Sorry- still no pictures

I haven't gotten my camera back yet so I still can't post any pictures. I had wanted to post a picture of the leaves we collected. Here on our 1/2 acre lot we have many trees so in the fall we have many leaves. We collected leaves a couple of times and spread them in our future garden area as mulch, hoping for a good vegetable crop next year. But we would have had leaves as tall as us if we had put all of the leaves there. So we spent a day raking and hauling on a tarp the remainder of the leaves to the curb to be sucked up by the city truck. We had a "leaf bank" (rather than a snowbank) that ran the extent of our front footage, about 100 feet, from the curb to the sidewalk, about 4 feet, and piled about 3 feet deep in places. It was quite impressive. Despite the work necessary to clean up the leaves, we love our trees. They provide shade in the heat of the summer, shelter from wind, clean up our air and provide oxygen, and look nice. They're worth it!
I have been thinking a lot about Paul's writings in the New Testament and his phrase "a more excellent way". I see littered yards, filthy homes, broken windows, boarded up buldings and hear about drug addictions and the desperate crimes committed to support the addiction. I hear the obnoxious booming beat coming from the stereos in way too many vehicles, sometimes the value of the stereo is greater than that of the automobile in which it has been installed! I know Dayton is not the only city with these problems. But I wish I could convince so many people of a more excellent way to live. I would show them peace rather than desperation. I would have them clean and well-ordered rather than slovenly and unattractive. I would have them desire success and inner satisfaction rather than the unending lust for more things that will just deteriorate and need to be replaced on and on and on..... We don't have to be perfect, indeed we can't be perfect in this life. But we can strive to be better.