Of to mow a meadow....

Today I spent more several hours using my big, powerful, bright orange Husqvarna………ride on mower! An almost weekly task at this time of the year, when the grass grows while you watch and the local area hums with the sound of mowers in the evenings. It is an almost meditative experience, as one sits, hat and ear muffs on, enjoying the warmth and slight breeze, oblivious of most other things, concentrating on following the line where you have previously cut, circling round trees before heading off again in straight and curvy lines until the whole two and a half acres are done – leaving the delicious fragance of cut grass, a smooth sward of green, marked by low rows of grass clippings, soft tyre tracks, and a great sense of satisfaction at a job well done.

Having now mown this block many times, and knowing the most efficientway to do it, as well as the areas where I need to take more care, I was also able to think of other things as I chugged along. My thoughts turned to how similar it was to echo quilting, carefully following the lines of previous stitching, and going round particular bits on a quilt, or doing a clever swirly bit, just because you can, or want to do something a bit different to break the monotony. Then I started designing a quilt in my head, to be a map of this lovely place, the long drive way, curving up through trees to the house, using the many natural shades of blue, green and brown, the wonderful reds of the fertile soil, the mixed colours showing in newly restored garden and vegetable beds, the lawns, and the muddy silver of the lake edged in reeds, with the dense darkness of the state forest behind. The ideas just kept coming, and I hoped for the opportunityto try to do it.... If only the garden did not call me so loudly these days....maybe when it is finished....and when will that be I think, as I know a garden is a constantly changing thing, and that grass just keeps growing!!

This piece was actually written two years ago, during my first Spring in this country abode - I am still to do a quilt to represent it all, though I have done a couple of postcards!! The grass still grows inches overnight, like magic, and it took 4 1/2 hours of mowing today, but golly it looks good for now.