Fall on the Old Homestead

Just as the tender days of perfectly colored leaves came, the dark, dreary, windy rainy days arrived to steal away most of the leaves and blow them down to the ground. Those damp leaves however, when they dry form a crunchy carpet to walk on, something so pleasant smelling and full of memories from younger days of kicking up leaves on walks in the woods.

Globes of various sizes from summer's garden whose shapes and brilliant, happy orange color thrill us when placed around the yard.

Crops are busily being harvested (when the weather permits) by the farmers that live around us, and fields are plowed under to wait for the blanket of snow to cover and nurture the hard-working earth during its coming season of much-needed rest.

We have learned to just let the leaves fall--until they're all gone--from the huge silver maple in the yard, because there's no sense in raking up "some" only to be faced with another big pile the next day after a big wind blows through. I enjoy the look of them as they cover the soft, green grass of fall. And when it's time to gather them up, the reality of months without the friendly protection of the soft leaves makes me feel melancholy, I miss their rustling sound the very most. But I know that the remaining bones of the old tree is already been busy forming buds for the promise of next spring.

The old red child's tractor on the front porch holds a tiny, tiny orange gourd and my ivy plant....careful watching of the thermometer tells me when to bring it in at night, I like to allow it to live outdoors as long as possible. If we have enough pumpkins of our own, I like to let them trail down the front steps, displaying a cheerful welcome to anyone who drives in. I'm not one to rush out and pull up the annuals and perennials, I let them take their time and die a natural death, and am rather pleased by the look of the bright yellow leaves of the huge hostas that surround the porch, they cheerfully do their part to add to the fall symphony of color.

This is my very favorite corner on the porch, a colorful burst of fall color!

This is another favorite little corner...but unfortunately the spiders like it, too....there are webs hanging all over the front of the house. It's useless to broom them down this time of year. But I just realize that's the way with fall, just about every living thing is preparing for winter, to be tucked away for months of a long, cold season.

As a side note regarding fall here in Michigan: I live near several large apple orchards. It's a delight to stop in whenever I need a fresh bag of apples and choose from the ample inventory. I visited for a minute with the apple farmer and asked if it had been a good year for apples. With our cold, rainy summer, I wasn't sure if the harvest was plentiful, but she assured me it was.

So plentiful in fact, that a lot of Michigan's apples will be left on the trees or on the ground. The reason? The harvest was so great (and because of that, the prices are low) that the orchards all ran out of their huge wooden crates they store the apples in. It didn't pay the orchards to order new crates and keep hired help on to pick when the prices are so low.

It makes me sad to think about all those apples laying around the state, but, the deer and other wildlife will be well-fed this winter, if they are able to find the apples under the snow. There's always a positive from a negative but I hate to see the farmers lose out. I'm so glad the apple farmers keep the orchards going for us to be able to crunch into these wonderful apples!