The Great Fall

You know those movies where the hero/heroine slides down the steep slope and it ALMOST looks like fun?????

So....it's sunny and 47 degrees out...a perfect fall day...gentle breeze blowing the rest of the leaves off the trees...and I'm outside raking [yeah-I realize the breeze could be a problem for this task, but the weather is only supposed to get colder, and I'd rather deal with the breeze...]

We aren't supposed to put leaves out with the rest of the garbage, but since we live at the top of a hill with nothing but trees and vegetation behind and below us, this is not a problem. We just toss the yard stuff over the steep bank out back [you can see where this is going, can't you?].

So I'm two-feet-deep in leaves around the backyard, and I decide it's time to start scooping, carrying and tossing. I'm way too lazy to continue to sweep the ever-growing piles all the way to the edge...my arms are exhausted and the blisters are starting on my hands. Far easier to stoop and scoop. I approach the edge of the cliff carefully because I realize there could be DANGER there. Twenty times I approach the edge carefully and make the toss. But then, on about the twenty-first approach, instead of looking at my feet, I look up and out through the gap in the trees at the city of Ambridge. There's often a haze, but this time the view is clear. And breathtaking. Blue skies, hills covered in autumn browns, yellows, green and oranges. Just a ribbon of the Ohio River, looking blue from a distance. This is God's country! A truly perfect spot on a truly perfect day. Is there anywhere on earth that could....YIIIIKKKES!!! I am on my butt and on the way DOOOOOOOOOOWWWWNNNN the hill. FAST.

I'm reminded of the time I went down the slide at Lowry Park, using wax paper to increase my speed. But I was only about seven then. And limber. I'd like to recommend dry leaves as an environmentally sound alternative to wax paper for today's youngsters. CUT-RITE has nothing on dead leaves.

I suppose it might have been worse. The dead stump broke only my descent. I was able to pull myself back up the bank by clutching at the vines and shrubs that survive in the shadowy ground under the trees. And, thanks to Tecnu, the poison ivy just may not get the best of me....