Hide and go seek

"12..11..10..9..8..7..6..5..4...3..2......1 here I come ready or not!!"

I am walking gingerly through the cleared path between the trees, which are newly colored with autumn. I place my feet carefully on the soft grassy dirt, until I reach the edge where the sun cannot reach and no longer feeds the grass with her light. The earth is much cooler here, forcing a chill up my legs, which are still free with summer shorts. I hear whisper, and evil chatter, which I am certain is a part of some scheme to terrorize me. I peer behind a tree, my heart lurches and then settles into a strong pound.

They are going to get me, I am sure of it. If I don't find them first, they will find me. I begin to walk faster.

I am frantically looking now. Running, from tree to tree, branches crunch beneath my feet. Just when I see one, it eludes me and I feel crazy, like I have imagined it there. I run faster, eyes bulging, breathing rapid and shallow, frothing like a racehorse, I am hyper-vigilant. AHA! I swipe with my hands at a figure, but my hands come up empty. I am crazy. I am sure of it.

I slump against the tree, sliding to the cool earth, resigned, surrendered, they will get me I am sure but my legs are cramped and my stomach uneasy and I cannot go on looking.
"Hi"
I look up into soft brown eyes and hair golden with sun.
"Hi" I say.
"What are we looking for?" She asks.
"Problems" I say.
"They are all around us" she says. I look beyond the little girl to the trees in the forest, and snickering little problems camouflaged to blend in with the trees and the rocks and the dirt are doing somersaults and handstands and playing games with one another. They are mischievous, but innocent little creatures.
"Who are you?" I say.
"Solution". She says, and she takes me around the woods and introduces me one by one to my imagined attackers. One of them steals my wallet and leaves me spinning in circles trying to catch him, another one trips me until I fall on the forest floor. Innocent little creatures looking to have a laugh. I make a mean face at them, yelling and trying to look threatening.
Solution begins to giggle, "You should really see your face right now, it is hilarious" I imagine myself terrified of these little tricksters, and using my strongest defenses, and I start to laugh too.

I often find problems to be impossible to see clearly without the help of solutions. When I am in the woods, I try to call out for the hidden solution before seeking out problems.

Squash soup:
The comfort of nutmeg in the early fall.

Preheat the oven to 400.
cut in half (and remove seeds) 1 large butternut squash
place squash face down in a baking dish and add a little water to the pan.
cover with tinfoil or a lid
bake for ~40 min (until tender)

in a soup pot, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and a little salt
add 1 large yellow onion diced
cook until the onion is sweet

Scrape squash and onion into a food processor and blend
add back to the soup pan and thin with

EITHER
1 1/2 cups milk
OR
1 1/2 cups almond milk (yummy)
OR
1 1/2 cups half and half
OR
1 1/2 cups orange juice

What you add depends on your personal beliefs, preferences, tastes, politics, etc...

grate some fresh nutmeg on the top. Serve with love.