Mama Kat Thursday: Fall Memories

The Mama Kat prompt I chose today is to write a post inspired by the word: fall.

I grew up in central Indiana, that part that's more trees and hills.
 Our property was heavily forested and the area around the house full of trees with large leaves: White Oak, Pin Oak, Red Oak, Red Maple, Silver Maple and Tulip Poplars, to name a few.

In Autumn, all of them would turn vivid yellows, oranges and russet red and drop there leaves thickly on the ground, which necessitated raking.

So, we'd do what kids always do with fall leaves when they have to rake them: make big piles and leap into them! Us and the dog, too.

Dry fall leaves have a crisp fragrance all their own.

We'd also use those leaves for playing house with our dolls.
We'd rake those colorful, crunchy leaves into narrow rows in the outline shape of the dimension of a "house" with 2 or 3 rooms and  doorways. We'd identify which room as living room, bedroom, kitchen and so on. Then we'd play with our dolls inside these "house" spaces. The grass under the leaves was still green and dry in October.

We were 3 girls and we'd each create an house outline with leaves, then visit each other's houses with out dollies.
Oak trees also drop other fun things to play with: acorns. All different shapes and sizes, some narrow and some wide with corresponding caps. It's the caps we'd play with sometimes, using them as Barbie picnic dishes or cups.

Autumn was our season for "leaf boat" races, too!
We'd tromp down the trail to the creek at the bottom of a valley that ran through our property and have "leaf races." Each of us would chose a suitably curved leaf "boat," and a long stick. Then we'd walk upstream a good distance, then put our "boats" in the current and use the sticks to guide our "boats" so they didn't get stuck in eddies or pools. Whatever boat crossed the "finish line" first, won.

It was shallow, stone-filled creek with generous banks for us to walk along on, keeping an eye on our little boats.

Another fun thing to play with was the Tulip Popular tree flower pistils that would fall on the ground in autumn. (That's the center of the tree's flower) They look just like a little swords with a handle. I do recall putting those in Barbie and Ken's hands for a pretend sword fight a time or two.

We girls were in the woods and down to the creek throughout all seasons, but fall was prettiest with all the color. It was a life of discovery as we made fun and adventure out of what was around us.

*****

What memories does "fall" inspire for you?

Thanks for Visiting!

(The first photo is of autumn trees in Indiana; the second is from Pixabay)