Things we did on grass

Maybe it was just a way to access suburban ennui and feel productive all at the same time, but I relished mowing the lawn when I was kid. We always had big lawns and big riding mowers to mow them with, and I loved to hop on the machine, then go around and around the yard in ever-diminishing loops. I loved the smell of the gas in the shed; I loved being out in the hot summer sun; I loved the way freshly mown grass looked.

But all that is behind me. I have lived in city apartments my entire adult life, so there never has been much grass to mow, and that has always been someone else's job. More than that, mowing may soon be a thing of the past for everyone, at least here in Madison. The trend this summer with the city parks department is not to mow at all, and who knows? Maybe this will catch on in a big way. They are saving a lot of gas, which is a good thing.

But near my house there is a big stretch of lawn on Wilson Street, and I always look on enviously when, every couple of weeks, an old guy is out there on a riding mower. Lately I've fantasized about approaching someone I know who has a big lawn, and asking if I can mow it for them. Trouble is, I don't know anybody who has a big lawn.

Good word

"Singing seems to help a troubled soul."

-- Carl Perkins, "Daddy Sang Bass"

Big larfs

I'm a longtime "Doonesbury" fanatic, and I've really enjoyed the ongoing series about the recent experiences of war-traumatized B.D., the helmeted soldier-patriot who ceased wearing a helmet at the same time that he lost a leg in Iraq. Yesterday's installment about him is a devastating and wickedly funny illustration of the fact that the strip remains superb, even amid the seemingly irreversible decline of daily newspaper comics.

Look, Ma

The Archbishop of Canterbury, who theoretically is my spiritual leader, appears to be a disembodied head! The theological implications are disturbing.

His beef

A constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is on Wisconsin's November ballot, and this page on the Wisconsin State Journal's Web site has a funny letter to the editor about it, written by one John Torgerson of Wisconsin Dells. Marriage must only be between a man and a woman because, he observes, "This is what songs and literature of our culture speak of."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe songs and literature of our culture speak of many things, not all of which should be written into our constitution. That said, I am all for a constitutional amendment to legalize the shooting of men in Reno, just to watch them die. Our prisons are full enough.

(Do songs speak? Maybe the writer was thinking of William Shatner's cover version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.")

Glorious food

Left to my own devices, I would eat hot dishes from the Willy Street Co-op more evenings than not. Fortunately, I have at hand the devices of my loving boyfriend Ereck, which means I eat like royalty. To see what he has been whipping up lately, check out today's entry on his blog.

I do the dishes.

So what's on

One TiVo feature I like, among many, is the alphabetical list of every television show to be aired on extended cable over the next few days. Scanning this is endlessly entertaining. Here are two choice titles and descriptions I ran across this evening. Amazing facts, indeed.