Journal: Thoughts and Memories.

This sunny Friday morning I decided to clear up the leaves on our large back lawn. It is winter here in NZ and not long past our mid-winter day. I use a modern leaf blower now as opposed to the old fashioned way, with a leaf rake. Blowing the leaves into a long line then picking them up into the barrow, I collected 3 barrow loads well pressed down and put them into my composting area to await room in the bin.

I still had to use the old fashioned leaf rake to tidy up the remains afterwards.

This reminded me of the time when I was a boy at Kidside and I used to rake up the leaves down the long drive up to our home lined with mature trees down either side. Autumn leaves were everywhere and I would put the leaves into piles along the edge of the drive. There were much too many to do anything with and it was my job to burn the piles of leaves in situ then rake the remains onto the grass verges. I still remember the pleasant woody smell of the burning leaves as they turned to carbon which, when washed into the grass and soil by the rains helped to continue natures cycle during the following spring growth.