For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 05, 2022

No wonder

April experiences autumn

Karl of Bleeker the Rechargeable Dog would have a meltdown over that many leaves.

Who needs a rake? Apparently April will pick all of them up one at a time.

Enjoy your daughter’s enthusiasm Ellie. The joy of little children like her is that they bring fresh perspectives to ordinary, everyday things.

Wait till April discovers scrap-books. Then she can save all her leaves for years and years to come.

“…. and anudder and anudder and anudder and anudder and anudder and anudder and….”

….I say to myself standing on my own front porch. Here we go again. :-(

Truth!

Mom, have joy in a small child’s wonder at the world.

Welcome to life in the north…

Never ending job of raking leaves, even when your tree is bare, the neighbors trees leaves fall and blow on your yard.

“…. and anudder one, and anudder one, and anudder one bites the dust"

My husband always knew how much I love autumn. He proposed to me on 10/16/1982 by taking me on a picnic at this really out of the way spot by a river. It was peak foliage & absolutely gorgeous, albeit COLD! (He also had Fleetwood Mac playing on his car’s cassette player…my favorite band.) Funny thing is, as much as I love autumn, I hate hoodies, am allergic to apples, and can’t stand pumpkin!

Isn’t it awfully early for all these leaves? It’s only October 5th. In my yard (Ohio) there’s hardly a leaf down. In fact, they’re still very green & in the trees. No colors yet.

It’s a wonderful, precious moment when a small child wants to help you with a chore for the first time - the hard part is remembering to enjoy it. ;) It’s tough, since you know it’s making the chore take ten times longer, but they’ll only be like this once.

Kids bring the joy… most of the time : )

The beginning of the concept of quantity. Like the gradual acquisition of language, the sort of thing we should all enjoy watching in children.

Through the eyes of a child. When Mom gets them all raked into a big pile, then the fun starts…. jumping on to the pile ;-)

I use a lawn mower with the mulch cover in.

One child’s joy is a parents grief. Especially in the fall.

If it weren’t for all the leaves, “fall” would just be Autum. …right?

Why is she trying to rake when the leaves are still falling?

Fall an appropriate word for leaves….

Living accross the street from the delta of a river, we do not worry about the leaves. Mother Nature takes care of them for us with her breezes and wind as she has done for millineum. What I miss from my childhood is the smell of burning leaves in the Autumn.

Am I the only one who thought of The Last Leaf by O. Henry?

So sweet! This age goes so fast.

Where I live at leaves not changed colors, maybe one or two leaves, then really cool front coming Friday to Saturday, change will come. Love April’s reaction. Love walking on leaves even dead leaves to hear it crunch. We have older fur baby loves to do his business on leaves.

I can remember visiting Washington state when my son was 4. I have a photo of him sprawled in a pile of maple leaves with such a look of ecstasy on his face.

When she’s done there, I got some pinecones in my yard she can collect.

Oh, let ‘em fall, Ellie! It’s one natural thing that we haven’t managed to mess up yet. If you MUST rake them up, do it after they’re all on the ground. P.S. Lawns are over-rated.

This isn’t a bad thing – April can bring each one to the pile! It won’t make much of a difference, but each leaf is one less to rake! ❤️

Agreed.

I know I’m late here but I love fall. The colors, the food, the beautiful sunsets…fall is my favorite season.

April’s too little to rake the leaves, but can collect them.

Leaves are tree’s fertilizer and the makers of soil. Mulch them. They also provide cover for myriad numbers of pollinators and lightning bugs and other creatures that make the earth so rich and inhabitable for humans. As in so many other things with nature, we take away the innate joy of childhood and turn it into a chore or some other nasty observance.