An hour's work
It is that time of year when we must remind ourselves why we
love deciduous trees. And we do love
them, for their bright hope in spring, leafy shade in summer, brilliant colors
in early fall, and bare branches in winter.
But maybe we wish they could be on a schedule for the release of their
leaves in the fall. The maple in the
front yard could let loose the week of Oct 7th, then the red maple
in the back the week of Oct 14th, and so on. Alas, they do not.
It is also the season when we need to remind ourselves why
we have teenagers. Because the teenagers
could be useful when it comes to raking leaves.
Alas, they are not.
I spent one hour today raking leaves. It was a gorgeous day, the neighborhood was
quiet, and the work was aerobic. I had a
good time, working hard by myself. I was
rejoicing because my Dad is doing better, with a change in his Parkinson’s meds. I am expecting he will have another one of
these episodes sometime soon, but for now he is stable and might even get out
of the hospital tomorrow.
Working in the yard today gave me a rare sense of
accomplishment. Raking leaves is hard on perfectionists because it is
impossible to do a perfect job and get every leaf. But still, I much prefer raking to using one
of those obnoxiously loud blowers, or the lawn mower, to move the leaves
around. By late afternoon, the men of
the neighborhood were home, and doing their version of raking leaves with their
noisy, manly machines.
The township comes by every week or so and sucks the leaf piles
into a giant truck that looks like an elephant, and takes them away to make
mulch. Then in the spring, everyone in
the township can go get free leaf mulch.
A great system! Except for that
part where we have to get them to the top of the hill.
It took me a long time to figure out how to write that degree symbol.
This evening at dinner, my husband said with admiration, “HOW
did you get all those leaves to the top of the hill?!”
Wanting to impress further, I said mysteriously, “With my mind.”
He replied, “Good. I would
have thought you had to use your arms
to do that.”
Before next week, more leaves will fall. Maybe it will be the teenager’s turn
then.
Thanks be to God for doctors who know what they are doing,
for sunny autumn days, for arms and legs that work, and for teenagers. And for deciduous trees.
3 comments:
Yep, so much to be thankful for.
Hmm . . . I'm not sure about being thankful for teenagers. Emma, at almost-11, is still quite happy to rake and dig and do other outdoor physical things. I'm sure that will change in the coming years :-)
We've always used the mower to mulch our leaves, and leave them on the lawn. But we only have a few maple trees --mostly we have Hackberry, Elm, and Black Walnut. Their leaves get crumbly and decompose a lot faster than the big maple leaves.
However, that free leaf mulch sounds like a great resource!
I'd rather rake the leaves than scoop them out of the pool. But I'd really rather wait for the wind to blow our leaves far away;)
With your MIND. Luff that answer.
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