Coming to the end of fall I thought I would do a little memorial to my Dad, this time of year I miss him a lot.  Shoveling wasn’t the only activity I have fond memories of, there was also leaf raking.  In the fall we would pick a day, when most of the leaves had fallen, and start the raking.  This would be a sun up to sundown event.    We would get a system down and rake until dark.  We would chat and joke and bag after bag would be filled with red, yellow, green, orange and brown leaves.  At times there was just the sound of the rakes rustling through all the leaves, and the bags being dragged down the driveway.  We would still enjoy the quiet.  Now these were sunny days with crisp mornings.   When we would start there would be a bit of frost still on the ground and as the day went on it would heat up.  Now and then it would be warm enough to be in a t-shirt.

I always enjoyed this time of year and the raking.  Dad always made these chores memorable.  I still to this day get choked up a bit when I rake leaves, I often pause and think of all those memories throughout the years.  Dad standing there resting on the rake for a minute with his slightly oversized work pants on and his old paint sweater-and of course his hat.

I woke up this morning to the first official snow of the year.  We have had some flurries with nothing sticking up to this point.  This particular snow fall is bringing a January bite with it.  As I have grown older I have developed a dislike for the cold and the shoveling, but the first snowfall is always magical to me.  Early in the morning-while it is still slightly dark-the flakes twist and turn past the street lights spiraling to the ground.  There is a silence –everything is so peaceful.  The air is pure and clean.  My Dad always loved shoveling-he said it was good exercise with the air brisk and clean.  There were many years where I would set my alarm very early, shovel my drive and zip over to his house to start shoveling before he got up- so he wouldn’t overdo it-only to find he was already out in the driveway shoveling away.  This led to us both shoveling with the only sound being our respective shovels scraping the driveway with each scoop. 

I am not sure if I am ready for all that winter will bring, but it is here so embrace it I must.  Miss Mya our Aussie Shepherd/Border Collie mix loves the snow.  She runs, jumps, plays and rolls in it.  She is delighted to be out in the cold and she is delighted to come in and curl up in a nice warm ball and sleep after some outdoor play.  Our Grandson is also delighted with the snow-I expect we will be forming some new and very interesting memories this season. 

Today we decided to venture out to uncharted territory for us.  I grabbed my camera and hiking boots and stepped out of my car, through a hole in a fence, and back in time.  I imagine most people around my age and older remember all the little amusement parks that have now been closed and long forgotten.  There were many on the little lakes.  My Mom would tell me wonderful stories of going dancing the night away at the Myers Lake Ballroom.  When I was a teenager we would sneak back into the old Myers Lake Park and explore-there stood the remains of an old wooden rollercoaster.  Being a teenager of course there may have been a little parking and sipping on some Mickey’s forty ouncers.  I also have fond memories of Playland Park –which seemed like such a long drive and so vast when we were little.  These parks are mostly gone, ghostly shells of the past with very few pieces of history remaining, or they have been torn down and replaced by condos and developments.

As we approached the park and decided where we should leave the car my heart began to beat faster.  When we crawled through the hole in the fence my heart was really pounding and the adventure had begun.  I didn’t see chipped overgrown asphalt and dilapidated structures.  I saw vividly -smiling workers taking people’s hard earned wages while they gathered the family for the big day of excitement.  Moms carrying picnic baskets and trying to contain the energy of delighted children so anxious to ride every ride they could.  The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs and hot metal filling the air.  The workers wiping down windows and sweeping up crumbs.  Dad’s carrying toddlers on their shoulders. The entire world that had been vacant for 36 years was full of life to me.  Not that there wasn’t the occasional empty beer can –evidence that others sneak in this area regularly-but all in all nature had just taken it’s toll.  It appeared that there had been a  fire in one of the structures in the past but little information on it only charred timbers and metal twisted from the heat remained.  This was a functioning amusement park from 1878 to 1978-now that is a chunk of history, to think all the things that happened to this country during all those years.

For an hour and a half we crawled over and under and through the remains of things and all the overgrowth carefully as not to disturb what was there.  Mother nature has certainly been doing her best to reclaim this area and make it hers like it was before 1878.  When I felt satisfied that we had explored most of this park we left, I think I would have enjoyed staying the entire day there- even in it’s current state- and enjoyed a lunch that we had packed, but we had spent enough time for now.