Chattering Leaves

It was slightly cloudy on my walk this morning, but as I neared the tree with the bright orange leaves I wrote about a while ago, I noticed it was still fairly full and glowing.  The sidewalk across the street from it is literally filled with leaves several inches deep.  It took a second to dawn on me that most all of them had come from that tree.  As I was kicking through them (one of my favorite things to do!) I thought "You're still going strong, beautiful tree."  I had just cleared the leaf pile when I heard what sounded like rain behind me.  I turned and saw a torrent of leaves come fluttering down.  There must have been a gust of wind up high that set them off because I couldn't feel it from the ground.  But I had to laugh.  It was almost as if the tree had answered me with it's chattering tumble of leaves.  I know winter is almost here, but I'm still enjoying every minute of this lovely autumn - without a doubt my favorite time of year.  Today, I found God listening to the voice of a tree as it's leaves chattered down behind me.