1. Morning walks. I thought it was another week where we walked mostly in the dark and I didn’t take many pictures. Then I started editing and loading my pictures from this past week and realized there were a lot! We saw some critters in the dark but it was only eyes so I’m not sure what sort they were exactly, and we heard a few owls. Eric and Ringo have been seeing lots of raccoons and skunks. There’s a heron who fishes at the same spot on the river and I keep trying to sneak up on it but it must hear us because every time it flies away before I get close enough for a good look, let alone a picture. 

2. Practice. I’ve been reading my journal from this time last year each morning when I sit down to write. I’m so grateful to my past self for taking the time to sit down every day and report, consider, contemplate the moments I was living then. As I prepare to go back to spend that same week and a half in Oregon, one year later, I’m longing for the tiniest bit of closure, a clearing, some space to remember and come home to myself.

This week, my wild writing group met after taking a month off. I was SO happy to see all their faces, to write and share with them, to catch up. When things with my mom settle a bit, I’d love to start hosting some classes around that practice — anyone interested in something like that?

3. Caregiver resources. This is one thing the internet can do: provide encouragement, make information accessible, and cultivate community around very specific topics. You still have to live it, put in the effort yourself, but the support provided helps so much as you try to navigate a new to you experience. It was true for me when my dad was dying and in home hospice care, and it’s true now as Mom’s cognition and mobility enters a new stage and we try to put together a more sustainable long term plan for her. This is so hard, y’all…

4. Cancelled plans. I’m not sure if this was a case of cancelled plans, but what I thought was going to happen, didn’t. Our neighbor behind us called over the fence a few weeks ago to let me know someone would be coming on Monday to cut down two of the boxelder maples in their yard, along our back fence. They aren’t the nicest trees in general, but they provide such nice shade in our backyard in the late afternoon and evening. I’m sad anytime a tree gets cut down, but especially when it means an increase of “global warming” in my own backyard. I took “before” pictures in the morning but never needed to take any “after” because the tree guys came and trimmed one of the trees you can’t even really see from our yard, but didn’t cut anything else down. Yay!

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’m starting to get a little anxious about being gone, being without my central support system while I’m in Oregon doing hard things, but I’m going to be that much more grateful for them when I get back.

Bonus joy: Peaches, naps, training with Shelby and the gang, the hydromassage chair, the sauna, breakfast burritos, new recipes to try, clean laundry, a warm shower, a big glass of cold clean water, lunch at Mount Everest Cafe’ with Eric, vaccines, gummies, books from the library, photo magnets, other people’s dogs, haircut transformation videos, unlikely friendships between different sorts of animals, kids birthday parties, cheese, cake, spiders, dog paws, comedy, dark chocolate covered almonds, the ability to walk and hear and see, listening to podcasts, seeing how much Ringo loves Teri, massage, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.

1. Morning walks. This week, we saw a few heron and some raccoons, heard a few owls, and saw the two mama deer and their four babies. It is for sure fall here and that makes me so happy, except that it’s dark for most of our walk so I don’t get to take as many pictures.

2. Practice. Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of my completed initial 200hr yoga teacher training. I can’t believe it’s been ten years already. I’m so grateful for the humans at Red Sage Vets that practice with me every week.

3. Good books. I mentioned something recently about The Galveston Diet book I was reading, that I was thinking of trying it. Blergh… I can’t believe after all this time, I get caught up in what a plan like this promises, that I don’t know better than to avoid any sort of restrictive way of eating (Eat more protein and fiber — I can do that! Never eat another slice of bread or any added sugar — I will eat ALL the donuts!), especially when it’s presented as, “this is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle!” Anything like this is clearly unhealthy for me (as a 45+ year bulimic), as well as unworkable and unsustainable. As a palate cleanser, I started reading The Wellness Trap this week, and I already feel so much better, so much more sane.

4. Good TV. I have a lot of subscriptions to streaming services, and there are a lot of shows and movies I’d like to watch, but I’ve found it hard lately to start and stay with anything. This weekend, I started watching The Perfect Couple on Netflix, and it is FUN, beautifully shot. It’s like a combination of The Affair and The White Lotus.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I am soaking it all up, as in a few weeks I’ll be heading back out to Oregon, exactly one year after the trip I made to care for and be with my dad when he died. As it’s been a year since my mom’s stroke and she hasn’t improved, sadly won’t ever be able to live independently again, I’m going to sit down with what is left of our family, her and my brother, and see if we can’t figure out a better long term plan. In the meantime, I’m getting all the hugs and cuddles and taking all the naps in my favorite place with my favorite beings.

Bonus joy: after an August break my writing group is going to start meeting again this week, the comfort of knowing that at least financially my mom doesn’t have to worry, texting with my aunts and Chloe’ and Chris, cooler temperatures, donuts, trying new recipes, the confidence to know I can follow a recipe, stickers, clean sheets, vaccines (even though after getting both my flu shot and covid booster yesterday, my arm is so tender), getting in the pool, the sauna, the hydromassage chair, training with Shelby and the gang, good neighbors, grocery shopping, peaches, finally with Eric’s help getting all the towels folded and put away, new handtowels and washcloths so I don’t have to worry about running out anymore, how on the weekend Eric and Ringo spend so much time lounging in the backyard, trees, a massage with Dana, the tiny two month old black labradoodle named Izzy I got to say “hello” to as I was leaving Dana’s studio — she was SO soft!, books from the library, being able to download books from the library on to my kindle, breakfast burritos, blue sky, cedar fences, paint, Rocky Mountain bee plants, turtles, the ocean, the produce section, buying myself flowers with the $20 off coupon I got from the pharmacy for getting vaccinated, knowing that my trip to Oregon brings people I love relief before I even get there, naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.