Colorado | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Colorado peaches, finally in season and so tasty.

2. Seeing Sam with a puppy. We met her on our walk yesterday morning, I knew her mom so we stopped and talked. The play bow Sam did to her made me think about how great it’s going to be when we have another dog again.

3. Clarity. No one can tell me what my path is, only I can know, and I am so grateful to see mine clearly, to know when to say “no.”

4. The surprise of a rabbit on our walk one morning. Sam is convinced they are some kind of squirrel (which triggers his prey drive, his need to herd, makes him crazy), and when he sees one, he starts checking the nearby trees. The idea of a rabbit climbing a tree makes me laugh every time.

5. The magic of a heron flying over our house. We’d seen one earlier at the river, but the sight of one flying down the street we live on felt like a blessing.

Bonus Joy: Looking at pictures of Dexter we’d forgot on Eric’s ipod. In this one, he’d been playing in the hose and he’s got on his “quit taking pictures of me” grumpy face. I miss him so much, but am so grateful that I still can see his sweet face.

Home

This concept is always a bit tricky for me, as there are two places I consider home: Colorado and Oregon.

I love our little house, our little life in Fort Collins, with the gardens in front and back, the lilacs along the fence and by the mailbox, the trees we’ve planted and the ones now gone that we still remember, the Rocky Mountain Bee Plants that surprised us one year and return each spring to feed the riot of bees, the hardwood floors and the patterned plaster ceilings, the elementary school around the corner and our favorite park so close. The layout of the house is almost exactly like the one I grew up in, and I love that, loved that house, that home too. One reason it will be difficult to let this one go now, if we ever do, is that two of my dogs died here, and as weird as it might sound, that is a precious thing.