November 16, 2012

Ritual of Autumn Leaves

It's been years since Frank had to rake leaves! Both our homes in Bryce Resort had wooded lots with very little grass, so the leaves just laid on the ground until they "returned to the forest" (as signs say on nature trails). Although we don't have too many leaves here either, he looked forward to the ritual of burning them.

Instead of raking them into a pile he used a blower, which is noisy but dramatic. 
When we lived in Montclair we didn't need to burn leaves because we could pile them at the curb and a big truck came by and sucked them up. We don't have that service here in the country, and I think he wanted to recreate the childhood memory of burning leaves anyway. The rule here is you have to wait until after 4 PM to burn them, ostensibly because the danger of the fire spreading is lower after the humidity rises, but also the volunteer firemen are more likely to be available after 4 PM, just in case.

4 comments:

  1. My children would LOVE to participate in this, what fun!

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  2. Yes, I remember the piles of leaves when I was a child. We loved to jump in them! And later when my dad burned them, the smell was pleasant and nostalgic.

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  3. We moved to Brookville, Ohio 50 years ago. Back then we also raked leaves in piles and burned them. Then the city signed on to a county-wide ordinance saying outside burning of anything had to be done by applying for and getting a permit. You can burn leaves without being arrested and fined if you have a hotdog stuck on a stick roasting it over the flames. But, honestly, that is the only way.

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  4. Abe, that made me chuckle! Hot dogs sound like a good work-around.

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