1. Morning walks with Eric and the dogs. There are so many mosquitoes by the river right now that we’ve had to temporarily reroute and walk through our neighborhood and around City Park instead. It’s a great place to walk later in the day in the summer because there’s lots of shade.

Sometimes when it’s hot in the afternoon, Ringo stops in the shade and takes a break (for being Australian, he does terrible in the heat)

The baby geese are so big right now that you can barely tell them apart from the adults

2. My tiny family. My favorite part of summer so far is getting to spend more time with them.

My view from the couch

3. Peonies. A few from my garden are still lingering.

4. Pie season. Peach, blackberry, marionberry, strawberry, and apple are my favorite. The first one Eric made is already gone.

So pretty it’s almost a shame to eat it…almost.

5. Eric. Besides being a master pie maker, he does what he has to in order to get great pictures.

The picture he took of Ringo

What he did to get the picture of Ringo

Bonus joy: breakfast with a friend, the first swimming suit I tried on being the one that worked AND it was on sale, naps, good books, good TV, fish tacos, coleslaw, fresh tortillas, pinto beans, clean sheets, being able to wear my pjs almost all day, some cool weather after too many days of too hot, good podcasts, teaching a surprise yoga class on International Yoga Day, clean water, a warm shower, nose work class with Ringo, sleeping in with Sam, laughing with Eric.

1. Only one more week of work! Then, I get to be on summer vacation for two months. This past month has been about doing just the bare minimum, because even that was really too much, so a lot has slipped through the cracks or piled up. I’m looking forward to more space in my days, less responsibility, more reading and writing, answering some lingering emails, finally getting to some house projects that have been put off for too long, puttering in the garden, really taking care of my body, spending time with friends, long naps and walks with Eric and the dogs.

One of the house projects I need to get to: painting the house. It’s so faded now it looks almost blue when it should be a deep green.

2. Our front garden. We’ve been getting lots of strawberries and my flowers are all coming in so good this year.

3. Walking in the morning with Eric and the dogs. It’s one of the very best things.

4. Opportunities for learning and growth. The Social Justice Leadership Institute I attended the first part of the week, the Coaching as Activism program I’ve been in that has only one week left, the Creating Inclusive Excellence Program I’ll start in the fall, all the super smart and generous women (of color, in particular) who keep showing up willing to resist, write and teach and do their work in a way that I can easily access and benefit from.

5. Peonies. It’s that time of year, y’all. My garden is overflowing, which means so is my house. They just are so gorgeous!

Bonus joy: working from home, a meeting that went well when I hadn’t expected it to, clean sheets, a warm shower, clean water, a long nap, good books, good TV, good movies, some great shows coming up at the Lincoln Center so that I can go to concerts and shows at night like a grown up but still be home by 10 pm cause it’s only ten minutes from my house, bees, fresh strawberries, ice, pinto beans, good tortillas, meditation, yoga, writing, sleepy dogs with stinky feet.