The house I lived in from about 1964 to 1973 had, not a lot of trees, but a some very leafy trees and that meant fall was a miserable time spent constantly raking and raking and raking leaves. 

You’d get them all in a pile and load them in the back of my stepfather’s pickup truck and then take them to the dump. 

When we were too young to drive ourselves, we would ride in the back of the truck holding down the tarp covering the leaves.  And then ride in the back of the truck on the way home – often under the tarp because fall in Michigan can be really chilly – especially riding in the back of a pickup truck.

I never understood the point of raking leaves. 

Why not run over it all with a lawnmower and catch the shredded leaves in a bag?  Then you can use the shredded leaves as mulch or to protect plants over the winter. 

Not that we had a lawnmower like that – in the summer, after mowing the yard, we had to rake up the cut grass, load it into the pickup truck and take it to the dump. 

God (TIDBI) did I yearn for one of those lawnmowers that had an attachment that caught the clippings. 

Now we live in a complex where the HOA pays for people to come and mow and rake and blow (not a fan of leaf blowers, unless they are electric) the lawns into submission. 

We have one huge tree that looms over our little house-let and dumps an inordinate amount of leaves onto our front lawn (which goes in the big box marked “not my problem”) and onto our patio.  My dear husband has taken on the task of keeping the patio leaves under control, bless his heart (and I mean that in the nice way, y’all). 

So while I do love the changing seasons, including Fall colors.  I would prefer the leaves simply stay where they are, on the tree, and just cycle through the colors without falling and making a big mess.

Is that so much to ask?