Acorns and Indian Corn

What’s that? Did I really see a wisp of breath in the cold morning air?

Well, I guess so, since it was only 43 degrees when I left the house this morning. It seems that Fall’s chilly temps arrived much too quickly and have now apparently settled in for good. What happened to those warm and sunny days from just a week or so ago?

I decided to walk straight down Emmons Boulevard to the River this morning, but, as I drew near, I heard the train rolling along the tracks and blowing its whistle in the distance, so I made an abrupt U-turn just short of the tracks at Alfred Street. The walk through the neighborhoods and down the Boulevard was nearly as pretty as going to the Park. Most of the Honey Locust trees that line the streets have already turned a golden hue and started depositing their tiny leaves and straggly stems into the sidewalk cracks.

We used to have a locust tree and through the month of October, you could never keep the sidewalk and driveway clear once the leaves started to fall. It was a big mess and the leaves were so tiny, they were hard to sweep up and you sure couldn’t rake ‘em.

At the other end of the spectrum, were the fallen Crimson King Maple leaves, which sometimes appear to be as large as a man’s hand. Often they tumble down from the tree face up, and are perfect specimens as they lay there on the lawn or sidewalk, dewy looking, unblemished and still beautiful, until someone comes along and tramples them down.

I watched a couple of squirrels duking it out for a single greenish-looking acorn. They were so intent on which squirrel would get this nut goodie, that they didn’t see me ‘til I was almost upon them, and, then they bolted as fast as their short legs could carry them, chattering away to no one in particular. In their haste, neither one thought to grab that prize acorn before taking off.

I love the Indian corn decorations on front doors. I saw a nice beribboned swag today and it made me remember a time several decades ago when my mom and I visited a roadside stand while taking a Sunday drive in the country. We bought some produce and a pretty swag of Indian corn to hang on our front door. It looked so festive … that is, until a few days later when little bugs started climbing out of it.

My mom went to get the mail and saw little worms clustered on the Indian corn – in one swift motion, she picked that swag up and tossed it into the front garden. That was the end of any Indian corn harvest door décor going forward.

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net/