Lawn mower frenzy

Wow, what a wonderful weekend. No history lessons this week. Far too much to do at the house to be bothered with the past. The 'here and now' is what we were dealing with this week and the 'here and now' is growing fast.

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Daniel's parents, Janet and Jack, I was given a gift card for Lowes. This weekend we used it to buy ourselves a John Deer lawn mower. The grass around the house was getting a bit out of hand, as was the poison ivy. Our intent was to just do the front lawn but John Deer got the better of me. The mower was tough as hell and took no prisoners. We could raise the blade to such a high level and even mow the field out the back. (NB. It was a push mower, not the ride on variety...no easy task!!!)

You might remember Bernie the brush hog man who cleared the impenetrable 8-10 feet of brambles and brush from the back field. Since then, we really haven't done much out there. I removed all the wood and cinder block that had made mowing difficult, but that was about it. The new John Deer mower was perfect for mowing some paths around the field as well as making some new 'features'. The amazing thing is that the grass is growing quite nicely and I'm sure we will pretty soon have some nice 'lawn-like' spaces. Not to mention the wild flowers in the field that were beautiful this weekend.










Yes, I did go a little crazy but I decided we needed a small picnic area under one of the small trees in the field. I know it looks like a weird crop circle but when the 'meadow' grows up around it I think it will be a wonderful little place to have lunch or cocktails...or both. The tree is there for shade in case it gets too hot.













The other big adventure, other than Daniel deciding burning one of the biggest burn piles, was the first swim in the pond. The combination of a hot day, roaring fire and mowing the field ...oh and a lunch of cheese, bread and wine on our newly mowed 'peninsula'...made the water look very inviting. By climbing on the willow tree and stepping on the submerged branches we were able to get into the water without stirring up the mud. The water was nice and warm on the surface but (perhaps because the pond is fed by the spring water which is so cold we used it to chill the wine) if you let your feet sink towards the bottom...it was very cold indeed. On a hot August day this temperature change is likely to be wonderfully refreshing but in May, a little bit of a shocker. All in all an amazing weekend. Can't wait for Memorial Day.

PS...here for the photos of last weekend's canoe trip up the Wall Kill River.