Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

The Prompt: Which sound is more satisfying for you: crunching leaves underfoot or bubble wrap popping?

First, let me specify that neither of these sounds can be separated from the physical sensation of popping bubbles and/or crunching leaves underfoot. It is more than an auditory experience for sure.

Leaves.

My childhood neighborhood was filled with trees and leaves cluttered the streets for weeks during the autumn. We kids were recruited to rake and rake and rake. Our own front yard has a red maple tree and my father’s philosophy was to wait for the leaves to be completely on the ground then ground them up with the lawn mower. That still left the street and our neighbor’s driveway to sweep/rake, but he also had us fill up the wheelbarrow and simply dump the leaves into the backyard for mulch.

Thus, I had a lot of leaf crunching experiences walking to the schoolbus, to church, to the store and so forth. As soon as I read the prompt, I could feel the sensation and the satisfaction upon hearing the crunch. 

I lived away from Pittsburgh for ten years (from 18-27), several in the Deep South and I missed the seasons most of all. The leaves that did call just died or created slick hazards on sidewalks on rainy afternoons. So I appreciate the leaves I have access to now. On our block in a City neighborhood, there are multiple trees that form a sort of promenade and they will be beautiful for a few short weeks.  You can see some of the color starting to peek through now. A bit. If you squint. 🙂

Best of all is that we don’t actually have any leaves to rake. 🙂

As for bubble wrap, that’s okay on its own. But its a passing whimsy or perhaps a moment or two of laughter while unwrapping a gift. I try not to use plastic unless necessary so I wrap in newspaper and other types of items. And keep the bubble wrap I do receive unpopped so I can reuse it!

In a green world, bubble wrap popping is nostalgic  but leaves crunch forever.