Follow The Leaves...

Traveling the World with Christie Cruise and Travel Masters
Alison Christie

Follow the Leaves...

If anyone knows me at all, they know that Autumn is my favorite season. I love everything about it - the smell, the colors, the cooler temperatures, football games, tailgating, Keeneland Race Track, Thanksgiving with loved ones and the list goes on. I'm not particularly sad that the pool is closed, my garden is kaput and no longer giving me juicy red tomatoes, my flowers - well, that's another story. My flowers have been in a battle with the deer all summer and they have been soundly defeated. Not only defeated, but annihilated. So, I can't really miss the flowers that I didn't have but tried so hard to have all summer. Occasionally, if I was lucky, I got to enjoy some of the flowers for a day or two. Then, bam, overnight the beasts fought through my protective barriers of blood meal, Deer off, Irish Spring soap shavings, hair from my hairbrush, and my homemade concoction of egg, milk, tabasco sauce, dishwashing detergent and little vegetable oil (thank you Aunt Vicky). I drew the line at using human urine. One of my good friends says she has a little luck with that but not much more than the above preventions. Toward the end of summer, the brainless beasts were eating plants they normally don't even eat. After a chomp or two (and then remembering they don't like that flower), they would just pull the whole flower out of the ground and sling it to the side as if to say to me "You know I don't like this flower so why did you plant it?". I can easily count 7 or 8 deer in my yard and woods around my house at any given time and lord knows how many more are in the woods that I can't see. And even though I rant and rave at the beasties destruction, I think they are beautiful animals and enjoy seeing their spotted babies and looking at the young bucks to see how many tines they have on their rack. I'm an animal lover and at the end of the day (or summer), after my rants, I realize they need to eat, too. An open letter to the deer at the Christie house place in Bellefonte..."You are welcome for the new crop of mustard and spinach I planted in my garden a couple of weeks ago with the anticipation of a nice, fresh salad this fall. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I would have."

As the leaves start turning colors, the drive along I-64 to Lexington for a UK football game and tailgating is a great way to spend a Saturday in the fall. The only way to make that better is to throw in a visit to Keeneland during the day before a night football game. I usually enjoy tailgating and the football game with a large group of friends from Ashland. Everyone will bring a dish and Jerry Griffith will man the portable grill for hotdogs and hamburgers. There is usually more food than we can eat but we need the extra energy to endure the long, nail-biting close game.

Hopefully, we will have a long, beautiful autumn season so I can enjoy more glorious days outside with Mother Nature providing the backdrop of red and gold leaves and the warm temperatures pushing all thoughts of the dreaded next season, Winter, to the back far reaches of our minds.

As always, safe travels and Godspeed.
Alison