The leaves are falling here in Virginia. The season is changing. Over the past week we have been blessed with gorgeous colors of reds, oranges, and yellows against blue skies and green fields. I have been busy with many wonderful opportunities over the past couple of months, and I am glad to have time to appreciate this natural beauty and to write out some thoughts here.

Haiku continue to come to me almost everyday. It is interesting how they are clear, honest, and deep forms of self-expression - self-expression that I am not necessarily fully aware of until they come forth. I don't try to analyze them nor do I submit them to heavy editing and critique. They are my feelings, my story, my growth, my understanding of things now. I welcome them:

Oranges and reds
accent the still-green landscapes
of Shenandoah.

Wood stacked. Plants brought in.
First frost knocks at Indian
Summer's door today.

One-by-one they fall,
letting go of one life and 
starting another.

It changed in a day.
This open view could not be seen
by me yesterday.

Yes, I am seeing some open views today that I could not see yesterday. Among those views, I am preparing a presentation for the Virginia Counselors Association's Conference later this coming week at The Homestead in the Allegheny Mountains of Virginia. The presentation is the first I have formally prepared on My Life as a Border Collie. The presentation is entitled "The Use of Metaphor and Story-Telling in Working with Codependent Behaviors." To prepare, I have re-visited my own stories and lessons in My Life as a Border Collie, and I will be sharing some of those readings with you in blogs soon to come.

Fall and winter are good seasons to spend time with stories and see what we can learn about our self from them. So put on your slippers, fix a warm beverage, and check back with me here.

Natural Bridge Station, VA, USA
October 31, 2015