One of my favorite literary heroines, Anne Shirley, once said I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers and this morning, baking scones.
I couldn't agree more.
It's just a bit chilly outside.
The leaves are falling steadily, the poplars are radiant harbingers of the frost, and the squirrels are busy collecting their winter stores.
I will be taking a walk in a few hours after I stop by my bookstore and I'm keeping an eye out for natural things I can forage to use as temporary seasonal decorations in my home, as this season for me is all about simplicity and doing my best to be mindful.
Thank you.
October has been surprisingly busy.
It was time to decorate the bookstore for the harvest season and pick out some autumn reads, including a book I'll mention later that made me cry in the best way.
While I was walking today, I wrote a little autumn poem that I thought you might enjoy.
It's inspired by my recent watercolor painting.
Wearied by the autumn twilight, the girl and the fox lay down to sleep, to dream of honeycomb and grand agrix.
They gently sway to the melody of leaves, and even the fairies watch quietly, wondering at the beauty of a sleeping fox and child.
Thank you.
Don't let the sunshine fool you.
It is quite chilly today.
I am enjoying an autumn walk and I'm going to be collecting quite a few different types of leaves, from aspens willow birch, even some tamarack boughs hopefully, if I can make it up to the mountains.
And I'm going to use them to decorate my home for the autumn.
There is so much freely available out here and everything I can compost, and it's just been a really peaceful and mindful experience to get out in nature today and just really enjoy October.
It is such a special month.
There is so much folklore and fairy tales related to this time of year where everything is shifting and changing.
So I'm gonna see if I can find a few more leaves, and then I'm gonna take them home and decorate a little bit.
Hi.
Oh my gosh, hello.
Okay, let's go.
Good boy.
Good boy.
After going home I added some leaves to my windows for added October decorations and explained to my cat she could pull them off and destroy them no sooner than November 1st.
We'll see if she listens.
If you wish to decorate your windows with fallen leaves this season, simply flatten them in a book for a couple weeks or dip fresh ones in melted wax and adhere with some removable adhesive.
I will add some links down below with more information.
On another note, I'm so excited to announce the near completion of our rabbit sanctuary.
It was my husband's project and he did a great job making a safe space for future rescue rabbits.
We still need to replace some plants with bunny-friendly alternatives, but they know what plants to avoid and have been chomping down on our weeds.
I love to see animals running free.
It reminds me to be grateful that cool weather and a space to play is enough, and sometimes that's all we need to be joyful.
Thank you.
Hello!
As you can see, this video was just a bit of an update of everything going on in the cottage, in the property, in the valley.
So much happening and it's been quite busy this October.
And so I just wanted to share a little bit of that.
I hope you can also share your own experiences of October down below.
I am not a super spooky soul, to be honest.
I shy away very quickly. from all things ghosts and scary campfire tales.
I love mysteries, but I'm also easily scared.
I've accepted that as who I am and I also really respect people that can handle all that scary stuff.
Some of my favorite people love to go to places that are known to be haunted and things like that, and I just I can never do anything like that.
I would be the very first casualty in just about every horror movie you've ever seen, because I would just faint.
Anyway, that does not mean I am not celebrating this October.
I have been just thoroughly enjoying decorating.
I love to honor nature in the seasons, so that is kind of my focus during this time.
There are also several books I've been reading that I've been loving lately.
I know a lot of people are tired of book recommendations, so I will be very very, very brief, I promise.
However, a book I recently read changed me as a person and made me cry so much.
And so I just had to share it.
And that book is The Traveling Cat Chronicles.
If you are a cat person or just a general animal person, if you just love pets, you will absolutely love this story.
And I also feel like it is a perfect autumnal read.
The leaves on the front look like autumn leaves.
However, I do not remember how specific it was with the seasons.
However, I don't think that that really changes the fact that this book has all that kind of cozy, slice of life, quiet story feeling that I love when it starts to get a little bit colder.
I love to read books that are a little more thoughtful and mindful and really make me think deeply about life as I'm entering winter, which to me is such a beautiful reflective season.
This book is quite famous, so I won't say too much about it.
However, one thing that I did start doing recently, which I've absolutely fallen in love with, is taking the books I read in my personal library and writing in the back of them.
I'm not quite annotating them because I'm not able to stop while I'm reading to make notes very often.
It just, I don't remember to.
However, what I have done is just written in the back of this book. in the blank endpapers.
And I've just written a little bit of my thoughts and what about this book moved me.
And I thought that it would be just a wonderful way to have all the books in my library have a very special message inside each one.
So if I loan them out or someone else in my family reads them, they can read after they read the story why it meant so much to me.
So I thought I would read this one to you just for you to get an idea.
I absolutely loved this book.
It ripped out my heart in the best way.
I think it is partly because I love cats, but the story was so much deeper than that.
It's about making a positive impact on others by simply trying to be a good person, even if you fail sometimes.
It's about being aware that, every day, who you interact with, whoever you come across, is directly impacted by who you are.
And if you simply desire to shine your light, you will leave the world a better place.
As simple as that.
Also, I think the story shows how a small act of kindness, for example shown to a cat, can change both lives for the better.
We gain from being kind to others.
It benefits us in so many ways.
It also teaches us how to be kind to ourselves and to accept who we are.
None of us can be sure of how long we will live.
And I think that is why our relationships matter, why we matter, why kindness matters.
We do not have to change history.
We do not need to be highly successful people by external standards.
We just need to be kind.
And it's as simple as that.
You made me cry and I'm crying again, just talking about it.
Okay, moving on.
Moving on.
On another note, I'm also reading the new short story release from the Shady Hollow series, which is extremely autumnal, so if you want anything related to specifically October and Halloween and all that sort of theme, I highly recommend it.
I know this week was a little bit more of a simple update video.
I think highlighting all those simple little moments this week meant a lot to me, and focusing on things that bring me joy.
So I hope the same for you.
I hope you have a wonderful week and I will see you very soon with my next video.
And thank you again for all the support of my Etsy shop.
I really appreciate it.
I'm going to be restocking a couple items in the next few weeks.
So I appreciate it so, so much and I'm sending you so much love.
Goodbye.
