What was once a beautiful sight . . .
. . . becomes a mess and a chore.
SWMBO and I spent yesterday morning raking and gathering the leaves from our red maple tree.
They are beautiful when freshly fallen.
But all that raking and bagging I could do without.
We filled five large bags and it did make a difference.
But the wind has come up and we know we'll have more work to do before the season ends.
There are other trees of a different variety and they all shed their leaves on their own schedule.
When I was a kid we used to enjoy raking and piling the leaves in the street just off the curb and then burning them.
The smoky fires left a smell in the air that lingers in my mind as a memory of a simpler era.
We're not allowed to burn leaves now so they fill bags which in turn fill dumpsters which in their turn are hauled away by the garbage trucks.
And the wind blows and the leaves fall and the transitions continue.
