Cloudy Skies And A Yard Of Fallen Leaves

7:03

8:06

I slept in 15 minutes, getting up at 6:15, to a pitch black house.  I turned on the coffee, then our fireplace and went outside to see how much rain we had in last night's brief storm, about an inch.  It's a chilly 45º, perhaps some rain later this morning, probably not a leaf mulching day.

Yesterday was like many Sunday's in autumn, filled with wind, some clouds, some sun,  a neighbor outside in his yard, raking leaves and cutting his lawn,  a dinner in the oven, and football on the tube or radio.  I can look back over close to 70 years and see the same kind of Sundays (although in my early years,  I probably went to church with my Mom like a good boy).  Evie decided to enjoy the leisure of a Sunday morning but I had some mojo, so I went out and filled three barrels with twigs, leaves, and pine needles, mostly pine needles as our pines shed an amazing amount of needles.  I also cut our neighbor's yard, mulching all their leaves, leaving their yard green and empty, ripe for more fallen leaves.  Actually, Evie did not lounge  around for  long, as she decided to put together my granola, oats, walnuts, flax, and cinnamon, (my brakfast mix) and our dinner, a beef stew, with carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions, filling the house with its aroma.

About 12:30, we had our big breakfast of eggs, bacon and a bagel and  got back into the routine of watching CBS Sunday Morning, now with Jane Pauley as Charles Osgood has retired.  We miss him, like Garrison Keillor.  Some people cannot be replaced. We then took it easy, reading, napping, doing some chores or watching some football for 15 minutes before getting bored, no matter if it's the Bills, Browns, or Patriots.

A Double Mulched Yard On A Sunday Afternoon

Mid afternoon, Evie fired up the lawn mower and cut and mulched the leaves in our yard.  There were so many fallen leaves that she ended up cutting it twice, to make sure the leaves were thoroughly mulched.  By the time she was done, both lawns were literally leaf free...for a few hours.

Monday Mornings Fallen Leaves

While Evie prepped our dinner, making a salad, heating up the beef stew, we relaxed with a  glass of wine, shelling peanuts for an appetizer, watching the leaves fall on our virgin lawn.  I forgot to mention that since we put up our bird  feeders, we have become avid birders once again, as the black capped chickadees, sparrows, finches, nuthatches, woodpeckers, cardinals, and blue jays are back. We were transfixed by a small sparrow or finch like bird, with a bright, fluorescent red cap,  try to fly through our window for about 15 minutes.  We never did identify him and we had never seen such a bright red cap.

Finch, Sparrow? We don't know.  

Evie served out beef stew over baked potatoes, a hearty Sunday dinner, and we watched various programs on TV, not wanting to start a new series yet.  60 Minutes was interesting, as  they interviewed some very articulate Ohio voters, why they are voting for Hillary or Trump.  Neither manifested the civic ignorance that seems so prevalent in today's election, the refusal to dig deep into any issue, to get at the facts and truth.  Too easily, we just believe what we are told, either by Hillary or Trump, MSNBC or FOX NEWS.  Although it was not a busy Sunday, we were both tired and went up to bed early, to read before sleep, a gentle soporific.