HALLO-WHY?
Sat., October 31, 01:47 PM
My big oak tree in the front has been dropping green leave and twigs all summer. With one or two really cold nights, it is now dropping brown leaves in great masses. I notice that there are a lot more than oak leaves out there; somebody’s maples, birch, sassafrass, and pine needles are traveling here. It’s part of the mystique of being at the woodsy end of the road.
Yesterday, worrying mostly about people like the letter carriers, I raked up leaves and put them in a bag. Just one bagful — I am more and more annoyed with this nagging fatigue. But at least I had cleared the stairs — eight of them at this house — and the walkway. When I woke up this morning, there was an even thicker blanket of leaves all over. Now I am also worrying about trick-or-treaters. All I need is for some careless kid to fall… So I was out there again today, doing the same thing: another big bag of leaves. I don’t know if I should be hoping the winds hold off or if I should be praying for a good heavy rain from six to nine tonight.
Among the thoughts going through my head during this task — surely you didn’t think I was concentrating on what I was doing! — was my claws. In my kitchen I have a pair of gadgets called bear claws, ’cause that’s what they look like; they are used to lift heavy roasts or turkeys and things of that nature. Since they fit in my hands and protected against the heat, I really loved them. Of course, I haven’t cooked a roast in years, and with only one meat eater in the house, I will probably never cook one again. I’ll keep them for a while, though, just in case.
In my garage I keep another kind of claws. They’re shaped a lot like the ones in the kitchen, but they’re much larger. I use those to lift piles of weeds or leaves and get them into the bags; the garden claws are flat enough to push everything down too. I certainly am glad to have had them the past couple of days.
Outside of the yard work, which I know I will have to do again, my exercise today has consisted of carrying trash down to the garage and bringing upstairs the bag of candy I picked up at Sam’s last week. I hope the U.D. is home in time to hand out the treats. I really don’t like to deal with the little monsters darlings.
Y’know, this is not my holiday. Whether you consider Halloween as coming from the druids or as its descendant, a celebrations of the (Christian) saints, it has nothing to do with me. The closest celebration in Judaism is Purim, where the kids put on costumes at the synagogue or, in Orthodox neighborhoods, they wear costumes to visit the neighbors, to whom they bring gifts of sweets. So, explain to me again, why am I doing this?
