It is a sad time of year for some people; seeing the lawn mower being stored safely away for the winter heralds the end of one of life’s great pleasures for people who just love mowing the lawn. Plenty of people find it to be a chore and one which they are happy to see the back of, but there are a small number of people for whom the task is something to look forward to.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Anthony Sharwood, an Australian family man, finds peace and quiet in this simple task. Seeing a general lack of control in other areas of his life, something anyone with children can attest to, he enjoys being the ruler of the garden. Instead of being governed by the rota of work hours, child’s parties, sports events and errands the garden is a space where he is king. This is a particularly revealing quote:
“Grass does not talk back. Unlike a kid fighting a trip to the barber, there is no
argument from lawn. It’s getting mowed and that’s all there is to it.”
And he is not alone. Olympic kayaker Ken Wallace feels the same way:
“Mowing the lawn is a good way to relax. I especially enjoy mowing the lawn.
There’s a sense of satisfaction in mowing your own lawn, you can see what you’ve done.”
The theme continues down under, as Mackay man Luke Simmons is also a fan of grass cutting. Confined to a wheelchair since 2004, he wasn’t always a great fan of gardening until he could no longer push his lawnmower around, and being able to do this job himself signified independence, something he really wanted to get back as much as possible. As a keen radio control and drone enthusiast, he was well equipped with the skills to convert his petrol mower into a radio controlled model, and now he can mow the whole lawn without ever setting foot on it. The radio controlled mower gets a lot of attention when it is out doing its job, with people stopping their cars to check out the apparently unmanned mower neatly mowing the lawn.
Michael Thomason of Palestine, Texas, has long been a fan of mowing the lawn. As a boy, he enjoyed using the variety of push along and ride on mowers the family went through, especially as the ride-on mower could be forced into doing wheelies. The passion has not diminished over the years and Thomason recently bought a new Kubota ride on mower, to replace a John Deere model that had given up the previous year. This old favourite and an even older Craftsman push mower stayed in his mind as he vowed not to let the grass win the war. He writes:
“I stop and look behind me. I see a 60 inch swath of grass mown and mulched so
perfectly that it looks like a golf course. I smile a smile so wide and happy that it
defines the expression “from ear to ear”… we will make it look so manicured that
even the most critical will whistle in wonder at the miracle wrought by a boy and a
mower against all that grass.”
In Covington, Georgia, another mowing enthusiast finds pleasure in this task. Marshall McCart believes it to be good for the soul, as a lot of deep thinking can take place while mowing the lawn. Free from all other distractions (you can’t hear a phone ringing over a lawnmower engine, nor can you carry on a conversation or do anything else while cutting) the mowing time is an opportunity for reflection and tranquillity. McCart writes:
“cutting grass is serious business. A lot of heavy thinking gets done in the course
of this process. For me, the usual identities of these thoughts are as follows: God,
UGA football… my wife and daughter… the weather… government and politics. I
pretty much think about these things all the time anyway, but it seems like the
thinking is more important when one is in this act of endeavour.”
We’ll end with a summarising quote from Anthony Sharwood’s son:
“Dad… sometimes you wake up on a Saturday and you’re really grumpy. Then you
go outside and mow the lawn and come back inside in a great mood.”