1. Morning walks. Since Eric is on summer break, we’ve been doing these together, all three of us, which has been really nice. One of my favorite things is that he always spots things I wouldn’t see if I were walking on my own — like the deer lying in the grass this morning or the mama duck and her four babies swimming in McMurry Pond the other day. We’ll be leaving next week for Oregon, and we’ve been talking about all the good places we’ve found along our route over the years to walk dogs. We make the same comment about them all the time as we walk them, “if we lived here, we’d walk here all the time.” This morning, as we were walking around the ponds just north of our house where we’ve lived for 25 years now, Eric joked, “if we lived here, we’d walk here all the time.”

2. Peony season! This is one of my favorite times of year. My first peony bud opened on Sunday, which just so happened to be my dear friend Chelsey’s birthday, and they’ve been slowly popping ever since. So many blooms! I want to add one of the coral varieties and something yellow and a Claire de Lune to my garden. Did you know peonies can live for over 100 years? One of my favorite Mary Oliver poems is Peonies.

3. Practice. Yoga with Red Sage and writing with my Friday morning sangha — oh how I will miss them when I’m away! I might try to show up on some Friday morning to write, but I never know what the internet connection is going to be like on the coast. I’m looking forward to mediating when we get there, with the view out the back window to rest my eyes on.

4. Ringo’s care team. He seems to be on track to heal up the “booboo” on his elbow. We got him some sleeves to help protect it as it heals and even though he doesn’t really like them he is SO cute in them. And yet, he does wear them, and that’s another thing to be grateful for, how good Ringo is about getting shots and taking pills and getting acupuncture, etc. I tried while we were waiting to build a pair of elbow protector pads myself using some fabric tape, a toddler sock, some cotton batting, and his harness, but it was a failure, kept slipping down. Even though I’d prefer it if he had not a single thing wrong right now (or ever), I am so grateful to all the people who support us in keeping his belly and joints happy, and his elbows protected.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’m looking forward to our time away at the beach, but I’m just as happy here — anywhere with them.

Bonus joy: getting in the pool, getting to visit with Sally and Janice while we hop around during aqua aerobics class, sitting in the sauna, the hydromassage bed, good books, good TV and films (sometimes even the ones that aren’t very good, because for example sometimes you need a cheesy romcom with a totally impossible happy ending), listening to music while I drive around with the windows rolled down, texting with Chloe’ and Chris, listening to podcasts, starting a new podcast or TV series I know is going to be good, practicing with Sarah Blondin, potato chips, ice cream, onion poppy seed buns, stretching, my white Siberian irises getting ready to bloom, strawberries, using my dad’s beer steins for flower vases, potting two new spider babies from plants that originally came from Eric’s mom, a big glass of cold clean water, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep, these sweet pictures of my dad who has been gone for 2.5 years.

P.S. Kind and gentle reader, my blog is going on vacation just like me, and that means most likely there won’t be a new Gratitude post until the first part of July. In the meantime, may you be safe, happy, healthy, and at ease. 💛