Fall

Fall has finally arrived here in south central PA. Now I realize that the calendar says that fall arrived back in September, but we have had some mild weather. Yes, we had a day here and there that was cold and we had our frost, but overall fall has not been too bad.

It has been mild enough that last week I gave the grass its final cut for the year wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I am not fond of fall, because I am a warm weather person. I know that winter is just around the corner, and I am not pleased. Getting back to grass cutting, which was the second “final cut”, I noticed some interesting things. The grass was just as thick and green this fall as it usually is in the summer. As I passed by my forsythia bushes, I noticed they were blooming again. I thought about cutting some for inside the house but then remembered my goal of cutting the grass.

As I continued to cut the grass, I was constantly reminded that it is fall because of all the leaves on the ground. The leaves have been beautiful this fall, and although there were many on the ground, there were still quite a few leaves left on the trees. I noticed that the driveway was covered in leaves and decided to blow them off to the side with the mower. Just another slap in the face that fall is really here was the next day, after a cold front went through; the driveway was gone, completely buried in leaves. The deciduous trees were almost barren now; all of their beautiful leaves were on the ground.

Once again, I need to get back to the grass cutting. Here it is the middle of fall, it is close to 70 degrees and I am dressed for summer, and I am thinking isn’t this great. I am having a grand time, because to be honest with you - I love cutting the grass. It allows me to do a lot of thinking. Just some background info; our yard is filled with moles and mole tunnels. Our cats have fun trying to extricate these little pests. There is one place in the yard where it is a gulley of mole tunnels, and I always try to remember to take it slow through this area. Well, I am so enthralled with this beautiful fall day that I forget the ‘spot’. I go zooming through this area and almost get thrown off the mower - I don’t- but I do manage to bang my wrist on the mower steering wheel. So, now I am wearing a brace on my hand, all because of a beautiful fall day.

It has become cooler but not cold in this area. We still have plants on our front porch this late in the fall. Normally, we would have brought them into the house by now. Fall is starting to get ugly, and we will have to bring them in or lose them to the weather. I just have to find a place to put them.