Autumn My Favorite Time of Year

Autumn, my favorite time of the year. My sister didn't like autumn she said everything is dying and the cold weather didn't suit her. Funny how two people can look at the same thing and see something different. I see autumn as shedding it's summer skin. Shrug off the old to sleep during winter and get rejuvenated for spring.


 I grew up in the north the kaleidoscope of colored leaves in the fall were breathtaking. Even as a small child I appreciated the beauty of nature and my surroundings.

 The neighborhood I lived in had a leaf service that would come around and suck up all the leaves. All you had to do was rake them into the curb in a pile and the big machine would suck them up. My friends and I would walk to school and jump and play in each pile leaving behind destruction. I'm sure the leaf guy hated us since we made his job harder. I would come home with holes in my stockings and leaves in my pockets and shoes.

 My girlfriends  would rake the leaves of her grandmothers yard and she would take us out to Friendly's for ice cream another yearly event I looked forward to. Now the thought of raking leaves makes me cringe, I'm good at making excuses now but since I'm single if I don't do it. It doesn't get done.

I've always loved Autumn, my birthday is in autumn. I love Halloween, fall colors and pumpkins that time of year for bonfires and marshmallow's, ghost stories and cold nights.

 Every year my family would drive up to Pound Ridge New York and make the 2 mile hike to the fire tower where we could look out at all the colorful leaves. We would have a family picnic with cousins, aunts and uncles and then start the journey to the tower.


 It's been decades since I went on that hike but have never forgotten such a great memory. I was curious one day and googled the park and the fire tower and sadly came up with nothing. I even went so far as to call the Pound Ridge Chamber of Commerce. The nice lady said they didn't have a fire tower. I was shocked surly this wasn't some childhood fantasy. I started digging through my photos and found some of the tower and sent them to her. She went so far as to call me back after she did some research and said the tower did exist and was torn down in the late 70's. A year or so after my family moved to Tennessee. I'm sure they took it down as a liability issue. I will have to dig out the photos and update this post when I find them.


 She asked if I could send her some photos for their museum. Ah I need to get on that task. As autumn would have it everything must come to an end at least I had the memory to carry with me all these years.
 Tennessee fall season isn't as lovely as the north. We have one or two good weeks of beauty and then once it rains its all gone. I spent two days outside driving around looking at the changing leaves because I knew time would run out and it did. Now I have to get back outside and rake up all the leaves. I usually blow them into my neighbors yard and they blow them back into mine. A volleyball game with leaves until they blow away. I thought I would do the adult thing this year and rake them up. I did save a bunch for my compost.
As long as you keep turning them so they don't get moldy by spring I will have lovely dark compost.

Update: I found this post I started and didn't finish it so here I am as usual procrastinating. Last fall I was mowing up the yard and some leaves got under neath the mower and caught it on fire. Had to call the fire dept. I figured  when the seat started melting it was time to call. I can look back and almost laugh it up as a life experience although my lawn mower would beg to differ. At least I have a spare mower. On the bright side we wanted to clean up the leaves off the driveway anyway.

and so it goes. Its now February the grass will start growing the cycle will follow and I'll be raking leaves again soon..Till then..

A Twitter Follower Left Me A Message

A twitter follower left me a message that said I was lucky to live in America. It made me think of where I live and how truly lucky I am. I do not take my freedom for granted. Of course some Americans will beg to differ once they start complaining about the government, corruption, political crap, that could lead to a novel and since I am a horrible writer I will leave that to the folks that can write.

 If I look at my life I have everything I need, a job, a home, food, health, the freedom to write, carry a weapon, vote, post an opinion and walk outside without fear. I’ve only recently started locking up the house and the car with the persuasion of friends. Someone asked me if I was scared that I would get robbed. I’ve been robbed; I have nothing left to steal unless they want a fork, and I have plenty of those.

I do keep a pistol handy, between my dogs and my neighbors I have a pretty good watch system but never the less if someone is in my driveway it’s either to visit me or rob me or worse. Worse case scenario someone gets shot and leaves in an ambulance, or body bag.

I actually starting writing this last year, but couldn’t finish it because it just wasn’t the right time.

 When I need to think or just get away I fire up my jeep and go for a ride, crank up some music or just listen to nature’s music. A ride is what led me to writing this. I'm not writing about America as a whole for you folks reading this across the pond. This is my backyard, my community. Most parts of the US arent like this they have their own set of problems. I am just thankful to live in such a great place.

 A hot summer July day, my chores were done and I needed some jeep therapy so I loaded the dogs and up the road I went turned down a dirt road by the church and hung a left by the oak tree. I was feeling a little sentimental and started thinking about what a twitter friend said about me living in American and how lucky I was. Pride welled up in my chest and I smiled and thanked God that I did live in a good place. I rode past a house with a pristine manicured lawn. I slowed down and waved at the fella mowing. He had pride too I could see it in the flag blowing in the wind and the thought of someone living way out in the country with a manicured lawn. He wasn’t trying to keep up with the Joneses he was proud and wanted a nice yard for him and his family.

 I smelled a bar b q, that smell of food cooking made me hungry so I followed it. I came up to a house with kids playing outside and of course the dogs are barking and the kids were pointing at the dogs so I stopped and let the kids pet the dogs. The parents came over to and I struck up a conversation about dogs, jeeps and kids. They invited me to stay for dinner but I declined even though it smelled heavenly and went about my ride. Nice folks. Reminds me of a time we got a wrong number call. My dad was talking to the guy on the other end of the phone and the next thing I know the wrong caller shows up and we are grilling out. Loved my dad he never met a stranger.

 Riding and thinking. Thinking and riding. I passed  homes with kids playing in the pool. One house had a sprinkler outside and the kids were having a ball playing in it. The house that had a yard that needed to be mowed, another flag. Jesus saves sign. I rode past a few farms quiet in the setting sun and I realized I ridden so far I must be in another county by now. The pride still swelling I pulled over to snap some photos and realized these people are the backbone of this country. The farmers the minimum wage workers they all have one thing in common. To live freely. I could talk about our military but that would take another 20 pages so I will thank our service men and women for giving me the freedom to write this and to sleep in my bed at night to dream.

 This is my community, to the people that invited a stranger into their home to have dinner, the folks that stopped just to wave as I drove by and made a point to smile. 

 I am lucky. I don’t have war in my backyard. I didn’t have to leave in the middle of the night with everything I own in a backpack. My community has seen crisis and death. We’ve had our share of politics and racism but it hasn’t divided us yet of whom we are, we rise above it to love our neighbors and take care of each other. I am lucky. That pride again where are my tissues?