Well hello there, happy Saturday!

I am currently visiting my mom and stepdad in my very favorite mountain town and exploring my very favorite mountains ~ can’t wait to tell you all about it when I’m home again! And here is what will be in my ears on this trip … hooray for new music!

Small Town Life

Last Saturday, while the youngest was attending orientation at her very first job (at the local bakery her older sister worked at!), I had the luxury of an hour to kill on a gorgeous day in the small town nearest our home. What to do?? Well, it turns out there was a local artisan vendor market happening AND a historic home was open for tours ~ all in one block!

Both of these things are opportunities I LOVE, but probably wouldn’t have made the 20 minute drive into town for on their own. I always have to remind myself that kid-shuttling does have benefits!

At the vendor market I was enticed into an advice-giving tent by some delightful older women who charmed me beyond belief, made me laugh, and got me to give them $3 for … I’m not sure what the money was for. I’m guessing fundraising for something? I truly don’t care because I got to belly laugh, had some fun conversation, AND they gave me a bat ornament made out of a pinecone along with my advice ~ what a win.

I also roamed the other vendors and picked up a yummy candle, some sourdough bread, a birthday gift at a pottery tent, and look what else someone was selling?!?

I do this in my library (I call it Reading is a GIFT! though), and I know many bookstores do this as a display, but this young woman was selling her own used books like this and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I bought one as a present ~ can’t wait to see what it ends up being when I gift it!

Mysteries of Middle Age

So, the saga of my feet is no secret around here, but I was absolutely horrified to discover in the past few weeks that 1) my feet GREW again (a lot) and 2) my right foot is now a half size bigger than my left.

You guys, I do NOT have time for this. I was so excited to head into this fall and winter with the perfect-fitting shoes I finally found and loved last year, and I feel incredibly betrayed by my body right now. I already have enough foot agony that NOW WHAT?! Over the past few weeks I have been spending crazy amounts of time ordering and returning shoes, trying to convince myself older shoes DO still fit, being in agony by 1:00 pm, wearing different socks on my left and right feet to make things fit, etc.

And yes, I know that this happens as we age, and it also happens after switching to natural foot-shaped shoes and letting feet BE, but … still annoying and so very expensive.

My friend and I decided that the absolute ONLY answer is for me to move to a coastal beach property (with no hurricanes) so I can be barefoot on the beach 100% of the rest of my life. THE ONLY ANSWER.

Words I Adore

I opened up one of my favorite Sunday missives last weekend and found THIS from Adriene …

Yoga is not physical training. Yoga is a spiritual practice and an energetic practice. While you may see sculpt and cross training more in western studio yoga classes - yoga is more than asana. It is an exploration of the mind and consciousness, a practice that invites us to examine how we perceive, how we relate, and how we live.

THIS. This is why I rarely attend in-studio yoga classes anymore, and why I consider myself a practitioner regardless of how many minutes I sweat on a mat. I am a devotee of the mental practice and consider anything physical to be an add-on. Asana = secondary. Love.

Two of My Favorite Things

I only have one book for you today, but it combines two of my very favorite things ~ WISCONSIN + BORDER COLLIES! Well, dogs in general!

Patricia McConnell was a beloved host of the Wisconsin Public Radio show Calling All Pets that I listened to in the car during SO MANY long drives in college and on my early career commutes, and she also wrote a nonfiction book that I read and adored back in 2017.

When I heard she had a new fiction release (it was the WPR Chapter a Day book in August / September!), I JUMPED on it and ran to the bookstore as soon as I heard about it to buy a copy.

Away to Me is a gritty southeastern-Wisconsin-set mystery based in the world of a female animal behaviorist who participates in herding competitions with her border collie. I LOVE BORDER COLLIES! My beloved Max doesn’t have any sheep to work, but given his #1 dog status, I know he would be a champion.

This is not a cozy mystery ~ there is intense grief, murders, PTSD, and I was deeply anxious when a dog was stolen in the story. McConnell is one of the rare writers who writes dogs as vividly (or more) than she writes humans, and this book absolutely won my heart. I can not WAIT for more books in this world!

NOTE: If you’re in the Madison area, McConnell is hosting a session as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival on October 18 ~ I’m sad I’ll miss it!

Also, in unrelated book news, I told you about this hot new release back in FEBRUARY when I read it super early (before it had a cover!), and I’m ecstatic that it’s getting the love that it deserves now that it has finally hit shelves! I still don’t love the cover, but I can’t win them all.

Okay, that’s all for today! I told you it would be brief this weekend, but I guess inspiration struck and time expanded? I will be back in your inbox on Tuesday with another edition of my Wintering series, and will be sharing about my time in the mountains next Saturday! Take care, take a nap, and eat some seasonal baked goods … my wish for you this weekend.