Leaf Piles

This is going to be a mostly non-nature-photographic week. In its place, as has been the case in past years, so there's no reason to suspect that this year will be any different, will be cooking, cleaning, and trying to get the grounds into fine shape. One task—one seemingly endless task—is leaf-raking, something I do the old-fashioned way. It would no doubt go much faster were I to use a gas leaf-blower, but I'm a traditionalist, and I really hate making more noise on this planet. So, now that the trees have dropped almost all of their foliage—only the young beeches, who seemingly don't yet believe in spring and rebirth, are still holding on to their leaves—it's time to rake everything into piles, scoop the spent foliage into a large trash can, and walk it over to an increasingly giant leaf pile. I'm building this colossus strictly and solely for the benefit of my three-year-old grand-daughter Stasia, who'll be with us for Thanksgiving. She'll know what to do with a leaf pile. She'll definitely know.