1. Morning walks. Once again, we had a week that was SO cold, the walks Ringo and I took were short, late in the day, and mostly close to home, and I didn’t take a lot of pictures. Ringo is in awesome shape for a 10 year old with arthritis, still runs with Eric and walks around 3-5 miles a day, but because he is getting older, we are being more careful with him, especially in the extreme cold.

2. Staying inside, where it’s warm. A roof and four walls, a functioning furnace, good insulation, double paned windows, down blankets and pillows, slippers, hoodies, wool socks, an infrared heating pad, a warm shower, unlimited hot cups of green tea, and a dog who will cuddle if you have heat he wants to steal.

3. Travel plans. I’m not actually a great traveler, would almost always rather stay home, but I will make exceptions. Today I bought a plane ticket to Oregon for next month to give my brother a break for a few days, a “caregiver respite.” It will also be his birthday week and it was the best present I could think of for him. He’s doing an amazing job taking care of our mom, but it’s A LOT. We also made reservations for a house in Waldport on the Central Oregon Coast at the beginning of the summer, one of our favorite places. We got the same house we stayed in three summers ago, because the view is so nice, it’s on a super quiet street, and there’s a yard and an awesome window bench where Ringo loved hanging out, (see pictures below). 

4. Books, reading and writing them. Not gonna lie, it’s been super hard to make any headway on the book I’m writing, because…life, (*gestures to all the things*), but I’m not giving up. I organized the bookshelf next to my computer desk to hold my latest “to be read” collection because I was getting tired of moving the piles off my computer desk to my writing desk so I could use the computer, and then off my writing desk to my computer desk so I could write or make art (I have two tables next to each other that span the width of my space, one for the computer and one for the “handmade” work of writing & art).

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I was talking to my mom today and she was saying she keeps expecting my dad to just walk in the front door. I totally get that. I’ve been with Eric for 31 years, 27 less than my parents were together, ever since we were only 24 years old, just babies!, and I can’t even imagine life without him now.  

Bonus joy: seeing a show at the Lincoln Center with Eric, sitting in the sauna with him, snow, texting with Chris and Chloe’, talking to my mom on the phone, sharing reels with Carrie and Shellie and Kari, training with Shelby and the gang, aqua aerobics, the sound of the dryer, music from the other room, practicing yoga at Red Sage, how much Ringo loves work/playing with his PT Teri and how awesome she is, starting a new notebook because it means I get to pick a sticker to put on the front, stickers, old fashioned ice cream sandwiches (ice cream between two graham crackers), good neighbors and their dogs, how every time the wind knocks over our Christmas tree in the front yard Eric puts it back up again, surprising my brother with my flight reservations, twinkle lights, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.