The leaves in Connecticut are about three weeks behind upstate New York and have just started to change like the ones we saw in Lake Placid. Most of the southern CT trees have had a dry, dry season, so many have just plopped their leaves to the ground - just a moldy, brown thunk! This tree by Walnut Beach, however, was shooting red fireworks to the blue sky. I was at a friends to offer comfort after a best friend died. It was also an opportunity to be with her kids, one pregnant and the other a new father. Lucky for us, the newbie was able to join. Last year at this time they were getting married. Now the babies are coming.
Cycles. Changes. Inevitable beauty. Queue The Lion King and Elton John.
My resistance, I suppose, is that aging is not kind on the human being and even if I wake up every day thinking I'm going to run ten miles, clean the house, read a book, kayak, and walk the dog...I just don't have it in me. As I was telling Patrick, "Dude. I now know why staircases have railings. It's to stabilize your balance as you use them."
This guy used to skip every other step in a fast jog, and often jumped them when coming down.
Not any more.
I know I should tie these posts better into scientific thought, engineering, technology, and mechanics. That's why I added the leaf-blower. My mom was visiting me in Kentucky and we went for a walk to look at Halloween decorations. It was the first time either of us saw, or heard, an electric leaf blower. I was in the height of my environmental phase: Birkenstocks and braid-able hair. "It's the end of the world," I said to her. "We now have become too lazy to rake."
My shop vac acts as a leaf-blower, and Chitunga bought me one for Christmas (he's been begging me to get one for years). I still don't use either. I prefer sweat and blisters.
But if this post was from a guy that wasn't an English major, I might ask about calories burned, the physics of leaves blowing (velocity? Homer referred to the winds as Boreas, Eurus, Notos, and Zephyrs....always good for a game of Jeopardy). I might also plot a graph of how many leaves fall onto my lawn each day as I rake them....actually, I'm lazy...rather do weekly than daily. Then there's the designer in me who wonders about building a net canopy across my yard to hang from late September to November. After the leaves are finished falling, I might untie the net, zip it up, and bring it to the street for pick up.
Politics. They don't pick up leaves in CT.
Alright, it's Sunday and Rose Brock and I are presenting to the Central New York Reading Council at 2 p.m., so I need to prepare for that. I also have data to enter into the NWP dashboard, 3 articles to review, and several midterm projects to grade. Of course, there are classes to plan for, too.
Leaf me alone, work life! Just leaf me alone! Ah, I'm good. Rambling and doodling like this keeps me sane.