You want a break from all the political rancor?

Go outside and look at the leaves. I’ll wait.

No, don’t look through the window. Get up close and personal with the leaves.

Jump in the leaves. Bathe in the leaves. Immerse yourself in the wonder that is Mother Nature. 

Honestly, is there anything more beautiful?

OK, you can take the leaves out of your hair.

Folks travel hundreds of miles and spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for the chance to experience what we can experience for free in our own backyard.

Take in the mosaic of gold, red and green maple leaves on the pallet of a baby-blue sky or strewn across the once barren green lawn.

We are captured by the splendor of a bright, red leaf managing to hold on to an aging branch that’s ready to bare itself for winter.

Suddenly, the leaf lets go.

Not to worry. Its eventual landing after touring the wind-swept autumn air is on a bed of its brethren leaves, thousands upon thousands of which have joined together to help encompass our country roads. 

It’s all the more reason (that and the New York Jets’ woeful offense) why I have been spending my fall Sundays enjoying nature than agonizing watching football.

As the week ended I looked around to see that I was now surrounded by a bevy of leaves that have blanketed every inch of my driveway. And my lawn, my plants and my steps. Where’s my little dog?

What gets me is that we had to cut down more than a dozen trees that were dying and yet we have more leaves than ever. I think deer are bringing them in. Or squirrels on steroids.

A few years ago, I got a leaf blower to ease the pain. Figured I’d just blow the piles away. Maybe over to a few of my unsuspecting tree-less neighbors, just to give their lawn some color. But these days, even the leaf blower seems to be fighting back. Ten minutes on and I swear I hear it wheezing, “You expect me to blow all that?”

I used to love raking leaves. Fresh air. Good exercise. I’d make playful piles for the kids.

I actually read where you could lose about 400 calories by just raking and bagging leaves. Or was it that you lose a calorie for every 400 leaves that you rake. Doesn’t matter.

Maybe it’s because there aren’t any kids around anymore to jump into the piles of leaves. Or the air is too nippy and the exercise a bit too strenuous. Or maybe I’ve just come to my senses about how I’d rather spend my autumn weekends during the autumn of my life. But I’m tired of raking.

Looking around at my colorful lawn, I wondered, just how many leaves do I wind up picking up every fall?

Bet you’ve been wondering the same thing.

Would you believe the folks at the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program have the answer?

You see, they count a sample of trees. Someone there, who was either being punished or had time to kill, came up with an estimate for the average number of leaves that grow and thus fall from a tree: 200,000. I’ll take their word.

I’m guessing we have about 150 trees. That means I’m raking some 30 million leaves a year. Which means that since we first moved into our house 30 years ago, I’ve racked up enough reasons to stop raking.

So I’m thinking that this year, I’ll just leave the mosaic of gold, red and green maple leaves right where they are. Besides, in a few weeks I probably won’t see them at all.

I wonder how much snow I’ve shoveled?

Barry Lewis is a longtime journalist and author who lives with his wife Bonnie in the Town of Neversink. He can be reached at      barrylewisscdemocrat@gmail.com.