This morning, as I scuffed through the massive piles of leaves that littered the sidewalks while I made my way to the Park, I figured most homeowners would be scrambling around later today trying to contain them. Our City’s yard waste collection ceases Thanksgiving week. Sure enough, when I was walking home, the air was abuzz with the whirring of leaf blowers either sucking up or funneling bunches of leaves and the whining of mulching mowers masticating too-full intake chutes of leaves and still-lush grass. Wide rakes scrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraped the cement sidewalk in an effort to contain leaves within the tines and get them bagged quickly and ready to haul out to the curb. I passed one house where they had a regular assembly line going – there were rakers, baggers and a couple of kids who were opening the bags and wrangling them over those tube gizmos which hold the brown paper yard waste bag upright. One homeowner had stacks and stacks of yard waste bags sitting on his porch and I called out to him that he had his work cut out for him today.

In 2011 I volunteered to be a Salvation Army bell ringer for four weekends starting in mid-November. My post was outside ACO Hardware. The store was hopping the duration of my shift, alternating between people streaming out carrying multiple waste bags under their arm or pushing shopping carts laden with outdoor Christmas decorations. One man kept returning to buy more leaf bags and said he felt obligated to drop some change into my kettle each time he passed me to access the store entrance. The last time on his way into ACO, he grinned sheepishly and declared he was “going to buy the rest of the store’s supply of leaf bags and quit this nonsense”. There never seems to be that many leaves on the trees until gravity brings ‘em free falling to the ground. After a brief drizzle, while walking home, my nose detected the leaves had a faintly musty smell and they are not so pretty now, having been whipped around possibly from blocks away, or co-mingled along the cement with their bedraggled-looking, sometimes-spotted or otherwise-mangled counter-parts. But we shan’t complain because the leaves sure look better than snow sitting on our lawns and sidewalks.

At the Park today, in an effort to garner more miles I decided to make two complete laps on the perimeter path. On the first leg of my journey, I stopped at the cement landing to position myself, without slipping into the Creek, to dispense duck bon-bons … well, bread to us, but candy for our feathered friends. While standing there clicking my tongue and watching the mallards swim toward me, a young guy came over to sit on the ledge and we chatted. His name was Todd and I’ve often seen him running on the path or sprinting across the open soccer fields. He told me he has been working out in the Park for over 20 years, since he was 12 years old. He has watched the Park grow from one paved loop to two and told me, that if I enjoy the Park during the Spring, Summer and Fall months, I must come back in the Winter season since the City plows the Park path at 6:00 a.m. daily because there are so many walkers and runners. Todd told me where the ducks congregate in the Winter months … as many as 200 of them at a time, while seeking shelter from the cold, close to a storm sewer. He said the wetland area across the Ecorse Creek is home to fox and coyotes and when the trees are completely bare they are easy to spot. Well, that clinched it for me. Now, there will be something to look forward to in the Winter months and I will surely try to get some wildlife pictures during my weekend forays to Council Point Park. Perhaps these photo ops will yield some great shots to share on my blog posts. Finally, my bread bag was empty and so I said goodbye to Todd and moved on as I still wanted to do another full lap. Just as I was strolling along the path and thinking it was a perfect Fall day, it started to rain. Just a few spits here and there and it was more of a mist but it was getting my clothes wet nonetheless. I certainly didn’t melt and it stopped fairly quickly. During the second leg of my journey, the strains of some of the brass bands at the Wyandotte Christmas Parade came through loud and clear and I had the feeling of marching along with them in spirit. Before I knew it, two laps were done and I was heading home, with five miles more added toward my goal. The weather sounds dicey for tomorrow and I’m hoping they are wrong about their projected forecasts for thunderstorms, gusty winds and possible tornadic activity.

Love the trees until their leaves fall off,
then encourage them to try again next year.
~ Chad Sugg