1. Morning walks with Eric and the dogs. There are so many mosquitoes by the river right now that we’ve had to temporarily reroute and walk through our neighborhood and around City Park instead. It’s a great place to walk later in the day in the summer because there’s lots of shade.
Sometimes when it’s hot in the afternoon, Ringo stops in the shade and takes a break (for being Australian, he does terrible in the heat)
The baby geese are so big right now that you can barely tell them apart from the adults
2. My tiny family. My favorite part of summer so far is getting to spend more time with them.
My view from the couch
3. Peonies. A few from my garden are still lingering.
4. Pie season. Peach, blackberry, marionberry, strawberry, and apple are my favorite. The first one Eric made is already gone.
So pretty it’s almost a shame to eat it…almost.
5. Eric. Besides being a master pie maker, he does what he has to in order to get great pictures.
The picture he took of Ringo
What he did to get the picture of Ringo
Bonus joy: breakfast with a friend, the first swimming suit I tried on being the one that worked AND it was on sale, naps, good books, good TV, fish tacos, coleslaw, fresh tortillas, pinto beans, clean sheets, being able to wear my pjs almost all day, some cool weather after too many days of too hot, good podcasts, teaching a surprise yoga class on International Yoga Day, clean water, a warm shower, nose work class with Ringo, sleeping in with Sam, laughing with Eric.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 
Hi Jill,
I’m curious what type of camera are you using? The photo of the ducks with the green glowing water or absolutely gorgeous! Are you using an iPhone / smartphone or a special type of camera?
Sorry, meant to type “are” absolutely gorgeous! And it looks like Eric is using a smartphone. How he captured the light rays intrigues me. I guess that was by accident. Always fun to see your dog family. 😊
Isn’t it crazy how good the camera is on our phones? We’ve had them for about a year and I still can’t get over it. I don’t even ever use my “regular” just-a-camera anymore. Our phones are the Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge, but even when we had our old ones, which were the S3, they captured really good images. Lots of times the images I use here on the blog have also gone though some editing using Instagram, which has lots of cool filters and other editing features.
Yeah, you do a really nice job! And that’s a compliment coming from a retired graphic designer. 🙂
🙂
Apparently I lied — we have the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, not the 8!
our puppy (just turned a year old) is black and does not do well in the heat at all — we bought a ruffwear swamp cooler jacket and it is awesome. we haven’t hiked with him yet but he is bouncy and willing to walk in the sun through the countryside.
they also make an add-on cooling panel that works with some of their harnesses — unfortunately not the lightweight harness we use in summer.
people say the only drawback to the cooling jacket is being stopped by other walkers/hikers and called crazy for putting a coat on their dog on a hot day. 😉 we live in the country so haven’t had that happen yet! but it works so well i’ve thought about getting one for our dog who doesn’t even mind the heat as much.
That is an awesome idea, Lori — and I’m guessing Ringo would HATE it. He won’t wear a collar, and hates putting his harness on, so I bet a coat would seem like torture to him. 🙂