1. Fall color. Everything is starting to turn, as the weather gets cooler and the days shorter. There’s even a rumor that it’s going to snow in the foothills tomorrow night. I’m going to miss, miss, miss my garden, but fall in Colorado is my favorite season.

From our walk Thursday morning

2. Walking with the dogs. I am flooded with gratitude that my foot is better and a five mile walk doesn’t hurt, and that the dogs are doing so much better together.

Little dog park at sunrise

3. Ringo Blue and Sweet Sam playing. The tension of the summer has melted and they are back to playing, playing, playing. I know they’ll never love each other like Obi and Dexter did, but I’m so happy they can be friends.

Pinegree Park, image by Eric

I take a bath, they take a nap

4. Eric. The flowers he bought me, the dinner he made, the tub he cleaned, how hard he made me laugh.

5. Class with good-hearted, creative, smart, funny women. Yoga and wild writing. I don’t have time for any of it, but I make time because some weeks it saves my life.

Bonus joy: a clean glass of cold water, going to the grocery store and knowing I can buy and eat anything I want, clean sheets, the way Ringo nudged my hand with his nose when he came in from outside like the sweetest high five, the last of the summer peaches, clean laundry, a clean car, a good therapist, good books, good TV, good music, good podcasts, spicy oven roasted tacos, garlic bread, hot tea, the softest pjs, how much Ringo loves training, how much Sam loves sleeping in.

1. Play date with Pancho. These two are such an odd couple, but since they’ve known each other since they were little, they play really well together. It doesn’t hurt that Pancho’s mom is one of my favorite people.

2. Sweet Sam. He doesn’t take part in the play date because he doesn’t appreciate the rowdy play, but he’s such a good boy.

3. Tea with good women. One I’d never met before, and the other I’m getting to know better after a long time.

4. Good food. I always share recipes I want to try on my Something Good list, and lately we’ve actually made a couple of them. The above is the Oven Baked Spicy Chicken Tacos, (buried under there somewhere). They were delicious. The Cheesy Zucchini Rice was good too. We’ve also been making gratins with our tomatoes.

5. Eric. Last week when we were texting and sending each other pictures, he said some really sweet things. He’s also been making me laugh this week, even though we’ve been having some hard conversations.

One of the pictures I texted Eric

Bonus joy: clean water, a warm shower, sitting in the backyard with the dogs, grass under my bare feet, seeing an owl on our walk, Wild Writing class, sleeping in, reading, good TV, my new car, yogurt with granola and berries for breakfast, garlic bread, working from home, walking with the dogs, grasshoppers, tiny yellow birds eating the sunflowers, a watermelon from our garden, the weekend, coming home from work and taking off my bra.