Removing even a thin layer of dust on the bookshelves reminds me that I can do something to improve my lot, no matter how small.

I’m grateful for our luck and don’t bet the rent on much or very often.

Spending so much time indoors, surrounded by the cherished accoutrements of the life we’ve built within these walls, is equally gratifying.

It has been neither easy nor heartbreaking all of the time and who would want that anyway?

A week’s worth of lessons, insights and epiphanies acquired honestly.

Today’s sneak preview of what we can expect in the months to come has me all tucked into the life of my own mind, and I don’t mind one bit.

It occurs to me on a humbling and regular basis that this place we call home has kept its promises, each and every one.

One way or another, I was going to wake up Monday with some evidence that I lived a purposeful life here.

How about a little benefit of the doubt instead of instant judgment?

A door closed on three months’ worth of warm balmy memories, from building another four raised beds for tomatoes and delicata squash to playing with Bumper in the thin grass of the old fasting site one sunny morning.

Without a word to each other, we picked up the drums’ rhythm and let loose right there beneath the towering silver maple with moves neither of us knew we had in us.

It’s just so hard to trust your current vantage point when threats are flung at you fast and thick from every direction.

Haikus of remembrance and hopefully, hope.

…for the first time in seven hours, I’m silent and heading toward stillness.

We hiked a few of the trails and then returned to the car to fetch our lunch, setting up our camp chairs under a stand of cottonwoods across from the parking lot, with a perfect view of the day’s arrivals and departures.

In both abundance and want, it’s important to be aware of what’s happening and how we’re feeling about it, no matter where we’re standing on this rotating planet.

If nothing else, our nieces and nephews would stumble across this collection someday and gain a deeper appreciation of their aunt and uncle’s active inner life.

Yes, I paid money for rocks that weren’t going to resurface our long driveway or dangle all polished and shiny at the end of a silver chain around my neck.

I live most of the time in wonder and curiosity, hungrily filling my plate with the knowledge of others who spend their days watching and making notes.

Sparky roosted in the old dairy barn built at the sloping end of the driveway, perching serenely on the apex of the roof, pointing his tiny crowned head south and crying out at sunset in plaintive hope for a mate.