Comment from Ken – Dale always edits and corrects my walks for me. She is much better than I am at punctuation and correct grammar. This walk is just some thoughts – not a formal writing. I hope you enjoy them. ken

Scripture: Psalm 100

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and ◙ not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

A walk with thoughts of autumn over the years….

As a boy – the smell of burning leaves in the street before our home. This was a task we always did before Halloween. Halloween was more trick than treat when I was a boy in the city, and if there were piles of leaves, they just might be ignited by a passing ghost or goblin.

Planning your Halloween costume – usually a ghost – a sheet over your head with holes for eyes or perhaps being a pirate in torn ragged pants and of course a sword. These were costumes you could make by yourself for my mother was always too busy with seven children to plan their costumes – you did your own planning – Hey mom, do we have any old sheets? Hey Mom, is it ok if I cut up these old pants, and Dad, can I make a sword out of wood down in the cellar?

We kids also had to make sure on Halloween night to get in line for a chocolate covered ice cream bar from the man in our neighborhood that worked for Hoods.

Time looking for the man who walked the street on Halloween dressed as a giant buzzard. He had huge bird feet!

Maybe a party where you bobbed for apples or tried to bite a donut hung from a string with your hands behind your back….

Looking at all your candy when you came back home from trick or treating at the time your mother told you.

The desire to carve a really big pumpkin. You had to have your own jack-o-lantern.

When older, the joy in witnessing the foliage turn from green to orange and red and yellow. This surely happened after my dad purchased my grandfather’s farm back into the family.

Picking wild Concord grapes on the Old Greenhill Road. Baskets of them. Watching the grape juice drip out of a huge cheesecloth bag hanging from a broom handle between the stove and the sink counter. My dad would make grape jelly. When young, you might poke that bag and end up with a purple finger.

The wonder of being at the south side of Greenhill among the beech trees in fall when the wind blew strong and the yellow leaves fell over you like a sunshine snow.

Watching for the bloom of the wild purple aster. That was a sign my father said that a frost would happen two weeks later.

The start of cold wet rains in November at the farm the alder bushes dark and slick with almost an ice covering – that would come soon.

Sitting by a roaring fire in the fireplace, hugging near to it lying on the floor to keep warm. How the sparks would hold to the brick – the rear of the fireplace and then fly upward out the chimney.

Today loving to be in New Hampshire once more – Dale with me admiring the beautiful foliage this year.

Twenty wild turkeys walking in a field

The apple farm near us with so many cars with people picking their own apples.

Pumpkin muffins and hot or cold cider

Some rat trap cheese from Calef’s Country Store in Barrington.

Our dog Molly running in the cool air charging across the field beside our home. She so happy in her heavy fur coat that the weather is cooler – after all she is a mountain dog.

The joy of being inside a warm and loving home as the approach of winter days is before us

When will the first snow appear? Please let it be when Dale and I and Molly are home, and we have no where we have to go.

Dale and I have these thoughts of autumn and thoughts of when our children were growing up so excited as Halloween and the holidays approached – That is another walk.

What thoughts do you have of autumn yesterday and today?

Prayer:
Dear God, we give thanks for the beautiful seasons we witness here in New England. May we appreciate each season and see in each season, Your power, Your glory, Your love for the earth and for Your Children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Benediction

“And now may the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from the other.”