There I stood staring at the windfall of leaves that covered almost every inch of the lawn in my back yard. I overwhelmed myself. Where did all of those leaves come from? Then I remembered …
When my trees were planted I was ecstatic that I would have shade, from the Maple and the River Birch, and apples, and pears, and peaches, and not to forget the grapes and blackberries. Yes!
Now it’s many years later and my trees are mature (that means very tall and bountifully leafy). Every season I relished their abundance; fresh, jammed, and bottled. But nooooowwww, now it’s fall – do you know why they call it fall? HA! Because all of the leaves FALL to the ground and then I get to pick them all up!
Which is what I did – I raked and raked and raked those crispy, dead leaf remains into piles, and piles, and piles, and piles then I spent another at least half day bagging them – it was grand exercise – bend and stretch, twist and turn, lift and drop. That night my muscles were so sore I felt every one, individually screaming at me to just stop moving!
I hate leaves!!
This morning I took the Mala Dog for her morning sniff and wander and found myself walking a worn field road alongside very old, very enduring cottonwood trees. Then I realized I was smiling while crunching leaves under foot, and noticed silver gray cottonwood leaves flicking up in drifts in front of my Asolos. I smelled the dusty leafy air and reveled in every leafy memory that floated into my mind and I smiled more broadly.
I love leaves.!!