We have several large trees in our yard, most of them deciduous trees, a few conifers. We have one very large tree smack in the middle of our backyard, and though it has impressively large, beautiful leaves early in the spring, it always disappoints come fall. The leaves just stop being green and then fall off. The large tree in the front is hit-or-miss. Some years, it fills with beautiful yellow leaves; other years, nothing. The other trees in the yard just aren’t all that thrilling, either.

But this tree. The side tree. This tree never disappoints. Every year, its small delicate leaves turn ever so gradually to the prettiest light yellow, and though you’d never guess the tree had so many leaves, they blanket a good third of our yard. The leaves all fall near the back door, too, which is the one we use most often, and they bring such a bright, cheery crunch to every footfall.

Wally is quite enthralled with the dry leaves this year, alternating between being delighted with making crunchy noises with every footfall, and being completely bothered by the whole affair and not wanting to step into them.

I know we are getting close to my least favorite part of fall - the part that blows every leaf in the neighborhood into my driveway, followed closely by miserably cold rain and then temperatures just cold enough to turn the leaves I delight in today into a slippery, icy, wet mass that’s nearly impossible to keep out of the driveway. But, knowing this, I enjoy the leaves today even more.