What a beautiful day!

Staying in the present, appreciating the “now”, is a difficult practice for all of us. Myself, I tend to fluctuate between the ticker-tape in my brain of to-do tasks that I haven’t finished yet, and the schedule and tasks I have set for tomorrow.

Today, I was dog sitting and took my charge out for her noontime walk. It is truly fabulous outside!

Here, in southeastern Pennsylvania, we’re about midway through autumn. We’ve had some nights in the upper 30’s, some days in the mid 80’s, and some days of torrential rain and wind. About half the trees are mostly or all the way empty of leaves, and there are still plenty left that are completely green.

As we walked, I had started out thinking about how different today is from the middle of summer. The sky is blue, but it’s lighter than that deep, dark blue you see in July. The sun is warm, but without the intensity that beats into my skin and feels like it is shining on my bones.

Then, since I was walking barefoot for maybe the last time this year, I crunched through some warm leaves. The next step, I was on soft grass that was warm on top and cool underneath. The driveways we crossed were smooth and hot, the curb was coarse.

A brisk breeze, maybe a wind even, kicked up. It had a beautiful cool edge, and a wild sound thanks to the dry leaves up high in the trees all around us.

I soaked in the light, the air, the sounds and smells and freshness that that walk held. I know that summer is over, along with its everlasting promise of warm and humid. I know that the near future holds cool, cold, dry, and rather uncomfortable weather. But for those 10 or 15 minutes, I knew what it was to be like to just Be.

This past Saturday, I attended an herbal conference that snuck up on me. It’s been on my calendar, as had the early-bird registration date, for ages. And suddenly, it was time to be there.

At the conference, I was asked how I found out about it, to improve their marketing efforts next year. Ummmm… I couldn’t remember. Maybe through the sponsoring farm? Am I a CSA member? Well, yes, but I’m pretty sure I discovered the CSA in researching the conference. (This gives some perspective- I probably signed up for the CSA in March or so. My share-buddy confirmed, I found the CSA for us through the conference, not the other way around.)

Well, however I came to be there, they were glad I was. And boy, so was I!

I plan to tell you more about the vendors, because they deserve their own special mentions and I got some really great stuff. And I can’t wait to tell you about meeting the wonderful, fabulous… but I‘ll wait and tell you her name later. Suffice, for now, to say that I met a real-life Herbal Rock Star, and a favorite Rock Star of mine at that.

Today, I want to tell you about the conference itself, and encourage you to put it on your calendar for next year. Right now, go ahead, the first weekend in October, I’ll wait. (Add a reminder, for about the first week of July, so you can look for early bird registration!)