Crunching Through Leaves and Loving Autumn

Have we mentioned how much we love the autumn season here in New York?  

This picture was actually taken in Vermont approaching the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph, but it is representative of our neighborhood and the scenes we witness daily.

This morning we walked along a path crunching leaves with every step.  It looked similar to the above picture only with the Erie Canal along one side. A squirrel crossed our path within two feet of us with a big nut of some kind in his jaws.  We watched as he scampered up a tree and disappeared.  It rained yesterday, so the air was kind of misty and everything was so beautiful.

A week ago we walked a path above the temple that follows the east property line of the original Smith Farm.  We really did some leave crunching that day as we walked through a secluded wooded area similar to the grove on the west perimeter of the farm. A rock wall extends along the property line for about a quarter of a mile. Rebuilt by the youth when the temple was under construction, these are the same rocks the Smith's cleared from the farm and used for their fence.  They were already in place but partially knocked down and needed rebuilding.  It made for a meaningful service project.

This tree is just outside our back window.

The quality of this picture is not good, but it gives you an idea of the the rolling hills that we drive through each weekend.  It was taken by Kinzua Dam in northern Pennsylvania.

It is impossible to capture the beauty of this season to share with friends and family who live in the desert.  Many yards have pumpkins out and are decorated for Halloween. We want to post a picture soon of the pumpkin patch just down the road from us, but we never seem to have the camera with us at the right time.  Instead I'll post some pictures of a different pumpkin patch somewhere in Ohio with our precious granddaughters, Elizabeth and Heidi.

A final observation . . . in our neighborhood the homeowners use a blower to push all their fallen leaves to the curb, so there are large leaf piles lining both sides of the road at the edge of their lawns.  Every few days the city sends a truck around with a BIG vacuum hose attached.  It sucks up the piles of leaves in a short time and shreds and compacts them.  It was interesting to watch; we've never seen debris vacuumed up in this way.