Midwestern Midcentury

It's Fall...Again...at the Midwestern Midcentury House

 

Our twin oaks still have a few fall leaves on them.  The rest are on the yard...and the street.  I spent part of the day today raking the rascals into a row by the curb.  The city of Moline, Illinois provides a leaf vacuuming service, but unfortunately they don't drive those big trucks onto each lawn.  Then again, do I really want giant tire ruts in the yard?  I'm still thinking about that one.

In past years we have jumped on leaf removal too early.  And that leads to what I call "repetitive leaf removal syndrome."  This year we are taking a wait-and-see approach.  If we wait, we'll see how many leaves will fall and blow into the neighbor's yards before we remove them in one or two giant raking operations.

Yes, while I crave a leaf-sweeping rig to tow behind my ancient riding mower, we are kicking it old-school with a rake in one hand and a cell phone to call for medical help in the other.

The Sweetgum in Fall

One our favorite trees near the house is this sweetgum.  However, it was the only tree that held onto its leaves well into the winter!

Spring finds us raking and blowing the sweetgum leaves (and those spiny balls) as if it were fall again!

First Snowfall in New Illinois Mid-Century Modern Home

We arrived in Illinois in early March 2007, and the worst of winter had just past in the form of a late season blizzard.  Not the Century blizzard of 1998, mind you, but nasty nonetheless.  The mild weather seemed ideal for two people who had just spent eighteen years in Southern California basking (occasionally) on the beach and leaving our apartment windows open throughout the year.  When we arrived, the weather here was...well...mild.  A nice transition.  The planets were aligned.  Then it turned a bit cool.  Then cooler.  Then it snowed.  The last gasp of the dying winter.

Cozy inside our Mid Century home (built, incidentally, by a heating and air-conditioning man) we enjoyed our brief encounter with Old Man Winter while warming our hands in front of a toasty living room fireplace.  Then we took a few pictures of our first snowfall in our new home.  Yes, this year's novelty will likely be next year's nuisance.  You Midwestern readers were thinking that, so I thought I'd just say it out loud for everyone to hear.  Over the many years were were gone, we missed all of the romantic aspects of winter...and none of the practical.  However, winter here isn't what it was when I was a young lad clad in shiny Mid Century black rubber boots with snapping metal fasteners.  Winters now are...mild, by comparison.

Soon, a note about trees budding, grass growing, flowers blooming, bugs bugging, and all that jazz.