The family spent Thanksgiving at Lake Lanier last week. I was the first to arrive and barely made it up the driveway. No, it wasn’t snow or rain or mud, but a layer of leaves so thick you couldn’t tell the driveway from the yard.
Poking around in the garage, I found an old rake and after dusting it off, went outside to see what I could do. Let me tell you, raking is a very satisfying activity – especially the first five minutes. It provides instant gratification. You can tell exactly what you have done. Of course you can also tell exactly what’s left to do. All in all it took me about an hour and by the end of that time? I was a little tired but surprisingly soothed by the rhythmic action – and the quiet swoosh of the leaves as I raked them into the woods.
Most of the time, I’m happy to live in the city. There are a lot of benefits – we can walk to fabulous restaurants, we have great neighbors whom we see daily and (the best), most of our extended family lives here as well. BUT, there are drawbacks, the most fierce of which for me is the noise level. I’m not opposed to sound. I spend many hours a day making or listening to music, I love a good conversation and for goodness sakes, when the grandkids come to play, I’m the loudest of all. But incessant noise is definitely a downside of city living. And, much of this in my neighborhood comes from leaf blowers and lawn mowers.
Let me be honest, though. I am not yet to the point that I’m ready to take on raking all the leaves in our extensive yards. I just can’t do it. Which makes me part of the problem. One solution would be to get rid of all the grass, which would also eliminate the need for a lawn mower. But, I kind of like grass and it’s hard for the kids to play soccer tiptoeing through the tulips.
Another solution is a rake. Not for me, but aha! for my twelve year old grandson. I tracked him down one day and set out to convince him of all the great benefits of raking. It’ll make you strong! It’ll soothe your soul. You’ll be outside in nature. You’ll be helping out your poor old granny. I added a few more selling points and was surprised and pleased to see that he was standing watching me intently. And actually, never even protested or argued.
I was encouraged. So I finally asked, “so, what do you think? I’ll even buy you a brand new rake!” (smiley face). He kept looking at me, then pulled an earbud out of his ears. “What? did you say something?”
Sigh. Back to the drawing board on that one. I’ll go to Plan B – his nine year old sister! Ha.
Silence and darkness were two attributes that drew us to live in north Georgia. It is still blessedly silent — most of the year; we do get boat noise from the lake in summer, and our neighbor does own a lawn mower, but quiet is still the the de facto setting. Alas, not so the dark. We’ve seen light pollution creep across the sky as more businesses locate here and more vacation homes are built. Why owners think they are protecting their property by leaving lights on baffles me. In these woods I think it just makes it easier for… Read more »