Dear Reader:

I remember giggling as a little girl, with my cousins, when we would hear one of our mothers or aunts talking to themselves in the kitchen or living room. Old people are batty we thought and giggled again.

Well…hello…”Batty Becky!” I find myself talking to myself more lately as time goes on. The two -way conversations between me and me generally fall into one of three categories: A personal admonishment for forgetting to do something, a pep talk, or a self-scolding for letting myself worry about little things instead of turning them over to God…and just letting go.

There are some chores around the house and yard that allow us to “think-talk” to ourselves without getting busted…the conversation is going on inside our heads and like a good ventriloquist our mouths don’t even move. Yesterday’s chore was one of those opportunities.

Raking. I must confess it is not my favorite chore. I don’t mind raking…it is the bending over and picking up the leaves in the freshly raked piles and then dumping them in the wheel barrow and then dumping the wheel barrow by the pick-up site next to my house… that wears me down.

While I was raking yesterday a young woman walking/running her dog slowed down and said to me “Don’t you just love raking leaves?” I confess I lied and nodded…mumbling something about yard work lasts longer than housework and you can appreciate your efforts longer…

She enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement…waved…and then she and her equally sleek, fit dog jogged away. All I could think was that I would have traded the raking for walking the dog any day of the week. (Except now that I think about it…the dog would have been dragging me down the street by the stop sign at the end of the road…no doubt.) They were definitely out of my fitness league.

I actually got one pile of leaves into the wheelbarrow, dumped it, and finished raking the rest of the yard putting the leaves in two big piles in the front yard…but that is when I had done all I could do. The two piles would have to wait another day to be dumped.

It was while I thinking about Christmas and other things approaching (while still raking_…I saw something that first upset me but then made me laugh.

After raking both sides of the yard, especially around the Bradford Pear tree, I glanced down and it looked like more leaves had mysteriously re-appeared. As I stood there, with rake in hand, scowling down…I realized it wasn’t old dead brown leaves falling or ones I had missed…the sun was casting its afternoon rays on the few  pear tree leaves still left on the tree. I was so relieved! Whew! It was just shadows scattered around the tree.

I stopped and looked up at the few leaves still attached to the branches and made a wonderful discovery! They must be  Christmas leaves...the ones still left were all combinations of bright colors…especially red and green! This was their reward for hanging in there so long…I thought to myself. They were gloriously beautiful! (Like gorgeous packages glittering and glistening in tinsel and ribbons of every color.)

I took one vivid solid red leaf and draped it over a branch on the Christmas tree…it belonged there. It’s reward for hanging tough long enough to reveal its true colors.

So until tomorrow…It is nice to find a task where our minds can wander as we work…and see nature’s revelations up-close and personal…or as my selected ‘Winnie the Pooh’ card says today:

“HELLO, SELF…NICE OF YOU TO BE HERE.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh