Listening to the Leaves . . .

I live in an area of the world where you can actually hear the leaves when they hit the ground. Having recently moved here from the desert Southwest, I’ve never experienced this phenomenon in my life. Fifty-foot-tall Cottonwoods, Alders, and Hemlocks are what I’m surrounded by, with a few towering Big-leaf Maples. It is so quiet here—the forest is quiet, the neighbors are quiet, the road is quiet (it’s kind of fabulous)—that the noise the leaves make as they touch the ground can almost be described as crashing. They aren’t coming down in bunches this time of year, of course, but a few yellow ones drift down every time a breeze ruffles the branches.

Flitter, flutter, flitter; and the leaf lands with a plop. Flutter, flitter, flutter; and the leaf lands with a noise resembling a crash. How is that even possible? I experience it, it’s right before my eyes and ears, but I still don’t believe it.

One more thing in this extraordinary world over which to marvel.

Author: Carolyn Kay Hanson

Carolyn was born and raised in Idaho. She has worked with animals for most of her life (prepare yourself, the list is long): cats, dogs, horses, cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, chickens, guineas, and geese. She was married to a cowboy for twenty-five years and during that time lived on seven different cattle ranches. She learned how to give shots to cattle, brand cattle, castrate bull calves and close the head catch in time to capture the beast that was flying through the working chute like a streak of lightning. She also learned to back the truck up to the trailer hitch and get it right the first time. When a teen, she attended horsemanship clinics and schools, and competed in horse shows that included dressage and jumping. She owned and trained seven of her own horses. After having two children, both of whom she homeschooled until they passed the SAT with flying colors (which is absolutely no credit to her as they both reside in the genius category and continually leave her wondering what the heck is going on) she dove into homesteading, learning how to make her own bread, make soup stock from scratch, butcher chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, and cows, and one year had so much fun canning everything in sight that when she counted the full glass jars in the pantry, she was shocked to discover there were over a thousand. Her knowledge of settings used as the basis of her stories is diverse due to the fact that she has lived in many different states including Idaho, Montana, California, Texas, Missouri, Virginia, Indiana, New Jersey, Washington, and Arizona. She now resides near Seattle. Her hobbies include knitting, crocheting, soap making, and, of course, writing. Oh, and her favorite author? P. G. Wodehouse. View all posts by Carolyn Kay Hanson