I love to mow...

I know that sounds odd, but I really do enjoy mowing the lawn.  It's good thinking time.  I have long conversations in my head with friends and family who have passed on and with loved ones who are far away.  I remember and re-live special moments in my life and dream of special times that I hope will come to pass in the future.  I hear my mother's voice and feel her touch.

 I love the repetition of making passes around the yard, and the clean swaths of fresh-cut grass.  I love the smell of mint that rises into the air when I mow the low ground near the little stream, and the scent of wild onions that grow beneath the cottonwood tree when I mow out near the barn.

I love seeing the red and white clover blossoms and the tiny yellow wildflowers that grow just shorter than the lawnmower blades cut.

It's a good time to take stock of how things are growing around the yard and in the woods.  Right now the wild roses are blooming, and the wild irises, too.

And if I am to judge by the number of buds on these bushes, we'll have a bumper crop of raspberries in a few weeks.

One of the best things about mowing is that when you're all done, it looks like this:

And this:

Then it's nice to take a few minutes and cool my toes in the stream...

... and to take a look around and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me...

We had a tremendous thunderstorm yesterday, bringing us buckets of rain and pea-sized hail.  Our little stream nearly overflowed its banks, and the low-lying land at the bottom of the yard is still squishy wet today. Some new bits of broken crockery washed downstream from the old dumping place, and I fished them out of the water.

We were so lucky to find this beautiful place.