It’s a gray Monday morning. It’s still hot and humid. My Tampa Bay Rays are playing the last few games of their season, trying to avoid being last in their division. It was too cloudy last night for me to see the lunar eclipse, which I had been looking forward to. Today I just feel generally grumpy. I have plenty to do, but I’d rather go to bed with a stack of books.

On days like this, I remind myself that these are not real problems. Having no place to sleep and not enough to eat, those are problems. But when I feel grumpy, it doesn’t make me less grumpy to be told I have no reason to be grumpy. Instead, I’m kind to myself, working into my day some of the simple pleasures I love most. For instance, today I’m enjoying:

A Pumpkin Spice Latte, purchased with the last of a gift card from my son.

Chris Mann’s voice.

A good cuddle with her:

A literal stack of books from my library (I went overboard on the hold requests):

That’s right—thank goodness it’s Monday! I’ve written before about how Monday is one of my favorite days of the week. It remains so, I think partly because it has so much variety. I pack a lot of simple pleasures into Mondays, and sometimes some everyday adventures. For example, today I:

Drank coffee from my favorite mug and ate a homemade coconut ginger scone while reading A Field Guide to Now.

Walked our nature trail with a friend.

Went to see Tank. He was feeling very full of himself and we had some fun playing horse games on the ground. And his lips are almost completely healed up!

Took a delightful and much-needed warm shower after sweating (and sweating) in the 90-degree heat—it’s fall, darn it—won’t someone please turn off the heat?

Folded some laundry and changed the sheets on our bed. My husband and I both love fresh sheets! Going to sleep tonight will be extra nice.

Looked for freelance writing jobs online and asked for more information about a posting for a horse health blogger!

Fertilized my orchids.

Still to come:

Reading for pleasure. I have several books started, and I’ll be picking up either No Name or Fragile—or both—later today.

Watching my Tampa Bay Rays play the Texas Rangers for the second American League wild card spot.

What simple pleasures and everyday adventures did you enjoy today?

Our pool looks like this:

We’ve been lucky so far, though. We haven’t had any high winds, tornadoes or power outages, unlike other areas. According to the latest storm track, Debby might make landfall near Florida’s panhandle, blanketing nearly the whole state with more rain.

I’ve put aside the errands I planned to do today, in favor of sticking close to home, staying dry, and charging all our battery-operated electronics. (I remember what happened last time our power went out.) I’m keeping our AC running cooler than normal today. In case the power does go out, we won’t get hot and sticky quite as soon. I’ve also located the flashlights, and the batteries for the lamps and fans.

Welcome to summer/hurricane season.

No, this isn’t how I planned to spend today, but that’s OK. There are always more than enough things wanting my attention here. Monday usually sets the tone for my week, and I want to make good use of it, even though the gray and rainy skies make me want to go back to bed!

How will you spend today?