I will never, ever forget the moment when Robert Plant said those words to us as we stood in the balcony, looking down in awe at him there on the stage. It was 1989 and he was already a living legend to our generation.

The fact that we were able to see him perform live was practically a miracle since tickets had sold out within a few hours after it was announced he’d be playing in the area and we weren’t lucky enough to get them ourselves.

We had been to so many concerts before but this was THE Robert Plant and a lot of people we knew were going so the thought of us not being able to go was torture!

Yet somehow, the universe decided my husband (then boyfriend) and I needed to go and tickets landed in our lap at the last minute. Some friends of ours had to cancel and gave us their tickets so they wouldn’t go to waste. We barely had time to get ready and drive the two hours to get to the arena, but we made it.

Needless to say, it was amazing – bordering on a spiritual experience. I mean, it wasn’t Led Zepplin, but it was Robert Plant and they played a lot of the old Zepplin songs so it came pretty darned close. And when he stopped between songs to ask the audience, “can you feel it?” the magic seemed to pour directly from his mouth and absolutely exploded in the arena. It was as if the air itself was electrified.

We really could feel it!

It still gives me chills to this day.

Now, I am so far removed from that life I once had as a young woman, but there are times when I still can still feel “it” except the magic doesn’t come from a rock star anymore. It mostly comes from nature for me these days.

It comes in the form of the mountains and rivers and a sunset…

And in the phases of the moon, which I find utterly fascinating…

Fall is in the air already here now. The mornings are chilly and we sleep with the window open so waking up with the cool air caressing my face can trigger that magical feeling in me without ever opening my eyes.

Fall means sunrise is coming later, too, so I’ve been able to wake up in time to witness it and these “sky paintings” as I like to call them also trigger that magic for me…

I absolutely love fall. Fall means that winter is near and I LOVE winter even more. More importantly, my immune system loves winter.

So many of my worst days are in summer. 🙁

So I look forward to its ending. Still, we do have a ways to go. We haven’t even harvested the bulk of our garden yet and the bees and wasps are still out there, buzzing away, doing their thing until the season change forces them into hibernation.

You can practically count down the days by watching them gather pollen from the sunflowers….

When the last of it is gone, so are the days of summer.

Nature is so amazing yet most people I know seem totally oblivious to it and probably think I am crazy for spending so much of my life now immersed in it, drinking in the magic that only I seem to notice. They seem to be too busy or have their faces glued to their screens.

I don’t mind. I’ve always been the odd one out but I do wish they could feel it, too. 🙂