1. Catching the sunrise. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes it is really hard to get out of bed early enough, but every time it has been worth it. There was one morning this past week that could only be described as epic, or as Eric said, “OMG.”                                             

2. Fall color. I think last week I said it was peak autumn, and I was right. This week was absolutely gorgeous and yet I can also see things starting to fade and fall. Many times, when I stop and look in amazement, I say to Ringo, as he sniffs the ground or chews on a stick, “you are missing it and you don’t even know it.” He probably thinks the same about me, how I walk right by the horse apples and clumps of green grass, and don’t even lean down to smell anything let alone take a taste.

3. Morning walks with Ringo. I am really enjoying walking just one (mostly) mature dog. He’s a really good walking partner. And even though he’d rather not, he lets me take his picture.

4. Baking. I baked a bunch of stuff yesterday, enough that I was able to share some. During this time of year, you can miss me with all the pumpkin spice. I’m team apple, zucchini bread, and gingerbread. I made gingerbread muffins with vanilla glaze yesterday for the first time, and while they aren’t pretty and I didn’t have enough powdered sugar to glaze them all, they were SO good. I’m convinced the kosher salt makes all the difference.

5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. You know where to find me. ❤

Bonus joy: hanging out with Chloe’, my infrared heating pad, that corner of the couch and how when I’m not on it Ringo makes himself a bed out of the pillows and lounges there, my weighted blanket, fresh pineapple, the produce department and even though I know it causes all kinds of problems I’m so grateful to have access to just about any kind of fruit and vegetable I want all year round, the sunshine in autumn, yellow leaves falling, mums, green grapes, sourdough toast, gummy vitamins, hormone replacement therapy, the pool, the hydromassage chair, the sauna, training with Shelby and the gang, texting with Carrie and Mikalina, all the funny and sweet stuff Shellie shares with me on Instagram, good music, good TV, listening to podcasts, writing, restorative yoga, other people’s dogs and kids, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.

1. The morning walk. One of them this week was cold, wet, foggy, and overcast, but everything is turning color and it’s still my favorite time of year. 

And just to give you a sense of how many attempts it takes to get a picture of Ringo looking at the camera, even though the whole time I’m saying, “Ringo, Ringo, look at me, Ringo, just once, please just look over here, look at me, look at me, look at me, I’ll give you a treat if you just look at me…” He knows exactly what I mean and what I want, but Cattle dogs are SO stubborn and independent, and I actually love that about him.

2. Taking care of myself. It can be really really hard for me, but when I do, it’s so good.

3. 29 years with this human. This picture is us when I came to visit Eric in Colorado his first year of graduate school at CSU in 1993. I was living in Oregon and he’d come for school, but when he left Oregon we weren’t dating yet — really really liked each other, were good friends but were both dating other people (although, we had kissed in the few weeks before he left — that’s a whole other story) and he was leaving to go to school so it seemed like it might not happen. However, we kept in touch with letters and phone calls and by spring break that first year, we were both single again and decided I needed to come out for a week and figure out what this thing might be, if it was anything, if it was what we thought it could be. By the end of the week, we’d traded “I love you” and he called to tell his dad that he knew he wanted to marry me as soon as he saw me get off the plane, (back in the old days when you could meet a flight at the gate even if you weren’t flying). On Sunday, it is our 29th wedding anniversary, and I would pick him again, choose him over and over and always.

4. Happy Birthday, Kelly! She would have turned 50 this year, if she were still here. I’d give her a hard time for getting old, tease her about it, send her flowers, celebrate her. I was so lucky to know her, am grateful to be able to love and miss her, as much as I hate the missing part.

5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. It’s no small thing. ❤

Bonus joy: green tea, green grapes, cedar mulch, cooler temperatures, a clean dog (Ringo got a bath today and he is so soft), pizza, toast with butter and marionberry jam, a crisp gala apple and a spoonful of crunchy peanut butter, ice, a washer and dryer in my house so I don’t have to hoard quarters and drag my dirty laundry out in public, finally getting some appointments with my physical therapist, I can’t believe I’m saying this next one, but… being able to do pushups and crawls in small group training because the shots I got in my wrists made them feel 80% better so I could (something I never appreciated when I couldn’t), going to the gym this morning with Eric and sitting in the sauna together, looking out and seeing Eric and Ringo lounging in the backyard, snacks, writing with Laurie and the gang (especially Chloe’), Hendrix out in the world playing with other babies and kids, good neighbors (so far the two new sets seem to be okay), other people’s dogs, the flowers Eric brought home for me today, new books, the opportunity to start over as many times as I need to, naps, good TV (I finished I May Destroy You and started the latest season of Sex Education and Joe Kenda is featured in at least two more true crime series for Eric and I to watch together), listening to podcasts, grocery shopping, prescription benefits, vaccines, being able to get test results and make appointments online, normal mammogram results, tiny marshmallows, racoons, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.