Mowing Zen

I started the day with a headache gnawing away behind my right ear. One of those "I'm not a brain tumor, I'm the MANSTER" headaches that are just enough to keep you from enjoying one of the last days of this Indian summer we have been blessed with. After drugs,lolling about, noodle soup and tea didn't help, I sucked it up and got on with the day.
Our lawn mower died of abuse and neglect almost a month ago and the yard was starting to look like a meadow so I had Colin help me load the poor thing into the trunk of my car and take it up to Ace Hardware for a diagnosis. The mechanic looked it over and pronounced it DOA due to a wanked crankshaft caused by someone using a light-duty lawn mower to cut down small trees. I thought he might call some agency and report us for mower abuse but instead he happily took my 160$ for a new machine and even offered to dispose of the old corpse. Once we got the new one home, I wanted to see if it was easy to start and amazingly it purred to life on my first headache-enfeebled yank on the rope. I wanted to stay outdoors in the fresh air so I took up the chore of cutting the north forty - now about 10 inches deep. With slow, foot-wide swaths I began rousting the wildlife. As I walked along, I realized that no grass was spewing from the side of this new machine, yet the new mown path I was walking on seemed freshly raked! Where was the cut grass going to?? Come to find out this mower was a Mulching mower which double and triple whacks the cuttings into pieces so small they drop down into the lawn - no raking! Progress was slow but satisfactory. I picked up and relocated one ornery toad as large as a baseball who had the nerve to piss on me - out of gratitude no doubt. The rest of the critters had to be thankful that the factory had the blade set up pretty high. Me and the lawn mower ran out of gas at the same time. Overheated and dizzy, I lay on the couch and realized I had traded a headache for mild heat stroke with a little Zen Mowing. Fine deal.

Evening, darkness & cider brought me around to feeling better and I went into the studio to make some bundles.

Not art bundles like Sonji's but potential art bundles. They will go into the mail in the morning so stand by! Maybe I can get on with some sewing tomorrow.