Six huge Bradford Pear trees adorn and surround the pool in the backyard. It is very appealing in the summer, providing shade from the hot sun. It looks so beautiful with the contrast of hunter green leaves against the aqua blue sky and water. But what's ahead for us is the constant undertaking of keeping the barrage of leaves out of the pool. I guess I should buy a pool cover and be done with it. But then I wouldn't be able to see the pretty water all year! Whatever..

Last season's clean up got way ahead of us and it literally took all summer to get the pool in perfect condition. Holistically speaking, it would have been better just to drain the entire pool and start all over again. Every day that we were home was consumed in cleaning, clearing out the filter, buying PH balance products, shock and treat. Over and over again. Finally about Labor Day, we were ready for the plunge. Guess how many times I actually got IN the pool? Three times. That comes out to be about $500 a plunge, I figure. For that amount of money, I could just join the country club pool in town... And they can worry about those laughing leaves.

God's beautiful handiwork of autumn's arrival - the gold, the red, the yellow, the burgundy - couldn't possibly be a menace, but it is. When the colors fall, there's a mess to contend with. As glorious as my backyard is, I know there's work to be done.

And if nothing more, it's just for a season. For when the beauty falls, the opening on the branch where the leaf fell from the tree, seals up - to prepare for the next season of green. The beauty of growth and prosperity is in a holding pattern only for a little while. We might be sad to see the naked bare Bradford Pear trees, but again we'll be happy when we see the new shoots push their way through next spring. I think..

So where are this season's leaves we "oooh-ed and ahhh-ed" over? Some are in a pile in the backyard, while others have been hauled off kicking and screaming by the city maintenance truck. But the more ornery of the bunch stare at me from the bottom of the pool, just laughing, pointing and carrying on, saying, "You can't get me now! I'll be waiting for you when it gets warm! And then we'll be all brown and slimy." Scoundrels.