It’s been a long time since I’ve offered up one of my East Extra Afterthoughts blogs, but since my blogging schedule is looking kind of thin these days, I thought now might be a nice time to rentroduce this feature.
Afterthoughts is a completely separate blog, where I’m re-posting some of my favorite columns from when I was the Our Towns East Extra columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle. What I like to do with these is revisit the topic and see if anything has changed since I first wrote the piece.
This particular column was published Nov. 5, 2015. I didn’t really know George Baker and his family very well at that point, but somehow I got invited to what they fondly called “Leaf Party day” at their north Webster home.
Webster couple turns leaves into party fun
Last Sunday, that really windy Sunday, autumn leaves weren’t the only thing flying through the air in Webster. That blustery day was Leaf Party day at the Baker home, a day when little children also went flying, catapulted into a huge pile of leaves.
The Leaf Party is an annual tradition at the home of Melissa and George Baker, a celebration of family, laughter, and life’s simpler pleasures.
The idea is pretty basic. You start with a monster pile of leaves, add a bunch of fearless children and two strong men who can do the tossing. One by one, the children step up to the designated tossers and are hoisted by their arms and legs. After “one, two, THREE!” huge wind-up swings, each child is launched high into the air, limbs flailing, and finally flops into the soft, thick bed of leaves.
It’s a childhood dream we’ve all had, but few have experienced. These kids, however, get to do it repeatedly, every autumn.
Click here to go to Afterthoughts and read the rest of the post.…and to see if I got tossed in.
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(posted 10/21/2026)
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