Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction | Non-fiction: Adventure with a Purpose

  • Home
  • Mike Scott Thrillers
    • Held Hostage: Search for the Juncal
    • Water Crisis: Day Zero
    • Turks and Chaos: Hostile Waters
    • The 3rd Key: Sharks in the Water
    • Oil and Water: Crash in Curacao
    • Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage
    • Heart of the Maya: Murder for the Gods
    • Wreck of the Huron: Cuban Secrets
    • Guardians’ Keep: Mystery below the Adriatic
    • Flooding Hollywood: Fanatics at the Dam
    • Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
  • Withrow Key
    • Lyin’ Fish
    • Tales from Withrow Key
  • Thriller Audiobooks
    • Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
    • Oil and Water: Crash in Curacao
    • Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage
    • Turks and Chaos: Hostile Waters
    • Lyin’ Fish
  • Agent AJ West
  • About the Author
    • Scuba diving thrillers!
    • Six Questions with Eric Douglas
    • Publicity and Interviews
  • Nonfiction
    • For Cheap Lobster
    • Heart Survivor: Recovery After Heart Surgery
    • Oral History
      • Batter Up!
      • Memories of the Valley
      • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
      • Capturing Memories: How to Record Oral Histories
    • Dive-abled: The Leo Morales Story
    • Keep on, Keepin’ On: A Breast Cancer Story
    • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
    • Russia: The New Age
    • Scuba Diving Safety
  • Free Short Fiction
  • Collections
    • Mike Scott Box Set 3 (Books 7-10)
    • Mike Scott Box-Set 4-6
    • Mike Scott Box-Set 1-3
    • Tales from Withrow Key
    • Sea Turtle Rescue and Other Stories
    • River Town
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Photography / Jumping in leaves: a rite of Fall

Jumping in leaves: a rite of Fall

October 23, 2012 By Eric Douglas

Growing up, my best friend in elementary school lived just down the street. He had this huge tree in his front yard. I will never forget spending a couple hours one afternoon raking the leaves into an enormous pile for our jumping pleasure. In hindsight, we probably spent more time raking than we actually did playing, but I guess that was part of the process. It definitely ended up being hard work; after we were done, we had to pick up all of the recently compacted leaves and spread them on their garden for compost.

Yesterday, one of my daughters saw the field of golden leaves lying on the ground in my front yard and immediately said she wanted to rake them up and play. I had been planning to mulch them up, but said I would wait until she got the chance. When we got home from school today, we immediately went outside and started raking.

In some ways, when we rake leaves and they jump in, it’s a very different experience than what I remember. For my daughters, it is more of a process of jumping in the leaves to get just the right pictures of them jumping in the leaves, as compared to my own experience of raking and jumping for the experience of jumping in leaves. A lot of that is probably my fault because I do tend to pull out the camera whenever they do something picturesque. It becomes a conditioned response to smile and perform for the camera.

Still, I hope they take away some good memories from piling up the leaves in the yard and being silly. Some days, it seems kids don’t spend enough time having fun for fun’s sake.
Now, it’s time to mulch up those leaves. See, I don’t even make them worry about the aftermath…

.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Filed Under: Photography

Get a free, exclusive short story!

When you sign up, you can download a free Mike Scott short story collection. Theses three stories are only available to members of the mailing list. Don’t worry, we won’t spam you or sell your email address. We hate that, too.

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

.

How I got into diving!

https://youtu.be/gKhw-4tORAM

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against […]

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

View Book

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • Going to the circus! February 20, 2023
  • Cayman Cowboys is now an Audiobook! November 24, 2020
  • Halloween 2020 – as if reality wasn’t scary enough October 30, 2020
  • Real Trick and What Noise? October 30, 2020
  • Local Diving — Summersville Lake September 21, 2020

Blog posts, by category

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 ·