Leaves will never look the same again

 Those of you who have been reading my blog for the last three days know that I have spent my week raking leaves at the home of a girlfriend of mine who lives on a piece of property that is has enough trees that by the time I left at the end of the day today, the spot I had raked Monday was completely carpeted in leaves again. As I raked and raked....and raked, a lovely refreshing breeze blew, sending a steady shower of golden leaves circling earthward. It did not take me long to realize that having any part of her property completely leaf-free for more than a minute or two was impossible. I had to content myself with the momentary satisfaction that at least for today my hours of hard work had cleared enough of the leaves off of the lawn between the house and the pond that the grass looked green again instead of brown. Hey--you count your blessings where you can. I opted not to go back and inspect the pool area that I spent two days clearing leaves from. It looked beautiful yesterday, and that's how I want to remember it!! I always wondered why our Mexican gardeners move through our property like a tornado and are gone again before I know it. Now I know. If they stuck around their work would be undone before they had a chance to savour a job well done. Point taken. I want to say next time I take a raking job I will be sure to remember the key to successful raking: rake and run--preferably never to return. But that means there will be a next time, and to be honest for the past couple of days whenever I see leaves (and the city is truly inundated with them right now), I shudder. Don't get me wrong. Work is work, and I would much rather be working outside where I am exercising and getting lots of fresh air. But there is a certain degree of futility about raking that I have not yet made peace with. I mean what is the point, if it is going to look exactly the way it did before I started within a day or two?

Anyway. I took a few shots of my Mount Olympus to share with you, and to reassure myself that all the hard work DID actually accomplish something, just in case I go back to the house for a visit in a week or so and find all the surfaces I cleared completely covered in leaves again. It is more a plateau now, as I couldn't reach the top to keep piling it up, so it grew outwards.

So here is Plateau Olympus. She looks smaller than she is, I assure you ;-)

Pink roses & crunchy leaves

When I woke up this morning, I could tell something was different. I had to be up early to give my mother a ride to the courthouse to do her jury duty, so I was up earlier than usual. When I got home I did not feel like starting work just yet. The rain had stopped, the sun had come out. The air had that nutty, earthy smell that it gets right after it has rained after many months of no rain at all. A cool breeze was blowing. The air was crisp as freshly picked Fall apples. I had a little over an hour before I had to head off to meet some girlfriends for a birthday brunch, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to enjoy the gorgeous Fall day.

Up until today it felt as though Fall was tentatively dipping her toes into the idea of making an entrance. But today she took full stage. There were leaves strewn across lawns, in all the gutters and along fences. As I wandered along the pavement I inhaled deeply. The aroma of sweet wood burning in someone's fireplace filled my lungs. Birds called from the highest branches of a redwood. Blossoms knocked from the branches of bushes lay strewn across the pavement like giant pink and white snowflakes. Even though it is fall, roses still cascaded down over brick walls. I love the contrast of roses in full bloom and leaves turning golden. It seems so unlikely. There are few places in the world where blossoms and dying leaves share visual space.
 

 

Up above, the Turkey Vultures were gliding in the blue sky.

I have mentioned this before, but Sacramento is known as the city of trees. It lives up to its name. The entire city is covered in trees. The area I live in is especially blessed with gorgeous, big, old trees.

The large number of old, giant trees means you have to watch where you park during storms (cars getting crushed by tree limbs is a regular occurrence here), but it also makes for incredibly good tree-climbing and beautiful light and foliage in the Fall. Like something out of a painting.

And of course, when you have that many trees, you also have squirrels. This little fella was checking me out. Or maybe he was posing. From beneath, the leaves looked like stained glass or as though they were burning and glowing from the light of the sun filtering down through them.

By the time I started for home, I had a huge grin on my face. I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day, and a gorgeous Fall. I made sure to crunch through some leaves on my way home. I love the sound and feeling of crunchy leaves beneath my feet.

I enjoyed brunch with friends late morning, and this evening I took part in a women's devotional on the theme of happiness. I shared my experience of sheer joy from my morning walk with the others. Fall is officially here. As I write this, I am listening to rain drumming on the roof shingles. I cannot wait to wake up tomorrow, bundle myself up, and head out to study the Baha'i writings with a friend of mine while we sip tea. What do you enjoy most about the Fall where you live?