Pine Needles

After the blustery winds of today I looked out the window to see the annual event of the falling of the pine needles. The leaves are still on the trees as they are still mostly green in this area. The pine needles are not so lucky. A blanket of brown covers the ground. Soon to follow will be the falling of the pine cones.

As a kid, rather as a family, we would don our work clothes and man our rakes to make a sneak attack on the unsuspecting needles. We would collect them into piles and regroup them into one huge pile. This large pile would then be shaped into a number of shapes, vague shapes, as the pine needles were unwieldy in nature; first a fort, then an igloo, perhaps a castle, the earliest versions of individual bean-bag shaped chairs and lastly back into a taller pile. This newly shaped pile would then be jumped upon and pummeled into a flat pancake. Immediately following the pummeling would be the hysterics of laughter while stuffing pine needles down each other's shirts and jackets. With pine needles in our hair and sap stuck to all parts of body and clothing, we would be reminded of our goal…to rake and collect the pine needles. This is when hysterical laughter would ensue. “Oh, yeah! Right!”

Sometimes the needles would actually get collected. Sometimes they would have to be collected in the following spring. The important thing to remember is the fun of tossing needles into the air, throwing yourself about in wild abandon and laughing until your sides split. As the laughter subsided, we would stare up into the tree while the winds blew more needles on top of us. Too tired to continue, we would drag ourselves into the house for hot cocoa.

It’s amazing how many pine needles found their way into the tub for the Saturday night bath!

Cathy