The Sunny Side of Fall

We visited the ‘pumpkin patch’ to see if we could locate the whereabouts of ‘The Great Pumpkin’.

We picked out a few pie pumpkins as well as 3 for Jack-o-lantern carving and some beautiful tiny display squash. This is usually the ‘norm’ here in Wisconsin … to invest some time into escapist leisure activities that involve the outdoors before the Winter chill knocks on all the doors to usher in that ‘Jack of the Frost’, emblazoned upon every square inch of exposed glass.

I actually look forward to this procession of change. To grow up as witness to the cycle of death and rebirth is something that I truly feel blessed with living amongst.

Winter can be extremely difficult to endure, but just like anything else in this life, it’s how you choose to deal with it and the inevitable challenges that make or break it. I like to embrace it with a positive approach.

Not only do the rewards offer tolerance and solace (pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies, hot chocolate), but I find that the toil these seasons bring can be a gift as well.

Raking leaves, for example, is an inescapable chore where I live, so why not make it fun by jumping into a HUGE pile of leaves before building an AWESOME leaf-pit fire for later! Fun! And I will always love the smell of burning leaves … it reminds me of several ‘good times’ being a kid growing up in the 1970s.

I’m not too crazy about picking up all the fallen walnuts and butternuts, but, if you harvest some of these wonderful resources, the ‘chore’ tends to be ‘no more’.

Yea, go ahead, accuse me of walking on ‘the sunny side’. I really could care less. Simple things like this were infused into my being at a very early age. Maybe that is why I never find myself staring longingly into a peripheral that constantly is on parade for my uninterrupted attention.

Good luck with all that. I’m gonna go build a HUGE bomb-fire!