Grass

Today I want to give a shout out to grass...
no not that kind, but the grass of my childhood.

When I was thinking about summer memories yesterday I found myself going back to the the fascination with grass. First, let me state that in Florida we don't grow grass, we cultivate crab grass and call it a lawn. St. Augustine grass is the nastiest, ugliest grass ever grown, but it is the only green carpet you can keep alive in this hot, sandy soil.

No, I am reminiscing about the soft, springy green blades that i walked on barefoot in Maryland. It wasn't perfect, in fact it was the bane of my father's existence because it was filled with patches of weeds which were actually clover, wild onion grass, mint and the occasional dandelion patch. As punishment, we were often assigned to "pull dandelions," but that's another story for another day.

So let's imagine this soft, springy grass, cool and tickling are toes. Imagine the dark green color- so different from the pale green of Florida lawns. You could look for hours on your hands and knees for 4 leaf clovers or gently pull up the flowers and twine the stems together to make clover necklaces, bracelets and crowns.

When our neighbor mowed his grass, he used an old fashioned push mower (no gas or electric power required.) The sound of that mower clicking through the grass was so peaceful, not like the intrusive noise pollution that is created every weekend when the lawn masters fire up their toys at 7 am.

As he mowed through the grass the smells would waft over the breeze. Wild onions (think chives), and wild mint would mix together with the smell of freshly mowed grass. Ah, that was the smell of summer.