Gratitude Friday

1. Sunflowers. Eric stopped at Garden Sweet‘s stand to buy strawberries, but they didn’t have any, so he got tomatoes instead, and a sunflower for my desk.

2. Sweet Sam, asleep in his crate while I work, learning to eat at the “big dog” spot, protecting me from garbage trucks and squirrels and mail people and animals on the TV, putting up with all the extra attention, sleeping in with me, taking lots of walks, and all the wordless communication that can happen when I really pay attention.

3. New Quan Yin and Ganesh for my writing desk, bought from Nepal Tibet Imports, a local store where I’ve been shopping for the past 20 years, still owned and worked by the same family that started it. The Quan Yin is sitting on a Snow Lion, which looks like a huge dog, is a symbol of bravery and the guardian of truth.

4. A new dishwasher, (yes, Mom, we finally got one!), and a local company to buy from that has been around almost as long as me, Poudre Valley Appliance, established in 1968. The thing Eric and I hadn’t expected is how much more counterspace we have now since there’s no longer a need for a dish rack.

5. Hummingbird feeder. We loved the one at the cabin so much that we decided to try one in our backyard. We’ve only seen one hummingbird so far, and we aren’t sure if it was actually able to get anything from our feeder, but we are hopeful that word will get around that the lunch buffet is open.

Bonus Joy: Teaching from Pema Chödrön. I have been watching a series of videos she made for a weekend at the Omega Institute, “Marks of Existence,” and her talk on suffering was very helpful. She is so wise, so funny, tells the best stories and gives the best advice.

1. Creatures great and small. The butterfly that let me take its picture, the bees feeding on my flowers, baby geese and ducks, the heron standing on the edge of the pond, the two moose Eric saw while he was hiking, the two deer we saw on our walk one morning with new antlers covered in velvet, the dog at the gym who wiggled with happy when I pet him, and my Sam.

2. The side front flowerbed, the first one I planted on purpose, the strip of ground between our driveway and the neighbor’s property line. It’s maybe about five years old now, has shifted and filled in, presented the surprise of Rocky Mountain Bee Plants and a Golden Raintree seedling. Some of what has happened there is organic and some because of my intervention, is wild and intentional, and I love the way it looks, gives me hope that with time, effort and attention, the rest of the front yard will grow and develop in the same way.

3. Cucumbers, zucchini squash, and lettuce from our garden. And even though the strawberries didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, Eric ate one the other day, the only berry on any of the plants, and said it was the best he’d ever eaten.

4. Paid work. I had to go in the other day and it didn’t totally suck, and I do like getting paid.

5. Internet friends, people I met online, some I’ve been lucky enough to then meet in person, who are all REAL friends, people who show up when it counts, make me laugh, inspire me to keep doing good and taking care of myself, a genuine tribe.

Bonus Joy: Time away, in the green and the quiet, the ability to schedule blog posts so that even though I might be gone I’m not gone gone, no internet so I can unplug for a bit without even having to try, time and space to do nothing but stare out at the view.