Damn Dark Mornings

I don't like waking up in the dark.  I really don't, can you tell?  I don't mind the cold but I am not a fan of the dark.  This too shall pass, just not fast enough for my tastes.  (I had to wait until nearly 8 o'clock to take that, 2 hours after I rolled out of bed *sigh*)

It pained me no end but I mowed over the leaf carpet in the front yard yesterday and turned it into mulch so that the lawn sprayers can find the grass today.  I wasn't sure that the lawnmower had the moxie to turn such a thick blanket of leaves into little leaf chips but it did.  Now our lawn looks like all the others--and the leaves of the biggest maple tree in the neighborhood (that lives right next door) are barely starting to change color so that means that there's another leaf carpet on the way.  Maybe I'll just let the wind deal with that one... no, I probably won't, I'll go out there and either blow or mow them away.  At least they won't be as pretty colors as the last ones were, that tree's leaves never are so it'll be easier to destroy them.  I think it spends so much energy keeping green as long as it does that once the chlorophyll goes there's nothing left, only brown.

Then I worked on finishing the baby sweaters and booties for next Saturday's Z-Baby shower.  Got the sweaters all done and one booty sewed up with one to go.  I'm hoping to finish one more little item before then but won't cry if I don't make it.  I can give baby presents any old time, I'm going to be one of the grannies.  No pictures until after Saturday, though, don't want to spoil the surprise.

October 28--Winslow Homer, Snap the Whip.  Shoes were hard to come by that year.  Eli and Lev wore shoes on Sunday but only in church and only when it was dry outside.  Eli's shoes had belonged to Uncle Pruitt before he joined the army.  Since Uncle Pruitt didn't seem to be coming home Mam thought it would be a sin to waste perfectly good shoes.  Eli hoped his feet stopped growing soon as the shoes were getting tight.  Lev's shoes came from the poor box in the back of the church.  He hated them because he knew that they had belonged to someone in the parish and that made him feel ashamed.  Mam told him to get over it, that being poor gave rich folks a leg-up into Heaven because they had so few chances for grace in their lives.  She said it isn't good for a person's soul to have it too good.  Lev grumbled that he'd like to give it a try one day.

Not only is it dark out there, it's cold too.  Must be a set.  Maybe I'll have some oatmeal for breakfast... yeah, that's it, I'll have oatmeal with dried cherries.  That'll keep me warm out there.  I'm off.
--Barbara