It’s 7:30 AM and still mostly dark here in Kentucky. 

I remind myself that we’re only a couple months away from the shortest day of the year, so things are as they should be. It’s how the leaves know to turn to those gorgeous red and gold shades, AND how the birds know it’s time to pack their stuff up and head south.

For myself, rather than storing up fat as the bears do for winter, I’m in the process of trying to shed some for the purpose of fitting back into my jeans.
Summer dresses are to blame.
And maybe a few too many biscotti and spritzes, but I digress.

I’ve been finding every possible reason to be outdoors. The usual fall gathering in of plants and pots that can’t stand the cold—the obvious reason—but the more urgent one being this: I CRAVE the sunshine that is packaging these fall days in such glistening fashion.
Can’t    get    enough! 

The mere thought of being trapped inside at my computer, working, is why this letter almost didn’t happen. (It helps that I first handwrote it in my journal while sipping a cup of steaming oolong tea in my hand-thrown pottery mug and nibbling on a piece of *biscotti with my body snuggled under a soft sage green throw on my corner of the couch.😉 )

*If you’re in a biscotti mode, it would be remiss of me to not share a particularly indulgent dark chocolate fav of mine…available on Amazon. Your pants will hate me, but your lips will smile in gratitude ;-)

Nonni’s Cioccolati Roasted Almond

There is such enormous beauty in the fall—sandwiched between the loss of long summer days and the anticipation of gatherings ahead spent with those we love so dear.

Soon I’ll be in my studio, playing (I find it helps to call it what it is: play/not work), but what is serving me well now to fill my soul with sunshine is following this trail of little joys:

• I finished reading (my first time ever!) a book of poetry
• Still munching my way through the magazine I mentioned in my last letter (read about it here)
• Spending time at a local plant nursery, enjoying my plant friends (thankfully, it’s a place one can loiter and not seem TOO weird…)
• Journaling
• A little Halloween prepping (found some mini pots of Play-Doh for kiddos on restricted diets or sensory issues to have along with the usual candy offerings...makes me happy)
• Soaking in the beautiful harvest moon and the miraculous color of the skies that autumn brings
• Feeling grateful for life

I hope you can feel the warm hug this letter offers. YOU are why I continue to show up…and for real, that is all we can do in life. You and me. Show up. I’m not sure we have much control over what happens after that. It’s the showing up that counts, right?

So today—show up for the one person who needs you to do it the most. 

Beautiful YOU. Show up and the rest will follow.

Big Fall Hugs!

Dreama

Belle Bienvenue (A Beautiful Welcome!)
8 x 10” oil on panel

P.S. Let me know what is moving you through these fall days in the comments below—it’s fun to share our lives!

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