Be-Leave in Me
Fri., November 8, 02:31 PM
Friday – my day off. I don’t go into the office, I don’t ever drive to my sister’s (because the drive northward at the start of the weekend is a nightmare). This day is mine to do as I like – as last week, I sat in the house most of the day. But it’s gorgeous today; we’re going into a bit of Indian summer. So I went out to rake leaves and spent an hour doing it, not that I’ve finished, but I’m tired.
Why do I do this? I can hear my mother now, “you could pay someone to do that.” U.D. concurs, but that’s because she’d always rather pay someone than work – even if she can’t afford it. Partly, I do it for the exercise. It goes against my grain to pay a gym so that I can work out, particularly if I have to drive to get there. Walking is out of style unless you drive to the track. Also, I don’t want the stairs or walkway to be slippery, because I do like our mailman – and U.D. too, I suppose.
But the biggest reason I rake leaves or do any number of rather strenuous things, is that I can. Family members, both older and younger, have bum knees, rotten hips, cracked vertebrae, or general muscle strain. Husband has forgotten that he used to be a working man – or maybe he feels that he has earned the right to refuse, and I can’t fault him there. At any rate, my way of showing my gratitude for good health is to do something with it.
Did I do any good? Our street is lined with trees, and there are houses only on one side. So the City will vacuum leaves off the streets and, in theory, you can push all your leaves into the gutter and they will be removed. But the wind is blowing from the street toward the house; that’s not gonna work. I haven’t even looked at the backyard, but I’m hoping that same wind will carry leaves to the neighbor in back; she has a couple of strong sons. The neighbor to the side hires people to blow away her leaves. I can’t stay outside when they’re there; the noise is so loud it affects my heartbeat. There are three venerable oak trees on my property, but I’m picking up birch and poplar too; it really is windy today.
I have raked up eight bags of leaves over the past two weeks, and you’d hardly notice. (I wouldn’t know how many if I didn’t know how many bags I bought originally.) Let me add one more thing: if the bag is four feet deep and you are barely five feet tall, you can’t reach inside to make it stand up by itself. I’m sure anyone who saw me had a good laugh at my contortions. But I can do it, and now I’m ready for lunch.
Then I’m going shopping. This Friday will make up for last week, and I’ll sleep well tonight!
Addition (because I was ready to post this hours ago, but Andrew wasn’t): I went out to the Bargain Hunters Outlet, which I consider a permanent tag sale. You never know what you’ll find there. I went specifically for disposable baking pans – a quarter apiece – to use on Thanksgiving. I also found name brand tortilla chips for 97 cents; some small store must have gone out of business. Also picked up a couple of 50-cent birthday cards. And saw but didn’t buy all sorts of holiday fixings, including some that would make terrific grab bag gifts, if I were in such a position. (Grab bag gifts always remind me of little Son’s confusion over them. Having mis-heard the words “grab bag,” he didn’t understand why all the presents were for the rabbi.)
I drove back roads all the way – dear God, the colors are fabulous this year!
