I went to wander in the wood, and from the path I did not stray.

Twas there I found much treasure stood with cunning care along the way.

Hello friends.

I hope all is well.

Today was a day to step back from everything and reset myself. Everyone needs those days. Having to change the clocks back means we all are a little off anyway. It's days like today that let me re-focus.

I let the buns out for longer than usual today to see what they would do. They played for a bit and then found little quiet spaces to nap. While I was cleaning, I relocated Panda's cat tree. She hasn't used it in quite some time. I was very surprised to see that she's been all over it this weekend - I wonder if she had forgot about it? Mandy and Sophie are well - Sophie I think is a bit irritated as I haven't taken her running - but I won't while the hunters are out. Raising animals is so rewarding to me. I really do enjoy watching them develop their own personalities and learning their likes and dislikes.

Today I also made homemade soup, from the last of the tomatoes and peppers from our garden. I put it on to stew early. It was so flavorful and delicious and perfect for the cooler weather we are in now. I knit a bit, and crochet a bit, and did my favorite thing in the whole wide world - walk in the woods.

I have always said that I truly believe that there is MAGIC here in the Black River Valley. I feel it most keenly when I am out walking. In the spring when the farms are tilling up the earth and the livestock are calving, I feel like I've stepped into the Shire. In the autumn, like today, I feel like I'm in Lothlorien. This is especially true when the leaves are silver and gold. For all you Tolkien fans out there, I hope you feel me.

I took a path I seldom take, and as usual I was the only one upon the trail. But, there have been others that have left trinkets hidden along the way and I find that this is becoming more and more common. I find it interesting - it becomes a game to try to find as many as I can. But what is most amusing to me, and makes me feel the most gratified, is that the trinkets are almost always in some way related to things that are not entirely logical. For example; small figurines of fairies, gnomes, and trolls - 'luck stones' beautiful painted rocks, and sometimes just shiny, sparkly little trinkets.

It seems to me that there are a great many others out there, that still daydream or imagine about fantastical things. And I find that very comforting indeed. I hope that in the future, Hoppy Mountain will be a place where some of those imaginings become real.

My wish for you all this week, is that you find a little magic somehow in the hectic world we live in.

Best wishes to you all.