Back in Your Own Back Yard
There’s a song from the 1920’s Al Jolsen penned and sang. Al was called one of the greatest entertainers of them all. He was the first person to sing a song in talking pictures.
The song, Back in Your Own Back Yard, tells about a bird that flies away, sees the world, and realizes that – after all the travels – his own back yard was just a beautiful as the other places.
I came in last night after having been gone out of town for five days.
This morning, when I flipped the blinds on the doors that open out to the patio and my back yard, I smiled.
It’s that time of year when the leaves are falling from my many oak and birch trees.
I love trees, mind you, but in the fall – and again in the spring – I have over 60 bags of leaves. This year, there are also acorns. I don’t have acorns every year, but when I do the squirrels have a field day. They busily gather the nuts and place them in the strangest places.
I actually was pretty agitated with those squirrels when they started digging in my pansy planters on the patio a year or so ago. After observing them a little longer, I realized they were looking for the acorns they planted there earlier in the fall and decided to eat the pansies while searching.
These days, silk flowers – appropriate to the holiday or season we are in – grace those planters for that very reason. I don’t want to spend money to plant live flowers just to have the squirrels eat them. They can dig in those all they want.
In my own back yard it is covered with all the leaves from a week. I couldn’t see my door mats when I got home last night. The rain reminded me to be careful going up and down the slipper steps at the front door.
It’s always good to be home after being gone for awhile. There’s something soothing about being in your own bed, about the sights and sound of things in your home and yard, and the familiarity of your neighbors and friends that can give you comfort.
I think I’ll go out in my back yard and move some leaves around.
My wish for you today is that you have a place you call home that gives you comfort and peace. If you don’t have that right now, do your best to carve out a home you can be safe and secure in and savor that place.
~Joellen