Out of the Weeds

I mowed the lawn today for the first time in years.

Given my general interests and demeanor, you might think that's a euphemism for something at least slightly dirty. It is not.

There I was, with a half hour till my flank steak warmed up enough to prick it and rub it. There I was, with a front lawn that was becoming long enough that even I thought that perhaps enough was getting to be enough.

Last year was a bit of a home disaster.

I felt distanced from the building and the land; I was unsure of my future here. I'd never gardened before, I hadn't had a lawn to mow in 15 years, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to put those kinds of roots down here.

Last year, the tomato plants got planted, but never staked. If you don't stake tomato plants, they creep steadily along the ground like the vines they are. I was "harvesting" tomatoes on the other side of the garden from where we'd put them in the earth.

Everything in fact, just grew how it grew. We watered it sometimes. Sometimes we forgot.

Eventually we got around to tying up the cosmos, but only because we were worried one of the small children in the neighbourhood might mysteriously disappear. It got cut back long after Halloween; I know this only because the dying foliage was thick enough to use as a backdrop for spray painting my luchador boots.

We forgot what we planted last spring. Just a week or so ago, taking a quick survey, we kept finding new plants. Lily of the valley! Cosmos! Sedum! Halfway through tearing out a mystery plant that smelled like something that might make good tea, I remembered that the neighbour across the street had given me some bee balm.

Last year, I never mowed the grass.

Partially because we didn't have a mower and never got around to either a discussion about buying one of our own or talking to the neighbours about borrowing theirs. Partially because our next door neighbour, whose 3 feet of grass joins our 12 feet of grass, likes a shorter lawn and cut ours when he was cutting his. Partially because I just couldn't manage to care.

Things around here have evened out now. Have gotten better. Not that I didn't like it the way it was; I did and very much. But I like it the way it is now, too. Everyone's getting more of what they were looking for. You can only be thankful for that.

This year, we've planted seeds and watered them.

This year, I'm not walking by the garbage on the front lawn and thinking Someone should take care of that..

This year, Shelley talked to the neighbours about their mower.

Which is why tonight, while I waited for my meat to warm up inside, I push push pushed the clanky whirring blades through the lush grass of my front lawn.