Little Autumn Promenade

Yesterday, we took a stroll on the Terry Trueblood trail. It was a little breezy and warm for late October.

The fall colors were gorgeous and there was a lot going on. We saw a woman with her toddler flying a butterfly kite. It sailed on the wind beautifully. We saw the quilted hearts hanging from the trees. They’re very cheering. In the wind they looked like they were waving at you.

The woolly bear banded caterpillars were out. I don’t think you can really tell how hard the winter is going to be by looking at the color bands. But it’s fun to talk about.

And then we thought we saw ladybugs. But they could have been Asian lady beetles. It’s hard to tell them apart. The latter often don’t have spots at all. We noticed that they seem to sort of push up their hinders until they’re almost upside down and they may shove each other around.

There’s a pretty vigorous debate on the web about whether the Asian lady beetles are the bad guys and the ladybugs are the good guys. We know they can crawl all over you.

The oddball thing was that we found a baby booty hanging on one of the sign posts. It had an image of a ladybug on it. Or was it an Asian lady beetle?

When you’re in the autumn of your life, it might be time to stop asking too many questions.

Falling Leaves

The leaves are falling everywhere, including our back yard. Just watching them drop like a snowfall is mesmerizing. It feels like it’s going to snow. Temperatures have been low enough for frost and freeze warnings around here. The mowers were bundled up, wearing stocking caps and gloves yesterday.

Fall is Sena’s favorite season. Temperatures are cooler and the changing colors of the leaves makes us wonder how the trees know when it’s time to drop them.

When I was a kid, I and a lot of neighborhood kids jumped off a small cliff at a park into a huge pile of leaves. It was a big deal to take the leap. We felt like we were flying. The bits of dry, brown leaves got in your hair and down your back under your shirt, making you itch.

I remember raking leaves in an old guy’s yard once. I got blisters on my hands and he didn’t pay me much. I didn’t like that part of fall and still don’t.

That’s why spring is my favorite season.