1. 27 years. This is the biggest reason I forgot to finish this post yesterday. It was our wedding anniversary. This year was a little different since we didn’t want to go out, risk getting sick. Instead we ordered pizza, (appropriate as it’s the same thing we did for our “wedding reception”, went out for pizza and beer), and watched a movie, (Elona Holmes streaming on Netflix, which was really good). 27 years ago we eloped to Evergreen, Colorado, and a few weeks later we went on a three day backpacking trip for our honeymoon. The picture on the top right is us in our tent on our honeymoon after getting caught in a huge thunderstorm and the one below that is us in our backyard a few months ago. I have a second chin now and Eric’s got a lot more gray hair, but I think we’ve earned it.

2. Morning walks. What I said last week about those being the last pictures for a bit since it was getting so dark was wrong. This week, Ringo and I waited and went just enough later to get some light when we got to the ponds and the river. Everything is turning color so fast right now, had changed so much in just a few days. One day we saw three owls, and of course Ringo got mad because they wouldn’t fly away when he yelled at them.

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3. Fall. The days getting cooler, which means Ringo gets more cuddly.

4. Love notes. Eric found another spot besides the kitchen counter and by the coffee to hide them this week, (on my meditation shrine), which made my practice all the sweeter.

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5. My tiny family. Eric plays D&D once a week with a small group of friends (all super successful adults that are secretly and not so secretly big nerds), and this past week they had an event where they did cosplay. Eric’s costume was pretty cool and they all had a good time. Ringo got to play with Teri this week and especially liked balancing on the peanut. He’s also enjoying the shift in the “no toys in the house” rule — he and Sam used to occasionally fight over them if they were left out, so they only came out at certain times, access had to be controlled. The first time I told Ringo to come in so he dropped his toy and I told him it was okay, he could bring it inside, he looked at me in such disbelief. And this morning, I was meditating when he got back from his walk and he came to find me, say “hi,” just like Sam used to do.

Bonus joy: sweet comments from readers, how Eric snuck across the street this morning and left two pumpkins for the neighbor’s kids, how green our backyard stayed this year, clean sheets, having all the laundry put away, tangerines, the people who load my groceries into my car and the ones who shop for me, a new baby boy in the family and the fact that he and his mama are safe and healthy after a bit of a scare, writing and hanging out with Mikalina, knowing something you made and shared was good because they ask for the recipe later, two jars of jam from Auntie T, a big salad, onion buns, how hard Ringo sleeps at night when we watch TV if he’s on Sam’s couch, living somewhere where I’ve seen four Trump yard signs but close to 50 signs that are all about love and progress, eye drops, Wild Writing, sitting in the sauna with Eric, clean water, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. Taking Mindfulness to the Mat on Lion’s Roar. “Applying the Buddha’s four foundations of mindfulness to hatha yoga asanas, says Frank Jude Boccio, can enrich practitioners’ experiences and cultivate awareness of the unity of body and mind.”

2. Reasons to be Cheerful, “a non-profit editorial project that is tonic for tumultuous times.” I’ve shared this before, but it’s worth a revisit.

3. October issue of The Sun online, “We’ve lifted our paywall. In this time of isolation, we want to share stories about what connects us, the challenges we face, and the moments when we rise to meet them.”

4. Mindful by Design, “an audio course all about mindfulness, meditation, evidence of how it all works and some guidance to make it work for you. Over five episodes and accompanying meditations, Rev angel Kyodo williams introduces core principles of the mindfulness practice through both science and lived experience.”

5. Poetry Unbound. “Your new ritual: Immerse yourself in a single poem, guided by Pádraig Ó Tuama. Short and unhurried; contemplative and energizing. Anchor your week by listening to the everyday poetry of your life, with new episodes on Monday and Friday during the season.”

6. Tending Joy and Practicing Delight, Ross Gay on On Being. “To be with Gay is to train your gaze to see the wonderful alongside the terrible; to attend to and meditate on what you love, even in the midst of difficult realities and as part of working for justice.”

7. Hearing Your Voice, a new podcast from Melissa Toler. “I’m having conversations about all of these things with Black health and wellness professionals and fat activists who have taken a weight-inclusive approach to their work. My goal is to uncover the lies and myths that get sold to us, but more importantly I want us to explore how we can filter out the cultural noise and begin to hear our own voice.”

8. Wild Writing Teacher Training with Laurie Wagner, “a 5-month-long class for men and women who want to learn how to lead this life-changing writing process that invites people to show up on the page in a deeply powerful and authentic way. The teacher training will take trainees into the depth of their own writing, guide them into leadership, and show them how to create, market, and run their own Wild Writing workshops.”

9. 10 things you need to know to stop a coup.

10. I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There. In related news, Collapse Takes A Lifetime. America Is Just Getting Started.

11. Wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh: “Truth cannot be borrowed. It can only be experienced directly. The fruit of exploration, suffering, and the direct encounter between one’s own spirit and reality — the reality of the present moment and the reality of ten thousand lifetimes.” A few weeks ago, his sangha announced that Hanh had stopped eating, was getting closer to death. May he have ease in this time.

12. Maggie Smith and the poem that captured the mood of a tumultuous year. From four years ago, even more true than it was then.

13. Recipes I want to try: Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Spicy Vegan Nuggets (video), and The Best Ever Vegan Mac N Cheese. P.S. did you know you don’t have to be a vegan to cook and eat yummy vegan food?

14. Wisdom from Audre Lorde: “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

15. For a Good Time, Call. “On the party line, Maria and I can be anything, or anyone. But always, we’re adults.”

16. Hula Hoop Master. (video) This kid is me, with all of life, all the ways, all the things.

17. The Courage, a print by Lora Zombie.

17. The Case for Writing a Memoir in Essays. “Beth Kephart on the Power of Fragmentation in Books By Sonja Livingston, Megan Stielstra, and More.”