 2020 at 2:12 pm
Aw, thank you.
We are alike in that regard then. I never follow a recipe. I am an instinctive cook and that approach does me well. I watch cookery shows and read recipe books but I regard them as inspiration rather than instructions and I rarely measure anything. Baking, of course, requires much more precision. It is probably just too much like science for me.
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August 28, 2020 at 2:27 pm
Exactly! I use recipes the same way. I use them for a list of ingredients (which I will likely modify), plus cooking times and temperature. I always thought of baking like chemistry (at which I did not excel). Twinsies!
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August 27, 2020 at 2:47 pm
My beautiful thing today was a sunflower just opening. Blog about it will post tomorrow.
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August 27, 2020 at 5:35 pm
How wonderful! We just discovered white sunflowers, so we might give those a try next year. Looking forward to the post!
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August 27, 2020 at 5:42 pm
White sunflowers? I haven’t seen those…will have to go look for some!
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August 27, 2020 at 9:40 pm
https://www.sunflowerselections.com/product-category/all-colors/cream-white/
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August 27, 2020 at 3:18 pm
Today is my 70th birthday! That’s pretty beautiful. Also I have a big vase of sunflowers brightening our living room, and Don is next to me – that’s the most beautiful of all. Oh and I’m having a big birthday dinner outdoors with friends tonight and Don has gotten me a flower crown! I’ve not seen it yet but I bet it will be beautiful! Scurrying off now to find your FB page. Finally it’s a beautiful thing that your high school friend encouraged you to start a blog so I get to see OBT every day. xox
Alison
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August 27, 2020 at 5:36 pm
Happy happy birthday, my dear Alison! Hope you have a wonderful night. I’m so jealous about your flower crown! XO
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August 27, 2020 at 5:49 pm
Thank you. I’ll be posting pictures of the crown!
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August 28, 2020 at 3:59 am
The mist as it drifted into the valley while running. After summer heat in Portugal, a cooler day is much appreciated, not just by me, but everything that wants to grow!
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August 28, 2020 at 10:52 am
That sounds just lovely! I’m a sucker for a good mist. Also a big fan of fog. It turns everything into a noir film set!
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August 28, 2020 at 4:38 pm
I agree! Not nice to bike in, but I love watching it from the safety of home 🙂 Love the spooky feel in woods too.
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August 28, 2020 at 5:16 pm
We live on the water, and some days, back when I was commuting, the whole walk would be heavy with fog. It was so gorgeous to walk through! Just had to be extra careful crossing streets.
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August 28, 2020 at 6:44 am
Happy Blogaversary! It’s been a hectic day and I’m tired but…dinner was nice. 🙂
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August 28, 2020 at 1:45 pm
I’ve been having the same kind of days. Glad dinner was good!
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August 28, 2020 at 5:38 pm
Can I do a belated OBT? Woke up this morning to bright sunshine. It’s still cold, but every living thing seems to be basking in the return of the sun, including me.
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August 28, 2020 at 9:22 pm
Not belated at all! You pop back and do one any time you like! You’re in Australia or New Zealand somewhere, right? It’s so odd to me that we’re having opposite weather. Very cool.
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August 29, 2020 at 5:28 pm
Yes, Australia and I’m the same. No matter how much I think I’m used to timezones, I’ll be chatting away to someone and they’ll suddenly say something about the weather that completely stops me in my tracks. It’s followed by that feeling of ‘oh, of course’, but the dislocation is genuine.
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August 29, 2020 at 8:18 pm
It’s a wide, wide world!
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August 30, 2020 at 6:41 am
lol on the www?
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August 28, 2020 at 10:21 pm
Congratulations on your beautiful achievement! My OBT for the day was seeing a friend sing her own songs for the first time with her newly formed band. It had been postponed under recent lockdown rules in NZ but was able to go ahead last night as planned. Yay!
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August 29, 2020 at 12:50 am
Thank you! There’s nothing quite like musical friends! I’m glad your friend got to perform her music. That must have felt kind of normal.
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