Padding the Path

I love the outdoors. Nature supplys such energy - radiating from the earth, the sun, the sky and all the living vegetation. With all our gardens and paths, the lake and the nearby field, there's always something to do outside and lately I've been raking pine needles. Don't let anybody tell you that evergreens are ever green. We have about forty huge red pines and white pines ringing one side of our yard and they annually shed half of their needles. That makes for quite a stash of pine straw. It's beautiful but the carpet of gold would smother the grass in the yard so each fall I rake them and transport them to other uses. This year, with the aid of our trusty oxcart, otherwise known as our ATV and wagon, I've taken them down the hill and strewn them on the swamp path to the lake. It's soft and pretty and I think the neighborhood deer will be bedding down when they discover it. We thought we were in for an extra long winter when the cold and blustery weather hit us in September and October but now we've had an unseasonally nice start to November so winter's going to be a breeze!