Hello dear readers,

I write to you from my office, already on my third cup of coffee for the day. Autumn has finally begun, and with it, cooler days have crept in—even with the sun shining down.

Unfortunately, the beginning of autumn didn’t go as planned. I had invited some friends over to celebrate Mabon on the equinox, but ended up catching a cold a few days before. So the plans were moved to the following week¹, and my day was rather uneventful: some writing, some reading, and a pot of homemade tomato basil soup.

Once I felt better later in the week, I delved into autumn garden tasks: I put away the garden ornaments, and tore out more dead plants; I dried beans, and harvested carrots, and organized the shed so I won’t curse myself come spring. I went to my grandparents’ farm, too, to harvest the rest of the gourds. I have far too many, and have given a number of them away, but I think I know better for next year.

What I love about this time of year is that the busy season is winding down, which gives me more time to think about how I want to spend the rest of the year. I also started thinking about what I want to let go of, now that autumn has begun and the dark part of the year is well and truly upon us.

Some things I’m planning on letting go of:

• Staying up & waking up late
• Drinking more caffeine than my body needs
• Thrifting on impulse
• Reading books to the end when I’m not interested in them

One unhappy thing did happen already this season, and this is that our dog, Clarha², died. She was quite old for a larger dog, but it was especially painful, since our other (also old, also large) dog, Charlie³, died just in the spring. We are now a dogless household—something we haven’t been for nearly twenty years. But there was a full moon on the day Clarha died, and as it rose over the mountains—the biggest moon I’ve ever seen in my life—I couldn’t help feeling it was her way of saying goodbye.

We’ve only had about a week of autumn now, but already I can tell that it’s going to be a good one. I have pumpkin plans, soup plans, woodland plans, writing plans… and I’m looking forward to all of them!

—Catherine

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