Kicking my way through the leaves on my driveway, cracking acorns (there are plenty of 'em this year) and crushing the brown carpet underfoot -The red and orange and bright yellow leaves have yet to come full-color and drop.
But it's not the color.
It's the smell.
Dry, nutty leaves.
Good dirt.
Bark and shrubs and ground cover bathed in glorious earthy perfume.
And it smells like walking home in the third grade, pushing the leaves ahead of us making trails that would soon be covered up by more falling leaves.
It smells like great piles of leaves raked by Mother and Daddy, just so we could run and jump, and run and jump again.
Forget snow angels. We had Autumn leaves angels.
It smells like the smoky fires we used to have in the backyard (no longer allowed).
It smells like vague excitement, knowing that soon it will be Thanksgiving.
And then, and then! Christmas.
But not yet.
It smells like a sixth grade project on Rome, or memorizing a Longfellow poem in the fourth grade.
It smells like dinner waiting - maybe fried chicken, or pot pie.
It's an elementary school smell.
A smell that all things are possible.
And I have a warm, loving place to be in the thick of a golden autumn evening.
Not a poem. Just thoughts that hit me as I worked my way to the front door. Thank you Mother, Daddy, Billy, David, and Cindy for a loving memorable childhood, a happy autumn family.
4 comments:
Oh my gosh, you are such a liar. There is no way you got that picture in the South, where, I am just learning, the leaves don't change, they just turn dead brown and fall off the trees.
Lovely post. I love the Autumn too.
No, no - the leaves here do change beautiful colors - I have a Japanese maple, a ginkgo, and some kind of elm tree in my yard that are gorgeous once they get around to changing. There's a sugar maple down the street that's ablaze already, but everything is so late this year. Heard a story on NPR that other day that even New England's color is late - that global warming/El Nino thang, I guess. Anyway - hang in there - North Carolina is usually beautiful this time of year. (Sorry about the brown leaves - I know that's what I'm kickin' around right now. But they still smell wonderful.)
Now get back to NaNo world - another, what, 5,000 word today? (Do we get to read the book when it's finished???? Hmmmmm???)
It's the lack of maples, really. Everything here is oak and oak is just notoriously bad for foliage. I'm glad you have some maples around.
(Do we get to read the book when it's finished???? Hmmmmm???)
Well, I suppose you do if a.) I finish it, b.) my agent likes it enough to take it, and c.) he sells it, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
As soon as the Japanese maple and ginkgo color-up and drop dead, I'll send you a pile of my rakes leaves to scatter around your yard.
As for the book - I want the unexpurgated version!
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