1. Morning walks. I’m there, I take the pictures, and yet sometimes when I get home and look back at what I captured, I can’t even believe it’s real. This week the light and how everything was turning golden was epic. On the morning pictured above, a dad and his about nine year old daughter were both out with their cameras attempting to capture the glorious sky. His camera was super fancy and complicated and she had a small digital point and shoot. At one point, they were both crouched down taking a picture of the way the light was hitting a foggy field full of grazing cows when she looked at her preview screen, leaned towards him holding out her camera so he could see too, and said, “I got a pretty good one.” It was so sweet! On that same morning, we met up with a dog we’ve seen a lot on that particular trail. He’s a bit older and bigger than Ringo with a big blocky wrinkly head (my favorite). He’s always off-lead (it’s on technically private property so that’s “allowed” or rather not regulated) but so sweet and Ringo likes him, so we always stop, say hello and play a bit. This time his person was on the phone, but once she got off the call, I asked her, “do you realized how awesome your dog is or do you just think he’s normal?” She responded, “oh, I know exactly how great he is.” His name is Diego and I love him.

2. Wild writing with Laurie. Our fall session started this week. It was so good to be back with the group, even as I missed those who weren’t there and the one who isn’t joining this time around. I love that practice so much, love doing it with a small group of the same good people. It’s magic and medicine.

3. Texting, family and friends, books. That may seem like an unrelated list of things, but as a highly sensitive introvert who leans towards agoraphobia, they are all the things that keep me connected in a gentle but constant way.

4. Ringo. This bed used to be under my writing desk and both Dexter and Sam would use it when I was writing or on the computer but Ringo was never interested. I took it to a friend’s recently to see if her dogs would want it but they didn’t so it rode around in the back of my car for a bit. When I finally remembered to bring it back in the house, I dropped it on the floor in a random spot while I unloaded groceries and just never got around to moving it. Ringo has added it to his living room lounging rotation so it may live here now. Even though it can drive me crazy, I love how he is never anyone but himself, doing things his own way in his own time. He has a sort of confidence in who he is and what he wants and what he won’t tolerate that I’m jealous of, even though I sometimes think the very same makes him a real jerk.

5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. Everything I need and want is right here. It feels way more full, much more spacious than “tiny” implies.

Bonus joy: peaches and vanilla ice cream, grapefruit bubbly water, dinner and then leftovers for dinner the next night from Mt. Everest Cafe, vaccines (got my bivalent booster last week, the first day they were available), true crime (although I may be watching and listening to too much of it, as I explained to my brother after he finally texted me back after the text I sent him this morning that I needed to know he was still there, still alive because he hadn’t texted me back yesterday and he usually texts right back), reading, writing in the morning with a cup of hot coffee (+cocoa and tiny marshmallows), my weighted blanket, down pillows and blankets, my Oovoo slides which are my “house shoes, ” good neighbors, hanging out with Mikalina, other people’s kids and dogs, clean sheets, dog rescues and fosters and adopters, sunshine, the meadowlarks and chickadees feeding on our fading sunflowers, the seed pods on my golden raintrees that look like tiny lanterns, twinkle lights, origami cranes, that picture of me in my straw cowboy hat holding baby Dexter in our backyard with Obi photobombing us, listening to podcasts, watching good TV, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.   

1. Morning walks. This week the sunrise was extra special — and yet, it was because of smoke from wildfires, both just west of here and in Montana and Idaho — but the light. *swoon* Another special treat this week was the day we ran into Carol and Rizzo, our backyard neighbor and her dog, who Ringo loves. It’s so cute because with a fence between them, they do that thing where they bark like they want to kill each other, but when we run into them on a walk, it’s all good.

2. Books. I will never get to read all the ones I want to but I will die trying.

3. Crossing things off my to-do list. Usually the list is in my head but today I wrote some of it down just to have the satisfaction of crossing things off. It’s also nice to be able to write it, put it down and walk away, not have to carry it around with me. When I was still working at CSU, I’d add things to my list that I’d already finished that day just to get to make that line through, to feel a tiny sense of accomplishment.

4. Rain. During late spring and summer, Fort Collins typically has 30 days of 90-degree temperatures. This year so far, we’ve had at least 62 90-degree days. For this reason, the cooler temperature and rain of the past few days has been glorious.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. How many times can I say it before you get bored of hearing it, kind and gentle reader? — I LOVE my little life, it’s everything I ever wanted and there’s no place I’d rather be.

Bonus joy: zucchini egg bake, having a washer and dryer in my house, electricity and clean water, the internet, prescription drugs and vaccines and masks, watching good TV and movies, listening to podcasts, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, training with Shelby and the gang, hanging out with Mikalina, texting with Chloe’ and Mom and Chris, the pictures of Jessamy’s kids, electric cars, a/c, my practice room, my office, our backyard, the slow fading of our front garden, good neighbors, other people’s dogs, babies, wombats, lemurs, elephants, honeybees, butterflies, hummingbirds, herons, oranges, limes, lemons, strawberries, grapes, down blankets and pillows, organizing a drawer or closet, mint, grapefruit bubbly water, bird feeders, all the ponds and the river and the Pacific ocean, chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants, veterinarians and techs who are willing to get down on the floor and go slow with Ringo, knowing that he trusts me which is his version of love, naps, sleeping in, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.