We both had a big day. At seven months post surgery this was the first day that I ventured out into the world without a cane or walking pole. Our morning started with coffee and frog patrol at the pond, and we were graced with at least four leopard frogs and one delicate butterfly.

I love butterfly names. Checking the National Wildlife Federation butterfly guide app, I entered habitat, region, and the colors orange, white, gray. I might as well have typed ‘orange-tipped wings’ because her name is Sara Orangetip. Our Telesangha morning meditation was about Amazement, and I looked at the world this whole day through that lens. It was delightful, and Sara Orangetip was just one of many amazing bits of the day.

Wren rested in the sun on her handmade rug (she didn’t make it, Garden Buddy made it for her), while I watered some of the garden and took stock of today’s new blossoms, including the wild plum which has burst open over the past three days…

… and the little red tulips which started opening yesterday.

After our grueling morning at work, we set off for the audiologist to get my annual hearing exam and update hearing aids. I wouldn’t normally have brought her in, but didn’t want to leave her in the car wearing the donut for safety reasons, or not wearing the donut for certain she’d lick her leg raw again. She was such a good little girl! Mostly sat quietly in my lap until we were checking out, when she sat quietly on the floor hearing treat crinkles as the Dove chocolates jar on the counter was refilled. She did not get one of those treats, but I did.

The drive to the audiologist was amazing: through greening fields with snow-capped mountains ringing the north and east horizons, abundant sunshine, and not a single other car along the rolling fifteen mile country road between the highway and the outskirts of town. After our appointment we drove the second leg of the triangle that connects our tri-village valley, and to the end of Rogers Mesa for a little retail therapy. I felt almost carefree: no pain, no cane, and no mask, and that was amazing.

I know. So much for No-Buy New Year. I fell off that wheelbarrow at Afton’s Garden Center where Wren and I filled a cart with herbs, annuals, and perennials. This time of year, I simply cannot resist. And since this year has gone so much worse than anyone could have hoped, I allowed myself this afternoon retreat. Local readers, this is a wonderful family-owned small business; I’m proud to support them instead of a mail-order conglomerate.

There, with only a handful of other customers, I was amazed and grateful to encounter an old friend and her daughter and we enjoyed a long and meaningful catchup in the shade pavilion. In passing, we bemoaned last year’s grasshopper plague, and they assured me that the pest control guy had assured them that it won’t be nearly so bad this year. It was the wet spring, he said, and it’s been so dry this year; sadly, he said the brutal cold winter has nothing to do with limiting grasshopper population.

Back home, I was amazed by the vibrant forsythia in blazing bloom in the late afternoon sun. Thirsty and tired from our excursion, we both drank a lot of cool, clear water, and polished off the last of a pint of mint chip ice cream. Here in our little world, it was a lovely day, and that felt amazing.