
1. Morning walks. This season is a weird one for walks. We have to avoid getting too close to the river because of ticks and mosquitoes, mud and flooding. Eric is also on summer break so our schedules are different and sometimes we are walking together — that last part I like but it also means I don’t take as many pictures. It is kind of fun to explore the various neighborhoods close by, to see what people have done in their gardens, to see the updates they’ve made to their houses, and to see their dogs or cats or kids.















2. Books, reading and writing. I sometimes wonder if it was a love I was born with, or even before that, when my tiny would-be-body had a heartbeat but before my brain started to develop. It feels like it’s always been there, no real beginning and no end. I’m particularly grateful for those writers who tell the truth, because as Andrea Gibson always says, “even when the truth isn’t hopeful the telling of it is.”
3. Practice. Meditation and yoga along with writing has been supporting me as I stay with some big difficult feelings.
4. Our garden. This week we put in tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, watermelon, pumpkins, and zucchini. We also have a few more strawberry and raspberry plants, and I got some columbine, one yellow and one purple. In between the rain, I’ve been slowly weeding and “cleaning up” and wow it does so much for my mental health, allows for a particular kind of ease and focus that is so beneficial and welcome. I’m looking forward to when the peonies start to pop.



5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. So much love, so lucky and so grateful.










Bonus joy: music, birds at the feeder, how happy Ringo is helping me chase squirrels trying to get in the bird feeder, a new baby in the family, the satisfaction of a weed-free flowerbed, crossing things off a list, stickers, comedy, podcasts, TV, poetry, that corner of the couch, cooking with Eric, eating the good stuff we cook, a new treatment option for the pain in my knees, the quality of the close up pictures I can take with my new phone, the extended battery life of my new phone, shopping at a plant nursery, grocery stores, the massage chair, the pool, the sauna, making each other laugh, naps, texting with Chloe’ and Mom and Chris, lunch with Janice, pay day, having a clean office, a warm shower, clean sheets, a big glass of cold clean water, dark chocolate covered walnuts, ice cream, remembering, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.