The lovely Lorna over at Gin & Lemonade With A Twist Blog has started a new writing prompt.
She hasn’t named her challenge, so I have Lorna’s Gin-spiring Prompt!
This week, we have a photo;
And the words Sepia Toned Fall Memories.
Thinking of the autumn (sorry Lorna, fall is just too American for me! It’s gotta be autumn…) that is fast approaching, (but not yet, because the last official day of summer is not until Sunday 23rd September) the first thing that comes to mind is leaves.
Nowadays, the beautiful golden hues are still sighed over, and appreciated, but quickly followed by a harrumph and sighing, as we have to sweep up our nursery playground on a daily basis, to get rid of the huge piles of leaves that have accumulated, due to the trees shedding their loads, and boy, do they have a lot of leaves!
But going back many years, I can still recall the joy of walking in the park, the leaves crunching underfoot. I remember the pleasure we took in kicking the great mountains of leaves, painstakingly collected by the park keepers (no machines in those days so it was all manual) only for us youngsters to scatter them once again!
We used to have two great sycamore trees in the garden of the house where I grew up. I loved the ‘helicopter’ seeds that fell from there. I remember my brother and I collecting them, then climbing to the top of the slide we had, and flinging them from a height, to watch them spiralling down.
Then we got older, and the duty of raking the leaves that had littered the lawn became our duty. It was only then that I appreciated the hard work of my parents who would have been keeping this garden clear for us in the past and the park keepers. I felt a little sheepish, thinking how we moaned about raking the leaves in a standard back garden, yet they would collect the debris from the park, acres in area.
I still love the colours of autumn. It is truly my favourite season, that time when the evenings are drawing in, and you can sit, snuggled up on the sofa with your loved ones, or wrap up warm, and go for a stroll, hand in hand.
Not quite warm enough for tee shirts, but still not needing to look like the Michelin man because of the cold.
The perfect time.
Every year
Autumnal hues
Bring back memories
Of joyous days pastRitu 2018
But I Smile Anyway... 