I have put off raking leaves for several days now…..too cold, too wet, too windy, are the excuses that I have concocted to avoid this task. I did send for a leaf tarp which came today. It is just a 7’ X 7’ tarp with handles at the corners. I do wish I had gotten a bigger size, but it works very well and in a few hours I was able to make a major dent in this dreaded task.
I remember as a kid loving to rake leaves. I would go out with my friends and we would make a whole house layout with the leaves and then “play” house. I don’t remember making huge piles that we would jump in not do I remember burning them. My father had made these large compost bins where they were deposited, if my memory serves me right.
As a young married, living in suburban New Jersey, I remember inviting our Manhattan friends out on a nice autumn weekend, and they would rake leaves as though it were a unique country experience. We would then wine and dine them for their efforts. It was really fun.
But then came the advent of the “leaf blower” and the whole neighborhood would be buzzing for days with these machines. They finally did put a ban on commercial landscapers doing it on Sundays. I would never own one of these.
But today’s leaf raking turned out not to be a dreaded task at all, but a very pleasant one. It was a beautiful day and I would stop and contemplate the beauty of the mountains. No one was around, as most of my neighbors are weekend people and were not here. The hunters (first day of rifle season) had yet to exit the mountains. It was a good day.
I, too, remember getting together with neighborhood kids to rake leaves into the outline of rooms and then playing house. We also made piles of the leaves to jump in. Can you imagine how dirty we must have been at the end of the day? Also, way back in that day, everyone dumped their leaves in the street next to the cement curbs and burned them. Perhaps bad as far as pollution went, but oh gosh, they smelled so good and that tradition was definitely a strong memory of autumn.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful vista. As a matter of fact, I don't think you have one 'un' beautiful vista. We raked our leaves into huge piles, when I was little. Then we would run and leap into the piles. Which would spread them all over again. Then we would repeat the process until we were exhausted.
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