I love warm Autumn days.

The sun feels wonderful while

the wind swirls the leaves in

all the places I just raked.

Yesterday I planned to mow and

mulch but there wasn’t the

sound of any lawn equipment

within earshot so, rather than

break the peace of the day, I raked,

moved stakes, garden-lights,

anything that needed to be

moved for winter, to the shed.

Hmm, still nary a sound. I picked all

of the green tomatoes and

tore out the tomato and pepper

plants, took down the chicken

wire and carried everything

from the garden to the shed.

I never did fire up the lawn equipment,

and either did anyone else…

I was rewarded by the swish

of leaves on the wind, the

hoot of a nearby owl, and best

of all, the laughter of the neighborhood

children as they played outside.