Getting Ready

Yesterday as I was driving

around I stopped to consider

one of my favorite places

that is closed for the

Winter.

This is Bay Beach.
Our small town amusement park..
Where tickets still cost
25 cents each and it
costs one, or two, tickets
per ride.

Here's the  pavilion our daughter, Mimi,

got married behind a few

years ago.

CLOSED!

This is the Zippin-Pippin.

Elvis Presley's favorite ride.

It was bought by the city of

Green Bay a couple of

years ago and opened this Spring.

CLOSED!

I never got a chance to ride it

before it shut down for the winter.

Next year  I will be one of the

first in line!

Do you KNOW how much

I love roller coasters?

Does that surprise you?

I am the one in the front row

with my arms in the air

discreetly covered so my fat arms
(as SweetCheeks so fondly calls them)

don't wave in the breeze!

And as I look around,

I see the little train station is closed.

Its little cars and engine parked inside.

CLOSED!

The small pavilions are empty,

benches tilted sideways.
CLOSED!

The swings have no load

to carry-except for the snow

that will soon cover them.

CLOSED!

The playground equipment

echoes with the whistles

of the wind.

CLOSED!

KastleKars has shut its doors.

No cars will be racing 'round this

track until next Spring.

CLOSED!

And then I look up and see

the Fall sky and notice a

jet has scratched its way

across the surface.

There is one beautiful tree,

standing fully leaved,

while all those around it are bare.

Close up she is even more lovely.

I arrive home on this

Fall day and look towards the bay.

My deck chairs sit sadly,

waiting...waiting...waiting...

for Spring when they will

be filled with a warm body again

~or a wet one~

depending on the day.

To finish up I look down at

our back stoop..

and smile and think of

Laurie from Heaven's Walk.

I can hear her screaming from here.

PICK THOSE LEAVES UP!

She's a leafaholoic...or..

something.

And..what else is ready for

winter?
Someone who already appears
to be hibernating!