Autumn in our yard

Soren took a selfie of us after we raked up a big pile of leaves.

I grew up in western Washington state where autumn was less about dropping leaves and more about dropping pine needles. There were still plenty of leaves that changed color, just usually none in my yard. 

Yesterday I was telling my family how one of my favorite autumn memories was sweeping up pine needles with my family from the cul-de-sac where we lived. 

It might seem silly, but I have been pretty excited to rake up my very own leaves from my yard. My boys have been excited about the big pile they expected me to make - just for them to jump in. 

Our trees changed from green to gold before anyone elses. We have been playing in the fallen leaves for almost a month  now. I don't know why something simple is so much fun. We've bagged up a couple to hang as ghosts from the tree's limbs. 

The day we took these pictures it was 80F - much warmer than I ever imagined for raking up autumn leaves. The boys dragged their trampoline to jump off of. Then they dragged their slide to the other side.

They raked more leaves into the pile, jumped off the slide, tried to swing from the tree branches like Tarzan, filled up their toy dump trucks. All while the sun shone and eveyrthing felt sunny and warm. It was one of the most peaceful and fulfilling afternoons we've had in a while. Everything seemed right with our little world.

I think one of my favorite things about fall is that every sunny day seems like a great gift in the knowledge that winter is coming. I know I appreciate beautiful days more now than I do in the summer.  I think I probably do the same thing with spring, too.



These quotes sum Autumn up pretty well:

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree." - Emily Bronte

AND

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers" - Anne of Green Gables