Something was different.

She noticed the difference the night before when , in the dark hours before dawn, she got up and turned off the overhead fan. The coolness from the open windows brought a new sensation... a chill. Could it be that summer was loosing its hold on her mountain top. She could only hope.
In the morning she worked in the garden and didn't need to water. The ground and containers were still moist from the day before.
Later she took a walk up to the well and beyond to the Manzanita grove.
She felt something happening...The air was cooler and a breeze followed her like an old friend.

An oak tree leaned over and let some of its small leaves fall around her.

The Pine tree laughed with excitement...

as it shimmered in the morning sun.
Seeing this, she smiled, thinking, "Nothing stays the same. The heat is leaving. Life moves on.". She felt the first real moment of relief she'd felt in months... and also a small tear, that stayed inside, for the passing of time.
"Oh, look." she said, to anyone who was listening, " Someone has been sleeping in the grass. A deer or a mountain lion...or the coyote?" She heard the coyote last night through her open window... "or was that in a dream? "
 Maybe the dry grass is just tired of the heat and wants to become a part of the earth again, she thought.

She stepped bravely into the high grass and then, thinking it was not time to walk there yet, she backed down onto the dirt path.
The breeze came again and, with it, the voices of trees.
The wind brings clarity, she thought, It cleanses the mind that thinks too many thoughts...
and finds the world a confusing place.
She stood quietly in its beauty.
A bird flew overhead.

Walking back to the house she watched for signs on the path. Soon the shapes that bring fear, from a distance, would not hold such significance and she would be able to walk without watching every movement around her.

Broken branches will become... simply... branches. The slithery fears will return to the ground and lighten her cautionary steps.

 There was a difference in the air. It was falling from the trees.

There was a fragrance of dry leaves and thankfulness.
She heard herself laughing. This is where I will find some answers, she thought . This is where the magic  becomes a part of me... the mystery is revealed.
She held the laughter inside of her, holding her breath to keep it there, and walked back down the path.
"I will find this thing that I need.... this wanting... this understanding of something. It's here. Maybe it's hiding in the dry grass. Maybe I already see it and I only need to look at it differently."
Another leaf fell.... and then... another.