Nostalgic for Fall

I don't think I could ever live in a place where the seasons didn't change - I get so nostalgic for Fall every year and usually can't wait for the crisp, cool air. It's my favorite season. Being basically homebound this past month has made me feel like I missed it altogether. No trips to the forest preserve or Botanic Garden to see the beautiful leaves, too much walking for me for now. No visits to the park, also too far to walk. No outdoor flea markets or visits to pumpkin patches or apple orchards. Heck, no more "walks" period for a few more weeks at least. Methinks there won't be any signs of Fall left by then, sigh.

When I went to the doctor last week, I showed him my little list with some of the things I wanted to be able to do again (simple things like laundry, grocery shopping and lightly mopping the kitchen floor). He took one look at it and said: "Nope, nope, nope, and nope." He said I need to wait a few more weeks. I asked for a written note exempting me from housework to show my husband, who I can tell is getting tired of carrying the whole load, even though he doesn't mention it.

Every day I do a set of gentle stretches the Physical Therapist showed me, but I'm getting antsy about exercising, just a little, please, but he said all I should do for now is take slow and easy little walks. So I took the little dog for a little walk today - up and down and halfway around the block, YAY! At least I'm able to get out.

As we were walking, I noticed that I must have missed a lot of the trees changing color in my neighborhood in the past few weeks. There are a few leaves in our yard but that's it. What's Fall without a lot of colorful leaves? There weren't many at all and that made me sad because I always loved tromping with the dogs (or kids at one time) through whatever leaves we could find.

How beautiful are fallen leaves?

(Last year's leaves, blown off our lawn.)

Around here, the neighbors' landscapers scoop up the leaves faster than you can sneeze, as if they're somehow unsightly. So there are never any crunchy leaf piles to run through or dive into except in our yard. I love seeing leaves piled on the lawn, and watching them blow and swirl  into the street on a windy day. My husband enjoys raking leaves and even though it is still a chore, he says at least it's a little exercise he might not have gotten otherwise. Whatta great guy with an even greater attitude, huh? Looks like he's got his work cut out for him this weekend . . . Oh yeah, there's laundry and mopping and grocery shopping too, don't forget, Hon.

It was a perfectly beautiful day for a dog walk -

A few pretty trees, but see, no leaves to stomp through. Picture perfect.

There's one . . .

Ooohhh, wait, I think we spotted some more!

One more good sniff and then it's time to head for home. Too soon, I know, puppy. But there's always the backyard to play in - where Mom can sit and relax.