One Summer-Fall Day

Unseasonably warm temperatures reached the mid-70s today, allowing the kids to experiment with leaf inventions; they were unencumbered by pesky fall jackets or gloves and instead donned shorts and T-shirts.

They raked leaves and jumped. They shook branches, raked more, heaped, leaped, tumbled, skidded and slid into the mounds.

They created circles and walls of leaves. They formed leaf-armchairs and sat in them. They argued about rake-use and then took breaks to swing and slide.

Flecks of crushed leaves and broken stems dotted their clothes and lodged in their hair.

They pleaded with Papa to stay out longer. “It’s the last warm day!”

Light faded, though; the temperature fell.

They shook those leaf flecks onto the bathroom rug as they stepped into the shower to wash off the bits of soil caked on their feet.

These glorious summer-fall days are like finding a Snickers bar at the bottom of the Halloween stash, when all we thought we had left were a handful of jawbreakers and a Dum-Dum.

Mmmmm…..

so sweet.