Fall Traditions

I'm sure most of you have fall traditions that are much better than mine. I always get sick in October. It's not that I plan it that way, it just happens. Death, taxes, getting sick in October.

Let me start with I love where I live. Escalon is a small town in central valley California. There is no traffic, it's quiet, and we are close to larger towns, like Modesto, if we want to go shopping or out to eat. I live in a track of homes with wide streets and nice neighbors. During the day there is usually no one around except for when the stay-at-home lady next door mows her lawn or the retired man across the street is working on something in his garage. We are in the city limits and just behind our fence is county property. We are surrounded on two sides by fields, horses, and orchards. This is an agricultural area with the main crops being almonds, walnuts with dairy farms thrown in as well.

The beauty of this area in the spring is beyond compare. Green, lush fields and beautiful almond blossoms are everywhere. That's not to say there isn't a down side. Everywhere you would want to live has a glitch. After the first of the year we can have days, months, when we don't see the sun because it's overcast. Then there is the fog. It will hang onto the ground and you cannot see the houses across the street or the cars driving towards you. It can be really scary if you are trying to commute to work. On those days now, I just stay home and wait for it to clear. The summer heat can be oppressing. My garden really starts to suffer by the end of summer so I always welcome the cool days of fall.

But with fall, comes the almond and walnut harvesting. I remember the first time I saw the huge piece of equipment that "knocks the nuts". It's like a tractor "thing" with huge claws on the front. The driver wraps the claws around the tree, flips a switch , and a "whole lot of shaking going on" happens. It was so funny looking the first time I saw it I almost ran my car off the road! Once the nuts are all shaken to the ground another piece of equipment comes along and scoops them up and they are off on their own little adventure.

This is where the story comes back to me being sick. Just imagine all those thousands of trees in those thousands of orchards that have not had any rain all summer (they get irrigated). Can you say dusty, dirty!?! Then imagine shaking all of that dust and dirt back into the air. The entire valley has a haze over it for weeks. Ergo, Jean gets a sinus infection. I don't care how much vitamin c or Airborne I take, I get sick. (We won't even talk about how dusty my house is - that's another post all of it's own!).

Do you remember watching I Love Lucy or The Dick Van Dyke Show when Lucy or Mary would be sick in bed and how glamorous they still looked? Well, that's not happening here. Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful! I get up in the morning and try not to look at myself in the mirror because, hey, I'm sick and vulnerable! I put on my bathrobe, make my tea and then I have to go get the paper in the driveway. I cautiously open the front door. If the neighbors are outside, I stay in. No need to frighten them and make them think Halloween is here early. Then when the coast is clear I make a mad dash out - drat, here comes a truck! Do not make eye contact and limp so the driver knows that I am sick and don't normally look like this.

So that's where I'm at right now. Drinking tea and looking at dust and waiting to feel better. But like the song goes, "I will survive!"

I hope you are all well and have a wonderful week ahead of you!!