Nurtured by Nature

Autumn Leaves

“The autumn leaves flit by my window,

The autumn leaves of red and gold.

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But I love you most of all, my darling,

When autumn leaves start to fall.”

The yearly drives to see the fall colors gave great joy! We took several trips to see them all, as the different trees colored at different times. As we traveled, the sun felt good through the car windows. We needed sunny and clear days to see the fall beauty best.

Early on in September, the brilliant crimson leaves of the sumac bushes lined the highways for miles. The mature trees were still in their green garb. What a contrast!

Several weeks later the trees were beginning to color. The tall elms of shining gold blended with tawny ash trees, and the blazing maples became the spotlight with brilliant colors of red and orange. The clusters of poplar trees, or poples as they are commonly called, were showing off their gold, too. The kaleidoscope of rich colors lined the hillsides as we drove on. The maples always dominated the landscape, whether they stood alone in full glory or mixed with the other colors of fall. The show was spectacular! Birch trees with their paper white trunks were covered with golden coins fluttering in the autumn breeze. With each day, leaves began to float to earth or shed abruptly to the winds of fall, some leaving early and some late, with the bare skeletons of branches silhouetted against the sky on the hilltops.

“But I love you most of all, my darling,

When autumn leaves start to fall.”

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As we drove among the hills of home, ponds and lakes mirrored October’s “Bright Blue Weather.” Along the swamps stood clumps of stately Tamarac evergreen trees, their needles turning to gold also. They are the only evergreen to change their color and drop their needles in the fall. In nature there is always an exception to every rule. So it is by faith alone we find God, the creator of everything.

“But I love you most of all, my darling,

When autumn leaves start to fall.”

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We motored on that day to a lovely red oak grove. I used to catch a glimpse of them every day on the school bus. The red oak colored a dark, deep, rich burgundy. Not only that, but the leaves hang on the trees all winter without losing much color.

So ends my ode to autumn, when the snowflakes also begin to fall.

“But I love you most of all, my darling,

When autumn leaves start to fall.”

Playing Chicken

It seemed like each spring when my mother ordered baby chicks – always Leghorns – delivered to the post office, they were all very hungry and very noisy! All 100 of them. Among the chicks there were about five to ten roosters, and among those that did not turn into spring fryers there would be an occasional mean rooster as they grew. I cannot remember how we knew they were different, but they seemed ornery and worried the hens.

Well, there was only one way to handle that. The rooster needed to be teased and provoked to see what would happen next. So, at age five, what else could a bored child do? Following my older brother’s example, I would go up to an ornery rooster stomping my feet, just so far, three or four steps, and the rooster would turn around with feathers fluffed and a mean gleam in his eye. He came charging after me, but only three or four feet at a time. I would return the favor, and go after him, only three or four feet at a time. He would retreat, never turning around, but getting a little more riled each time.

For a bored five-year-old, this was great fun! This back and forth movement continued for about fifteen minutes or so until all of a sudden, the rooster did not stop at three or four feet. Instead, he kept on coming! After me! Then I was in trouble. If a rooster caught you, they would jump up and scratch your bare legs and feet with their talons and claws. I headed for the house, but the rooster was too close behind me! Too close indeed! I knew I could not stop to open the screen door or he would get me. I yelled to my mother to open the door, after I had run around the house to gain speed, hopefully getting ahead of him so I could dash in the front door…