Chester Chatter: Summer falls into autumn

By Ruthie Douglas
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Under the full Hunter’s Moon and with the help of a soft breeze, the autumn leaves are coming down.

In our neighborhood when I was growing up, folks could rake their leaves into the curb and town trucks would come to pick them up. Or you could burn the leaves next to the street. I can still smell those leaves burning, a smell I still love.

Halloween is just a week away and how I love that as well, seeing the children in their costumes and hearing them say “Thank you” after I’ve dropped a treat in their bags.  Halloween means that summer is definitely over.

So now is the time to start getting ready for cold weather and snow. Last winter, I spent a lot of time indoors and it seemed like winter lasted forever.

I did learn some things from my experience of last winter and, this year, I will try to make my winter better.

Scene and heard

A clarification to last week’s “Scene and heard” section of my column. Karen Trombley writes: “My father, Donald K. Monier had it (what is now the Country Girl Diner) brought over by Giddings from Springfield and it was placed on the land that he owned that once was the home of Dooleys Diner.”

I am thinking of my good friend Carl Hammerle on the loss of his wife, Kay. The couple had six children and they were married for 70 years.

American Legion Post 67 is up and running with Friday night dinners. You can also get take out dinners as well. Legion members take turn preparing the dinners, first the legion, the Sons of American Legion, then the Auxiliary. Hope to see you there!

I have started my Christmas shopping from home sitting on my couch and going through catalogs. So far I have received everything I have ordered. But ships full of cargo have not even come to shore yet.