A Leaf Downpour
I am old enough to have seen, The Exorcist, the week it first came out in theaters back in 1973. If my math is correct that was approximately 43 years ago. I was still fairly young and stupid back then. Nowadays you couldn’t pay me to watch a horror movie.
Well, I happened to think about that movie this afternoon while taking a delightful walk. My afternoon walks have been nothing short of euphoric the last week due, in large part, to the fact that the trees here in my town on the Great Plains of Turtle Island have been in peak fall foliage. The colors and the beauty take my breath away. It only happens once a year and I never miss it.
The fall foliage peaked about ten days to two weeks later than it did last year but I am not overly alarmed by this. Mother Nature doesn’t follow to the letter that free calendar I got from my bank which hangs on the wall in my kitchen.
What made this afternoon’s walk different than those of the last week is that today we had a stiff breeze blowing. I am not exactly comfortable with the adjective, “stiff,” in relation to wind. If wind is stiff then it is unbending and not moving which wind never really is. “Stiff,” probably applies more succinctly to that which the wind wallops in its relentless trajectory. (“The walking refugees stiffened in reaction to the cold wind sweeping across the moors.”)
Anyway, because of the wind sweeping across the Great Plains leaves were falling from the sky like rain…. or snow, during my walk. This is what reminded me of, The Exorcist. After over forty years I don’t remember everything about that movie. But, for some reason, the opening sequence has always stuck in my noggin. It was autumn and someone was walking down the street in some suburban or urban location and the wind was blowing and leaves were falling out of the sky like rain. It was a very short cinematic masterpiece. At least that is how I remember it. (I think the music really helped embed the memory.)
So this afternoon I walked through a leaf downpour just like in the opening sequence to that movie. It was truly exhilarating. Memories of a movie I watched over forty years ago briefly flashed through my noggin but I think the wind quickly blew that memory away. Wind can do that. Holding on to the memories makes us stiff. I let it go.
Instead I luxuriated in the downpour of multi-colored leaves. I was pummeled repeatedly by leaves and I enjoyed every minute of it. Most of us take showers and some of us enjoy walking through the rain. Taking a leaf shower is a whole different kind of ecstasy.
I was trying to enjoy my leaf shower but eventually a thought crept into my noggin. It was a sad thought. It was borderline ominous. I didn’t want to think it but I did.
Isn’t it curious how when a beautiful woman takes off her clothes and becomes naked it can be exciting and arousing but when a tree takes off its clothes and becomes naked it is sad and depressing?
I suddenly realized that if the breeze continued for long at its current intensity that within a day or two all the colorful leaves would be on the ground instead of on the trees. The trees would quickly become naked — and remain naked for the next five to six months. The realization, as I was showered with leaves, that I was walking into the cold and dark half of the year left me sad. For me, this is always very sad.
But I slowly released that thought from my noggin. Why worry about the upcoming cold when I could instead be enjoying my leaf shower? After all, it only happens once a year.
My noggin then tried to cheer me up. Knowing what a tree-lover I am, it reminded me that, as with beautiful women, I like hugging trees whether or not they are naked.
We all need to hug more. So as I walked the autumnal city sidewalks I exorcised all thoughts from my noggin and hugged the wind.
Well, I happened to think about that movie this afternoon while taking a delightful walk. My afternoon walks have been nothing short of euphoric the last week due, in large part, to the fact that the trees here in my town on the Great Plains of Turtle Island have been in peak fall foliage. The colors and the beauty take my breath away. It only happens once a year and I never miss it.
The fall foliage peaked about ten days to two weeks later than it did last year but I am not overly alarmed by this. Mother Nature doesn’t follow to the letter that free calendar I got from my bank which hangs on the wall in my kitchen.
What made this afternoon’s walk different than those of the last week is that today we had a stiff breeze blowing. I am not exactly comfortable with the adjective, “stiff,” in relation to wind. If wind is stiff then it is unbending and not moving which wind never really is. “Stiff,” probably applies more succinctly to that which the wind wallops in its relentless trajectory. (“The walking refugees stiffened in reaction to the cold wind sweeping across the moors.”)
Anyway, because of the wind sweeping across the Great Plains leaves were falling from the sky like rain…. or snow, during my walk. This is what reminded me of, The Exorcist. After over forty years I don’t remember everything about that movie. But, for some reason, the opening sequence has always stuck in my noggin. It was autumn and someone was walking down the street in some suburban or urban location and the wind was blowing and leaves were falling out of the sky like rain. It was a very short cinematic masterpiece. At least that is how I remember it. (I think the music really helped embed the memory.)
So this afternoon I walked through a leaf downpour just like in the opening sequence to that movie. It was truly exhilarating. Memories of a movie I watched over forty years ago briefly flashed through my noggin but I think the wind quickly blew that memory away. Wind can do that. Holding on to the memories makes us stiff. I let it go.
Instead I luxuriated in the downpour of multi-colored leaves. I was pummeled repeatedly by leaves and I enjoyed every minute of it. Most of us take showers and some of us enjoy walking through the rain. Taking a leaf shower is a whole different kind of ecstasy.
I was trying to enjoy my leaf shower but eventually a thought crept into my noggin. It was a sad thought. It was borderline ominous. I didn’t want to think it but I did.
Isn’t it curious how when a beautiful woman takes off her clothes and becomes naked it can be exciting and arousing but when a tree takes off its clothes and becomes naked it is sad and depressing?
I suddenly realized that if the breeze continued for long at its current intensity that within a day or two all the colorful leaves would be on the ground instead of on the trees. The trees would quickly become naked — and remain naked for the next five to six months. The realization, as I was showered with leaves, that I was walking into the cold and dark half of the year left me sad. For me, this is always very sad.
But I slowly released that thought from my noggin. Why worry about the upcoming cold when I could instead be enjoying my leaf shower? After all, it only happens once a year.
My noggin then tried to cheer me up. Knowing what a tree-lover I am, it reminded me that, as with beautiful women, I like hugging trees whether or not they are naked.
We all need to hug more. So as I walked the autumnal city sidewalks I exorcised all thoughts from my noggin and hugged the wind.
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