Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus
Autumn is a beautiful time in Kentucky, but I always want the leaves to cling to the branches of the maples a little longer. Some maples are still showing off their colorful leaves but the ones in my yard let theirs drift down to be chewed up by the lawnmower. The rains knocked them down.
No grandkids came to play in the leaves in this unusual year of few visits. Plus the grandkids are getting older and not as crazy about getting leaves in their shorts these days, but they didn’t mind a few years ago and had plenty of fun jumping in the leaf piles and burrowing down under the leaves. Me, I always stuck with the raking and let them do the jumping.
I’ve had some dogs that really liked making a bed in leaves too. My sweet Oscar loved curling up in the leaves and if there was a kid in the pile with him, he was even happier. I think Frankie is too busy to want to lie still in the leaves but Marley might like them if I piled up some leaves in the backyard for him. Then again, he might like his soft dog bed better.
Raking up a big pile of leaves and then playing in the pile is one of the simple pleasures of fall along with biting into a crisp, just picked apples, going on a hayride, getting lost in a corn maze, picking the last vegetables from your garden, crunching along through the fallen leaves on a walk in the woods, drinking apple cider.
What are some of the simple pleasures of autumn you can name?
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I love Autumn, especially the beautiful colors. Nature is so awesome as the tree leaves bid us goodbye they show their most beautiful sides, especially the Maples. I enjoy the smells of Apple Cider with the mulling spices and Pumpkin everything: pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream. The crisp air makes we want to take that afternoon walk at a speedier pace. Even though I’m sad to see the trees drop their leaves, pulling up my tomato plants in the garden, and cutting the last of my garden flowers, it is a lovely season. Thankful.
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I’m always sad to see the leaves fall, Carolyn. I like it when we can go through October without any big rains. Rains make the leaves fall faster. Sounds as if you love the pumpkin flavor. I love hot apple cider. I intended to fix some this weekend while my daughter was visiting, but I forgot all about it. Now, I’m wanting some. 🙂
I love the smells, the stillness, and the quietness of Autumn. I love hearing the hoot of an owl off in the distance, or closeby!
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My sister was just talking about hearing an owl hooting or whatever it is they do today, Lauren. Those are some of the pleasures of living in the country.
I like the scents of fall outside, the leaves falling and the pretty fallen leaves on the sides of the country roads. Looking across the hills, seeing all of the pretty colors. Taking a hike and picking a persimmon fresh off the tree, that’s a great snack. Fond memories. Anticipation of snow, (we haven’t gotten a good snow storm for several years now).
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Those are some wonderful things of autumn, Tina, although I’ll want my persimmon to be ripe before I give it a try. 🙂 I do love walking in the fall when all the leaves are in color.
I love the smell of the air in the fall. I walked outside yesterday and the weather was in the 70’s, but could still smell the hint of sweet apples in the air. It makes me think of my great-grandparents. They had a huge apple tree outback of their home and was too tall to pick from as no one had ever pruned it. The apples would fall to the ground and give off their sweet scent and my grandmother would take the fallen apples, cut off the bad stuff and bake. She had lost her sense of smell at some point in her life, but was still one of the best bakers that I have ever known. We have an apple tree at our home and I have baked pies and made applesauce with my children with them, but this year was dry in our part of PA and the squirrels picked the apples that did grow off of the trees early. So, no pies from our tree this year, much to my sons chagrin. 🙂
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We used to have a couple of apple trees in the front yard that had loads of apples on them every year, Hope. I picked them by getting in the bucket on my husband’s tractor and taking my life in my hands to let him lift me up to pick them. I’ll have to do a post about that sometime. But then the cedar rust came to our area and killed the trees. The last year we had a few that the squirrels picked and ate. Then we cut them down because they were killed or “kilt dead” as the mountain people said in my Frontier Nursing stories. I love apple pies and we had apple everything when the trees were in their prime. But your grandmother’s pies would be hard to beat. Love went into those for sure.
My grandsons love playing in leaves. They were visiting last weekend, but most of the leaves were still clinging to the trees then. I’m sure I’ll have plenty for them to play in soon though. The leaves are raining down now.
I enjoy taking pictures this time of year. There’s just something about a setting sun and the colorful leaves that create a perfect pallet. I love fall, but it’s sad too, because I know the cold will soon be here and winter is my least favorite time of year. Usually by mid-November I’m looking forward to the colors of spring. But right now I’m enjoying this brilliant weather.
Have a great upcoming weekend, Ann.
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I hope your grandsons get to enjoy the leaves, Lavon. And you get to enjoy them having fun. Today looks like another beautiful one, but Saturday doesn’t look as nice. So the dogs and I will have to go crunch through some fallen leaves today.
I’m sure you’re getting some great pictures. I’m like you with winter. A little goes a long way.
Would love to see the grands play in the leaves but we have snow instead. White stuff all over the ground, covering the beautiful leaves. Winter is making an appearance much too early here in Minnesota. It’s going to be a long winter I am afraid. Even the birds are confused and wondering what is happening.
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Well, the grands do love playing in the snow too, Elaine, but I’m glad we don’t have any covering up our leaves. Here a few flowers have escaped our one frosty night and are still blooming. Snow can wait a few months. I’m sure you would have agreed to that. Maybe the snow will melt and you’ll have a return to more fall like weather.