Fall Leaves

     Went to pick the kids up from my mothers the other day and as we pulled up I spotted Andrew standing there with this big leaf blower in his hand. I'm sure he had fun helping Grandma clean up the leaves in her yard. And I bet the other kids all just played and jumped in the piles that were made. That's what leaves are for right? I was sort of surprised she even had a leaf blower as I always remember her out raking every fall, like I now do. I guess where she is living now has way more trees than we ever had when I was a kid. And of course she is geting older and has to do it herself. A leaf blower definitley makes sense and makes it easier. All I think of when it comes to leaf blowers is the damn annoying high pitched noise they make. That and how most people who have them, and even landscaping companies that use them, just blow the leaves into the street for them to blow onto everyone elses property. Needless to say I'm not a big fan of them.
     We have three trees on our property and a few others that come over from neighbors so we get a decent amount of leaves. I don't mind them at all. I love watching them change colors and fall. I love hearing the crunch they make under my feet as I walk around the yard. I like how they look on the lawn. I am in no big rush to get them cleaned up right away. They are to be played in first anyway. Today I raked up a pile in the easiest spot, closet to where the bulk of our leaves fall in the back yard. Emily wanted to jump into the pile from the swings. They are on the other side of the yard. She started making up her own pile. When I finished with the large pile Em, Jake and I raked the large pile onto a tarp and moved it across the yard to in front of the swings. They were very happy. When we lived at my dads I used to rake the leaves into a pile at the end of the large slide that still stands in the backyard. If I get over to help my dad before he does it himself I still do that for Jake.
     My pile will sit out there for awhile. This year in front of the swings. If it doesn't rain we can use it and play in it again. If it does we make a new one with the new leaves that have fallen and are not a gross wet mess. As it gets later in the year and the weather gets colder and closer to snow I start bagging the pile and putting it at the curb. I do like to leave it as long as I can but with a dog who is not perfect and loves the leaves also, I now have to make sure he's going potty in his spot and not on any of the leaves the kids want to play in.
     As I drove around the past few weeks I couldn't help think about people talking about going upstate to see the fall foliage. I always wonder if their trees are better than ours to see as they change color? I guess maybe because there are a lot more of them to see, people go. I feel we have enough trees here, at least around where I drive. I still see plenty of woodsy areas where the color change is gorgeous as you drive by. What I think is really interesting is how certain types of trees drop their leaves much earlier than others.             
     Driving Jake to school every day I would pass this house with a beautiful tree. I wish I could tell you what type it is but I have no idea. I never really noticed it until it started changing colors. The leaves became such a bright red, it was gorgeous. With each day there would be more and more leaves on the ground. It took only maybe a week before this tree had lost all it's leaves. It seemed so quick. It made me look at my large tree in the backyard. I believe it is a Maple. The leaves on my tree were just beginning to change and here this other one was completely empty already. Amazing. Yeah, I'm a sucker for nature. But I also realize why it seems as I kid I always had a pile of leaves to jump in on Halloween and my kids do not. We have different types of trees here than where I grew up. Plain and simple.
     Of course that doesn't stop my kids from having fun in the leaves. The leaves can stay in the backyard for as long as it takes for me to get to them as the kids get to play in them. The front is a different story. Yes I like the way they look but I hope they all fall before Thanksgiving. I also hope I get a nice day or two to rake up the front yard shortly after. We like to decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving. The leaves need to be out of the way before that happens. At least I really like them to. It makes it a whole lot easier than having to rake around all the decorations. My husband would just put eveything on top of the leaves not giving a thought to them. But that's his job doing the outside x-mas decorating. Mine is the leaves. I love it and the only way it seems like work is making sure I've gotten them up before he is ready to decorate