Preparations...

As the Great Leaf Return is only 7 hours away, I wanted to bring some thoughts for you to ponder over these short hours. The GLR is not something to rush into, yet it is the most joyful of occasions, thus any fear or pressure should be banished from your minds. Instead, just sit with these thoughts, opening your mind and heart to what this holiday brings - the cheer, the love, and the costumed people riding bicycles.

**Leaves are more than just tree appendages. Instead, they represent the entirety of the tree and the entirety of life.

**The Great Leaf Return is not about a day. It is about the combination of moments a day contains.

**To celebrate the leaf is to open yourself to joy and possibility. As the leaf does not know the outcome of its life, neither do we, yet we must embrace this life for all it may bring.

So, go and prepare for the celebrations. There will be much rejoicing!


Additionally: does anyone own a flat-bed pick-up truck? We need someone to pick up the 10 foot tall LED Leaf at 7 am tomorrow, so that it can go on the GLR Queen parade float. There is also a dozen or so butter churns that need to be brought to the Portland Center for the butter churn competition (for those of you who wonder what butter churns have to do with the GLR, you obviously have not read the GLR Manifesto, laid down by our forefathers in 1804).

sara.