Halloween which has always been one of my favorite days to celebrate is so different here. Most of the time I don't miss the US... the country life yes but not the place itself. However there are a few times when the differences are highlighted and I'll miss a particular aspect of it. It should be Samhain and the harvest being celebrated, except that the seasons are flipped here which is disconcerting to my senses which insist that October is autumn!

Rather I think back to trips in the crisp autumn air to the apple orchards to pick more apples than you could eat in a week. The clomp of horses running along an forested path with the scent of warm old leather, sweet feed and the broken grasses upon them. Wandering for hours in a field with frost upon the ground to pick the perfect pumpkins, the crackling-scent of colouring leaves as they fall underfoot. Mulled cider on the stove spreading the scent of apples and spice throughout the house as the ground smells rich and damp and about-to-rest while autumn gives way to the silence and stillness of winter. I find it disconcerting to my sense of time that when it feels I should be celebrating the end of autumn and the approach of rest and reminiscence, instead it's time to celebrate the approach of summer, the return of fertility to the grounds, the rebirth of life after the period of rest in winter. Today the scent of jasmine is heady on the air from my neighbors vine. My dogs lay next to me on the deck in the warm summer sun and I see that the tomatos and basil we've just planted are starting to grow and the garlic is dying back almost ready to harvest.

I didn't get much time to meditate on the day as I normally would or bake really... I'm not certain I would know what to do anyway in this place. But it was busy today as you might guess. My morning started off when Nic woke me up and informed me that the real estate troupe was here: the agent, four of his people, the copyrighter and the person who draws up the plans; along with an art assessor who was to assess our collection for insurance purposes. I had to rush to get dressed, my hair askew, no make-up and try and outspeak Nicolas who after having thus woke me up, saw fit to take charge and explain everything to these people.

I thought about it all instead while I folded the laundry, while I hung it, scrubbed the floors, watched Laurent, packed, watched the sunset, trained the dogs. So many changes in such a short time this past year. New goals, new directions, old things that need to be discarded and their energy allowed to return and disperse; new things that need to be invested into wholeheartedly.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I finally got to see the proofs of L's birthday, turned out very nicely and should get the first set of prints back in 2-3 weeks!

In other Bubbyliscious news, little mister took his first multiple steps today! Five steps the first time and between 3 and 5 the subsequent attempts. This was after we'd come back home from our special dinner I treated the two of us to and he caught sight of the dogs. Stood up, giggling and waving in delight at seeing "his dog" and after a few seconds of standing took one, two, three, four, five giggly steps!

I also realized I haven't actually written down what I've done training wise lately. This is because I haven't started Croyden yet due to the police incident at our neighbors last Sunday and I opted to repeat our current level of freestyle, not because Sierra needs the work on the tricks... those are actually quite good but because she needs more of the groundwork firmed up in her mind. She has a tendancy to forge in heeling, in fast paced exercises will mug my hands roughly, she needs more focus and concentration which is very much my fault for not working on those issues earlier and allowing her to feed off my own very 'up' energy and inconsistancies! So we're working on that now and instead of her being SO eager to do the exercise, we're premacking them so that, for example, she must perform a "focus/calm" behaviour (go to mat, watch me, stand quietly) in order to gain the opportunity to do the exercise (heeling, wand touch, weave etc.) The chance to do the task is essentially the reward for the calm-focus behaviour. Varying it of course so we don't end up chaining together things we don't want chained! The result for posting is that it's all rather boring!

What's not boring is that I've got a little fluffy puppy arriving in just 3 days! I am so excited about this, seems like a lovely fresh breath of air! I'm going to the Vic Specialty show to be surrounded by gorgeous Aussie's for the day and will come home with my little Hope!