Oh dear

Just look at these headlines. Arson. Burglary. Pornography. Poaching. H1N1. There's even a "Pot Plot." Certainly they must be about some far away big city. Someplace that isn't where we live.

I'm sorry but I have some bad news.

These headlines are all about GroveAtopia. And they all happened in the last month. I know you don't want to believe it, but I'm afraid it's true.

When big city things happen in our small town, it's different than when they happen in the big city. When they happen here, we take it personally.

This is not the kind of personally you might experience in the big city. There, if you take something personally, it's usually because it involves an issue you care passionately about. Perhaps someone has said something that you find either upsetting or inspiring. That passes for personal in the big city.

But here, when you take it personally, it's because it really is. It's because you or someone you know knows the people involved. You have to admit it doesn't get much more personal than that.

And frankly we just aren't used to it. Our newspaper, even the one in the bigger city up the road is not usually filled with this type of news. So when it happens like this, one piece of bad news after another, we actually bother to wonder why. And we bother to ask what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen again.

We do that because in GroveAtopia, making things better actually seems possible. Our community is so closely linked that we think our problems are worth solving because we truly think they can be solved.

Even so, we are hoping we have come to the end of our spate of bad news, because quite honestly we can only take so much of it.

And we will never, ever get used to it.

Raking Rapture

Leaf raking season is well underway here in GroveAtopia and we must all make our peace with this annual chore. Whether you choose a leaf blower or metal or bamboo rake, you know those leaves just cannot stay where they are.

You might like to think they can. After all, won't they decompose by next spring, adding nutrients to the soil below?

In a word, no. That won't happen, but here's what will.

When the leaves finally finish their business and the last one has fluttered to the ground, good luck because you will have to wade ankle deep to your doorstep. And just try to make it through your doorway without at least a few leaves following you indoors.

Then comes the rain. It will transform your leaves into a mushy muck that is sometimes slippery, and sometimes simply sticky. In any case you can bet instead of following you through the door, the leaves will now ride inside on the bottom of your shoes, dropping off whenever and wherever they feel like it. Soon there will be as many leaves indoors as there are outside.

Now let's say you manage to put up with this and insist on seeing the natural approach through. Guess what will await you next spring? Leaves! The exact same leaves that fell the previous Fall. The same leaves you waded through and tracked into the house all winter. Because the sad truth is it takes more than one season for leaves to decompose.

So have I made the case? Do you see why we must rake?

Now when you face your carpet of leaves, you might feel overwhelmed, as if you will never ever get them all raked. But bit by bit, wheelbarrow load by wheelbarrow load you do. If you live in the city, you simply rake them into the street and the city will come and pick them up. If you live in the country, you are on your own.

Some people burn them, others compost them. Others find uses for them in the garden.

So where does the rapture come in?

Well it turns out that once the raking is underway, you realize you are lucky. You are lucky because you are outside, and it is cool and pleasant. The weak sun is there shining and things are green once again. If it wasn't for the falling leaves, you might even think it's spring. The moss is back in full force and the soil is soft. Even the weeds are back.

So if you aren't careful you will find yourself in a rapture of sorts – reveling in the new life that's all around you. Then raking is not a chore at all.

But let's not get carried away. Despite the rapture, I'm still hoping the raking is finally done for this year.