1. Flowers in the bathroom. It’s peony season, and one variety (the ones I planted in memory of Kelly) matches the color of the roses by our front window almost exactly (although the peonies are the ones that smell like roses and the roses don’t smell at all… weird).

2. The email from my mom, reminding me that today was Friday, so I didn’t forget this post for the fourth week in a row!

3. Good books. This is going to be my read this weekend. I preordered it for my kindle so I would get it as soon as it released, but I got a copy even sooner since the author herself is right down the hall from me and she knew I’d blog about it. This was one of my most anticipated reads for summer. I’ve only had the chance to read the first essay (in which there’s wisdom like this, “There is something about privilege that can place one in a position to erase the realities of others”), but already this is so good.

4. Summer. Even though I have to work for two more weeks, and the project I’m working on has me super stressed out, I can feel summer all around me.

5. The morning walk. After a visit to a new doctor and some shots, my knees are doing much better which means I’ve been able to go on more walks.

Bonus Joy: Wild Writing class, breakfast with a friend, naps, clean sheets, rain, baby geese, a cold glass of clean water, going barefoot, the sound of a dog sigh, the way Eric’s head smells, a warm shower, good TV, laughing with Eric, fresh strawberries from our garden.

The river is up four feet because of the rain and melting snow, so some of our normal route is underwater

For the third week in a row, I’m doing this post a day late. Again, it wasn’t intentional. I took a sick day Friday, because I was too optimistic about how much better I was doing and worked too hard on Wednesday so by that night I was what you’d call sick again. I got back on my cold medicine and worked part of the day on Thursday, then came home and took a two hour nap. I slept in Friday morning, walked with the dogs, did my Wild Writing class, read for a bit, went to lunch with my friend Chloe’, came home and took another two hour nap. By that time, all there was left of the day was dinner, a bit of TV with Eric, and to bed again. It’s not that I forgot it was Friday (although because Eric is on summer vacation and home, it did make it seem like a Saturday), I just forgot about this post.

The top view is from a few weeks ago, the bottom is from yesterday morning, the river four feet higher

1. Walking with the dogs in the morning. Because I was sick, I hadn’t gone on a walk in the morning for almost two weeks. It was great to get to go along yesterday.

The babies are getting much bigger

2. Flowers in the bathroom. My peonies are about to open any day now and I can’t wait.

3. Cooking and eating good food. When I was sick, I was craving biscuits, so the only thing there was to do about it was make some. As I did, I was feeling really grateful to my mom for teaching me to cook, for sharing the value of homemade with me.

4. Sweet Sam and Ringo Blue. They are good company when I’m sick.

5. Eric. Especially the way he steps in and takes care of everything when I’m sick.

Bonus joy: breakfast burritos from Mugs Coffee, being able to keep my window open while I work at my CSU office, paid sick days, clean sheets, clean towels, clean water, a hot shower, clean pjs, good books (I finally started Underground Railroad), good TV (I’ve been watching Master of None this week, feeling so grateful for TV that risks presenting another perspective, does it so beautifully AND makes me laugh), laughing with Eric, strawberries from our garden, texting, Wild Writing, having the kind of friends you can swap flowers from your gardens with, my garden, how green everything is right now because of the rain, sitting in the backyard with Eric and the dogs doing nothing.