My Tree

BEFORE MY POST, I WANT TO DIRECT YOU OVER TO KARENS BLOG. HER TINY NEWBORN NIECE IS HAVING SURGERY TODAY. THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS FOR A SAFE AND SPEEDY RECOVERY WOULD BE DEARLY APPRECIATED! CLICK ANYWHERE ON THE CAPS TYPE TO VISIT HER.
It's such a glorious day. I spent time in the yard today. The excuse was I needed to rake leaves. But I was happy to have a reason to get out into the sunshine and the autumn breezes. We have a giant old red maple at the front of our house. Every day I notice subtle changes in its leaves as it cycles through the changing seasons. From the first hints of buds, through to the last remaining leaf that clings on until a relentless November wind tears it from its limb, leaving the tree bare.
This sizable maple sheds leaves galore. We can easily fill several large leaf bags. The front yard was carpeted in them this morning. I raked them into a huge deep pile around the base of the tree.I need a helper to hold the bags open for me. I wonder if the kids will be able to resist jumping in my leaf pile? When they were small, they could spend hours raking and then jumping in them. Last year we had a couple of the lower branches removed to increase air circulation to the tree.
The foliage is quite dense and sunlight never got to the inner branches which were covered in moss. It hasn't helped much. The branches are still mossy, but the grass perhaps is less mossy. The kids were mad that I "mutilated" their precious tree. Since I did that, they haven't been able to climb it anymore, either!. They loved to scurry up amongst the high branches. I would have a heart attack looking out the window and seeing those monkeys up there. Nobody ever fell from it though.

This morning we had frost and more snow on the mountains again. Something tells me we may see our old tree graced with a mantle of snow before long.