Guten Tag, Reader,

Green is their costume—the business suit of the deciduous trees—signaling that they are working, producing, and transforming.

They make energy out of sunlight. Transform out-breath into in-breath.

Humans, in their quest to understand, describe, and name all things, call it photosynthesis.

I call it tree green magic. The slower I walk among the trees, the less interested I am in understanding, describing, and naming things.

When participants on my nature immersion walks ask, “What shrub/bird/berry/flower/tree is this?” I ask back, ”What are you noticing about it?”

The question invites curiosity. A desire to actually get to know the being in question and explore its shape, smell, sound, texture, color, movement, neighbors…

Whereas, when I used to respond with the official western name (rocky mountain maple, stellar jay, snowberry, knapweed, douglas fir…) that often seemed satisfactory enough, checked some internal box, even if the brain could not recall the name by the time we returned to the parking lot.

Without their desire to explain, I would have missed the 💡 moment in when I learned that the green in the leaves is not their true color—the yellows, oranges, and reds are.

Only when trees get the “it’s autumn, dudes” signal (longer nights, cooler temperatures, and who knows what hidden messages float by in the season’s winds) do they stop working so hard, cease producing chlorophyll, and prepare to rest through winter.

And that’s when they shine in all their true glory.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it, what’s waiting underneath our productivity veil, behind the chain mail we forge out of our to-do lists, protecting us from facing the fact that we might not be who we thought we were, who the culture formed us to be.

Are our true colors waiting for us to slow down, prepare for rest, stop the hustle?

I intend to find out through an extensive cut to my social media presence this fall.

Will you join me? How might you slow life down and prepare for a more restful winter? Hit reply and let me know.

Midlife Wilderness Expeditions

If you are a midlife woman with a desire to shed some outdated shoulda-coulda-woulda, consider joining the Midlife Wilderness Expeditions Fall Adventure.

​Registration is open for another week or so, but the opening Zoom session happens on Monday, October 7. The website has some details, but please don’t hesitate to ask me anything about it. Or book an absolutely obligation-free meet-the-coach call.

Forest Bathing

If you are in the Missoula area, I also have two opportunities to experience Forest Bathing with me:

• ​Oct 19 at the Native Plant Garden (for the Montana Natural History Center)
• ​Oct 26 at Council Grove State Park (use the code PONDEROSA for 20% off)

I will see you back here in two weeks. If you liked this letter, please forward it to a friend.

Always on your side, truly,

p.s. If you got something from today's letter, why not buy me a coffee? I am keeping my writing AI-free, so I put much work into it. You can leave me a tip here.

p.p.s.: If you want more of me than a letter every other week, you might enjoy hanging out with me on social media:

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