1. Morning walks. Our first morning back was gorgeous, just like it always is here, and we made that joke we do, said the thing we do on walks when we are traveling but in this case we were talking about a place only a mile from our house, “if we lived here, we’d walk here all the time.” Because there are so many fires in Colorado right now, many of the sunrises right now look more like sunset, with a bright red hazy cast.

We had lots of good walks in Oregon, on the beach most days but also one hike on the Cumming’s Creek Trail that was my favorite walk of the trip. The way the light filters through the old growth there is a particular kind of magic. I was watching Ringo that morning, thinking to myself how happy he was when Eric said, “he looks so happy.”

As an older dog who doesn’t care about being offlead, running around and playing, and who only wants to smell stuff and get treats, it turns out that walking on the beach isn’t as much fun. He still did that thing where every time he stops and digs in the sand, he expects a treat, which can lead to him only taking five steps between each dig, which is hilarious to me.

One thing I’m particularly grateful for from the trip is that we had FOUR skunk sightings but not one spray, and as those sightings happened on a trail in Utah during our drive and what a nightmare it would have been to try and clean Ringo on the road and that smell never would have come out of our car and how could we stay in a hotel or rental house smelling like that, so I’m so grateful we avoided it. We renamed that particular trail, “Skunk Loop.”

Another bit of luck was our second morning of a three day drive, Ringo started to limp on the morning walk, the thing I’d worked directly with him and his care team for two months before we left to prevent happening. Turns out he was “just kidding” because that was the only time the whole trip it happened. I made lots of concessions for his advanced age, putting down anti-slip mats and adjusting all the beds so he could get up on them without wrecking himself.

2. A safe, easy, successful trip. Ringo did really well and so did we with three days in the car and two nights in hotels, there and back, six days of total travel. We had to make adjustments to the accommodations for him at our hotels — in one, I pushed the mattresses back to expose enough of the box spring foundations to create a step Ringo could use to get up on the bed and at another smaller motel we were put on the second floor one night and the stairs are those metal kind with little holes surrounded by teeth and Eric had to carry Ringo up and down, which was not ideal but we made it work. My favorite parts of the drive are going by the Wasatch Mountains and then all the various national forests in Oregon, the backroads in the Willamette Valley, and the whole section between Corvallis and the central coast.

3. Visiting family. I am very aware how little time we all have together, so each moment spent with them is precious. While I was over in the valley to visit my mom, I booked two nights in a small hotel in Independence. When I arrived, they apologized that the room I’d booked hadn’t been cleaned, so they upgraded me to another room, which turned out to be the Osprey Suite, which was amazing and had a balcony with a view of the Willamette River. I was very grateful for the extra luxury and quiet during what was a difficult part of the trip.

4. Our last big trip with Ringo was a good one. He could have more years with us, but this is the last time we’ll make him take a big trip, so the last time he’ll be at the beach in his current form. I’m sad about that but also so happy that he was comfortable and at ease while he was there and we got to spend that time with him.

5. Kitchen counter love notes. I post these every week, but you may not have heard the story behind them. It started with Eric leaving me the occasional love note on the kitchen counter to find when I got back from walking Ringo, after he’d left for work or the gym. They were nothing special then, nothing fancy, but then he found out I always kept them and started to take it seriously, making them into tiny little pieces of art. At first, it was only the days I walked Ringo and Eric was gone when we came back, but then it became every day, and not always one the counter. In fact, now he puts them in the cabinet next to my green tea, or if I’m traveling he sneaks them into my Kindle or my suitcase or sends me a picture of one first thing in the morning. On this trip, he packed his art supplies and made me one every morning, even though we were on vacation, including a few he drew into the sand.

6. Home sweet home: My tiny family, small house, little life. It was a good trip AND I’m so happy to be home, be back here with them. When I picked up our mail, the tshirt quilt I’d had made from shirts of my dad’s, so many of them Colorado shirts I’d sent him over the years, had finally arrived. We also have new patio furniture gifted to us by our neighbors who moved while we were gone and couldn’t take it with them. There was also a sweet “welcome home” from my dear friend Chloe’ who’d been watering my plants while I was away. My peonies are long gone, but I had a few pictures from right before we left I hadn’t yet shared here.

Bonus joy: getting back in the pool and sauna and using the hydromassage chair, yoga at Red Sage, cherry season, molasses cookies, pay day, our own bed (!), a dozen white roses because Eric knew I was sad my peonies were gone, all our favorite trails and the mosquitoes not too bad yet, a/c, a warm shower, texting with my brother, how good Mom’s house looks now and the HUGE difference that is making in the listing price and all the hard work Chris did to get it there, getting out all the summer recipes for yummy seasonal food, writing with my Friday morning writing group after four weeks away, blogging, being back in my own house with all my own things, grocery shopping, doing laundry, unpacking the first night even though I didn’t really want to but Eric was working on it because he was tired of sitting all day and wanted to move and next day me was so happy that day before me had already taken care of all that, naps in my own bed, letting myself go slow and take it easy, therapy, adding things to my schedule that are just for me, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.

1. Morning walks. Since Eric is on summer break now, he gets to come with us, which also means I don’t take as many pictures. We’ve seen baby ducks and geese but no deer yet, and even though we haven’t seen them we are happy to know there are some fox kits this season. For how dry and warm our winter was, this late spring has been normal-ish with rain turning everything green and filling the river back up.

2. Ringo’s care team. This week I was especially grateful for Dr. Foster, who was so kind to me and so helpful as I worried about the callus on Ringo’s elbow that got irritated this week. She suspects that because he has more arthritis in his right elbow that when he lies on the cool hard surfaces he loves so much, he shifts his weight to his left elbow and that’s how he rubbed all the hair off and developed a callus. I was also grateful to her because after we’d been messing with his elbow all morning trying to figure out a homemade way to protect it (we’ve since ordered something made for exactly that), he was extra spicy with her during his acupuncture session and she loved on him anyway, didn’t take it personally.

3. Working in the garden. The columbine I thought was lost but found and uncovered has a tiny bloom on it. I especially enjoy the company of the bees and the ladybugs. I’m surprised how satisfying weeding can be, knowing as I do the impermanence of the impact, aware as I am that those weeds will keep coming back and sometime later in the season, maybe many times, I’ll have to do it all over again. I have tons of peony buds again, although my two biggest producers spent a few weeks tipped over after the snow and by the time I got them pulled back up and caged, their stems had bent like crazy straws. Here’s what I have to look forward to:

4. Getting in the pool. I am loving being back after the long closure to replace the tile, being able to spend more time there.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. This is that weird moment in time where there are still a few weeks before we leave for Oregon but most of our attention is already turned towards that trip so I get so easily distracted about everything, like I’ve got too many plates spinning. Yesterday, I was boiling some carrots for Ringo and totally forgot about them, went out to weed in the front so didn’t hear the timer I’d set, and luckily it was already pretty warm out and I didn’t stay long enough to burn the house down. I’m also feeling so sad because even though I’ve been there since, with this trip it is going to seem real that our parents’ homes are no longer there for us to return to, to be welcomed and comfortable, to stay for a bit. *sigh* And yet, I’m so grateful for the home I have here, with Ringo and Eric, and that after we visit Oregon, we get to come back here.

Bonus joy: my annual haircut, the rain helping keep the ground softer so weeding is easier, how well toddler socks work for dogs too, writing with my Friday morning sangha, practicing with Sarah Blondin, watching good TV and films, listening to podcasts, naps, gummy supplements, how I weaned myself off social media to the point that whenever I go back on I don’t stay long, poetry, sharing poetry, when Sandy and Janice come to aqua aerobics, sitting in the sauna with Eric, air fryer french fries with homemade fry sauce, baked ziti with broccoli, onion poppy seed buns, ice cream, sitting in the backyard with Eric and Ringo, book club, ordering off Amazon (yes, I know Jeff Bezos is the devil and the whole thing hurts a lot of people and is wrong in so many ways, AND I can’t tell you how much my little black introverted heart loves to be able to get online, do a search, shop around, order what I want, and have it show up on my front porch the next day), a warm shower after honest work, a big glass of cold clean water, crying, how well my repotted Christmas cactuses are doing, being able to let go, canceled plans, sleeping in (which for me apparently means 6 am, so not that big of a deal), reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.