I remember when I was in grade school in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. This was in the 50s and we lived in a big house high up on a hill just outside town. We had to walk at least a mile, probably more, to school down a steep trail. When the leaves started to turn it was wonderful to run through all the color and kick them when they started to fall and jump in piles of leaves.

It was ok to burn leaves back then also, so we always had a big bonfire after we had raked up the leaves. Looking back I'm surprised we didn't burn down the woods, and I'm sure some people did. There always seemed to be more leaves that fell, no matter how many we raked up.

I can remember walking through the woods. Sometimes with the other kids but often by myself. I loved walking through the woods and miss not having woods to walk through. Somehow driving an hour up Mt Lemmon just isn't the same. With the leaves and color and shapes and movement, it was always mysterious and special.

An old pine forest is like a cathedral but a deciduous forest, especially one with oak and maple, is more mystic and makes you think of dryads and wood nymphs and mischevious elves. Elves especially belong in a deciduous forest because they can blend in and disappear better when there is a cacophony of colors and shapes and sizes.

Even after 40 years, I still remember walking through the falling leaves as one of my favorite things to do and places to be. I can picture it so well in my mind. This wasn't a fancy forest, but a scraggly, often cut ozark forest with maple, oak, dogwood, black walnut and others. It had sumac and poison ivy in abundance, though I didn't ever get poison ivy that I can recall.

Fall seemed to last forever though I'm sure the leaves didn't take that long to drop. Soon they were all gone and the trees were skeletons against the gray sky, but even that was good because it meant Thanksgiving, and extra days off school. I miss my woods. I'm sure they would seem much smaller and scruffier to me now but I had so much fun there and made up so many stories to act out and thought about so many things.