image by Eric

1. The pictures that Eric takes when he’s hiking. There are some weeks I don’t get out enough, and even when I do I either don’t have a camera with me or I don’t stop to use it, and then I have no pictures to add when I write a blog post. When that happens, there’s always something nice from Eric that I can use.

2. Feeling better, and having all the time I need to rest. I’m still not completely recovered from being sick. It sucks that I can’t be using some sick days, getting paid for my time on the couch, but the reason I can’t is because I’m on summer vacation and that’s nothing to complain about.

3. Eric made me pie. I was sick, I asked him to make me pie, and he did.

4. Because of the rain, our backyard looks like a golf course. Ringo and Sam love lounging on it, and I love to watch them. Sometimes I watch with my eyes closed. 🙂

5. Netflix and Hulu, allowing me to binge watch tv when I don’t have enough energy to get off the couch.

Bonus Joy: a follow-up call with the amazing women from Feast, finally tying on the string Rachel sent me, finishing yoga teacher training, naps, clean pjs, teaching yoga, Ringo napping on the big bed one afternoon and in his crate with the door open the next, seeing Tig Notaro with good friends and most likely laughing our faces off, the thump of Sam’s tail in the morning when he realizes I might be awake, fresh pineapple, soaking in the tub while listening to podcasts.

1. Peonies. Every day I was amazed, watching them shift from bud to bloom and finally to compost, changing color from a deep pink to the palest golden peach.

2. Not being any worse. Sometimes when you are sick, this is the best you can hope for. Too bad I don’t get paid sick days during summer vacation.

3. Summer vacation. Finally, finally, finally. The first few weeks are going to be a blur of being sick, healing, and tying up loose ends, but it’s finally here.

When I knew I was really on vacation — my office was all packed up for the move back into the remodeled Eddy Hall

4. My tiny family. My three boys.

Sam’s safe spot — he doesn’t like it when I cough, but when I go in to use the bathroom, he forgets it was me he’s hiding from

My view for most of the week

All three boys, couching

Ringo hiking at Lory State Park, which looks more like it’s in Oregon than Colorado, (image by Eric)

5. HGTV House Hunters. I’ve been binge watching on Hulu and Netflix while I’ve been sick on the couch, in between naps.

Bonus Joy: clean pjs, a hot shower, real cough syrup, Good Earth Sweet & Spicy tea, Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup, onion rolls and butter, planting our garden, naps, friends checking up on me, permission to rest, a comfortable bed in the spare room where I can cough as much as I need to without waking everyone up, how Ringo is learning to cuddle, the internet, email, being able to afford a plane ticket, knowing what I’m worth.