Yesterday, Joy and Simplicity Showed up in my Front Yard

I was sitting in my shop, working on some new items for myEtsy store when I heard this distant scratching sound. My first thought wasthat my dog, Jack, was doing something that I would not approve of. But he camewhen I called and the sound continued with him looking at me.  My second thought was, “I wonder if my house is haunted?”This is a thought that comes to me pretty regularly. We’ve had a few “unexplained”moments in our house over the years, but I sincerely doubt that it’s anearthbound spirit.

What never occurred to me was that my neighbor was rakingthe leaves in my yard.

I opened the window and asked him what he was doing and why.He told me that it was time for the annual leaf pile event. It seems that heand some of the other fathers get together every year and make leaf piles. As Ilooked up the hill, there were six leaf piles in six yards.

For about the next hour, kids ran from one yard to another,jumping into leaves. Then one of the dads would come along and re-pile them.

Watching them, I realized how much I miss the simple pleasuresof fall. When I was a kid, I would jump in leaves and then help my father burnthem in a little stone oven in a corner of our back yard. I miss the smell. Imiss the simplicity of it. I miss being a kid.