New Season

The smell in the air lets you know it's Fall.  The morning birds are gone but the crickets are still noisy in the night.  The pool is almost ready to see snow and freeze into an ice cube.  The leaves are silently changing from green to yellow, red, orange, and we can't forget the oaks that turn brown.  Yes, the smell and sight of fall.  No standing under the oak trees, the acorns are falling.  They hurt when they hit you in the head.  Of course it is always fun for the little ones to rake up the leaves and jump in them.  Just don't ask them to pick them up and put them in a bag.  I lived in a neighborhood where I had no trees, but I had all their leaves.  The neighbor never cleaned them up.  I did!  Then we moved and the house is surrounded with trees.  Trees that let their leaves fall in my yard.  Even if the wind blows, they still stay in my yard.  We use to give each child a rake and away we would go.  Within five minutes the youngest would give up, the other two followed.  So we were alone to get all these leaves off the grass.  Why?  I thought they were good compost!  It takes years, besides if you don't do it now it is still waiting for you in five months.  So out we go, rake in hand to clean up a million or more leaves that have fallen from all of the beautiful trees.  Why can't they turn and stay up to turn green in the Spring.  If they did then I wouldn't have to be out her trying to get all these rotten leaves off the lawn.    It always looks great when we get all the leaves up.  But then they drop more.  Then in November the oaks lose their leaves and out we go, freezing in this November weather to get these leaves off the lawn.  Oh, such a vicious cycle!  It still looks beautiful!