Fall the first time

I spent the afternoon with my granddaughters yesterday. I had a wonderful time. It has been fun to be in their lives. After they moved from our house, I have missed them. I have taken the advice of a blogger friend, and have just called and offered to come in and spend time with them, allowing my daughter-in-law time with our car to do things on her own. It has worked well. Thank you!

Our 3 year-old granddaughter is experiencing fall for the first time that she remembers. She has been very insistent that even though it is now quite cool on some days, it is still summer. She enjoys wearing her summer clothes, one dress in particular. Yesterday, she finally acknowledged that it is “like fall”, and the day was cool. One reason for her acknowledgement may be that she now has some new fall clothes and she likes to wear them. Three years old, and a fashionista already!

The other day she and her mom found a big maple leaf that had changed to a bright orange. They have saved that leaf.  My granddaughter was very excited to show me the leaf and to explain that it is now orange because it is fall. We talked about how the leaves fall off of the trees.  She was very knowledgeable about the entire process and wanted to be sure that I understood all of it.  I can’t say that she was excited by it exactly, but she was quite sure about it, and wanted to pass along this information that was new to her.

I remember the excitement each fall as the leaves turned to beautiful red, orange and yellow, almost by magic. I spent a lot of time in a small town which had maple trees lining almost every street. In the fall, the beauty of those trees with all of the vibrant colors was awe-inspiring, even to a difficult-to-impress teenager. Each family would spend a few days raking the leaves into the curb area of the street. As everyone finished their raking, the town sent a big truck along the streets to vacuum up all of the leaves and take them to a central area. This town was a bit ahead of the times for the seventies.

In Minnesota, there is a short window of time which is prime for “leaf watching”. The news stations include maps which indicate where the best colors are located over the course of the fall. The Lake Superior area is always one of the most beautiful areas imaginable for this pastime. Hundreds of people will make the drive to look out over the edges of the blue lake, ringed with orange, red and a particularly bright yellow, interspersed with the dark green of the evergreens. It is spectacular.

My granddaughter has saved one of the first leaves she has seen. She has given me the gift of seeing the fall  colors for the first time through her eyes.

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