Lotsa Leaves, take two, or three, or....

If it seems to you that I have an obsession with leaves, well, you'd be right. If there's any year that we must have a winter/spring yard free of them, it's this year in which we will be trying to sell the house. However, the warmer than usual fall meant that the leaves dropped late. Thankfully, the city service people are coming around a third time because ours are not the only leaves not to cooperate with their fixed schedule. Therefore, late last week on some cold but dry days, I got out and raked them into piles for the students come return once again (wonderful students that they are) to get out to the front street via our tarp. Chuck did the front yard with me on Friday but he was gone all day Saturday proctoring the Putnam Exam, so I ventured forth three times on Saturday to do the huge back yard and probably half of my to-the-west neighbor's front yard. Peculiarly, he has not done any raking this fall (and in our "neighborhood" you don't ask if there's illness or something....) and his oak tree will provide enough leaves to cover our yard all winter. On Sunday a small army of students showed up in a cold drizzly rain and in no time deposited the leaves on the piles along the street. Since then, we've had a wind storm and some snow. The white stuff covers the huge piles and what has again swirled across the yard. Hopefully next week, the piles will be gone?

And in the meantime, the snow reminds me that the entertaining season is upon me. We were having lunch with our church small group when the students arrived, their annual caroling party is Friday (that's the biggie) and thus it begins. I can't hold a candle though to our new friend Hannah (a teaching post doc here)....here is the web address of her blog on which she posted pictures of some of the 17 kinds of Christmas cookies she made with her sister during Thanksgiving break. 17 kinds! What skill. http://hannahscookies.blogspot.com Admire them with me :) as I make chocolate chip cookies with red and green m&ms for the caroling party.