Lots of Leaves to Rake

Homedale, Idaho home

When I was a child, my family lived in Homedale, Idaho from from 1960 to 1962 and again in 1965 until 1970. Our second home was the picture above. As one can see from that picture and the two below, the home was well-established having trees and bushes with 30 years of growth.  My mother and I can remember that the back yard had at least 6 or 7 full grown trees which were beautiful and lush in the Spring and Summer months, but in the Fall . . .

Homedale Backyard 1968 [View 1]

Kendrick, Paul, LoRene, Cindy, Diana

Homedale Backyard 1968 [View 2]

Kendrick, Paul, LoRene, Gaylord

Octobers were the worst for falling leaves and the inevitable leaf raking--almost constant raking. Mom always made sure that all of the family was involved in this activity. Many wheelbarrows of leaves were toted into our back alley and down a slope to the side of our house and dumped by the side of a retaining wall made of odds and ends of medium sized rocks.

The leaf piles were separated and Mom kept each pile in a different stage of burning. Luckily this was the 1960s and our town did not have a restriction for burning. I loved the smell of those burning leaves and watching the small orange flames often kept me in a trance-like state. [I think the trance was probably just an excuse to slow my work efforts.]

This family activity continued for many weeks until the late afternoon hours became very crisp. Every year as Fall comes around, I think of these memories--not always about fun but about being together.