Friday, November 22, 2013

The autumn leaves...

The falling leaves
Drift by my window
The falling leaves
Of red and gold

I see your lips
The summer kisses
The sunburned hands
I used to hold

Since you went away
The days grow long
And soon I'll hear
Old winter's song

But I miss you most of all
My darling
When autumn leaves
Start to fall...


"Autumn Leaves" is one of the most beautiful popular songs ever written.  Originally it was a French song called "Les feuilles mortes" (The Dead Leaves, 1945.) The American songwriter Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyrics in 1947.  In 1950, the French singer Edith Piaf sang both the French and English versions on a radio program. Since then, it's been covered by many artists. Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra recordings are two of the best.

A physics professor estimated 60,000,000,000 (60 billion!) leaves on deciduous trees in Seattle that’ll either rot or have to be picked up. That's two million trees with leaves, times 30,000 leaves per tree.  I'm not making this up, the Seattle Times ran an article because the city council is considering regulating/banning leaf blowers.

The city parks department uses them, and so do all the landscapers in town.  They say in a few minutes you can clean up debris that would take hours with a rake.   Or more likely, blow it into the street or next door to become someone else's problem.  Then there's the noise and pollution.  The Seattle City Council considers all issues, big and small, so we'll just have to wait and see what they decide.

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