MindSpinner

I’m trying to conjure a picture book angel in a garden. Probably floating so he won’t get his feet dirty. And what about that white robe? How long would that last? It would catch on the blackberry briars; the hem would get caked with dirt and splattered with mud. The only place to put the angel, if he wanted to sit down, would be on the stone bench next to the water garden (the big pot with two water plants and two gold fish). One would probably offer him lemonade. He’d glow a bit even in broad daylight, drink the lemonade, probably bring tidings of something or other, and then get himself transfigured elsewhere in short order, leaving me to wash the lemonade glass and continue with the weeding.

The Gabriel who appeared yesterday was much more useful. He did not glow like the angels in Sunday School illustrations; picture him Latino instead, dressed in a work shirt, boots, and jeans covered with little shreds of grass. He came on a mighty mower tough enough to fell brush. He reduced Johnson grass as tall as I am, laced with poison ivy grown rampant, to mere stubble. He did this for $30 and, moreover, he’s a neighbor up the street who will repeat this miraculous deed anytime I like. He even offered to mow the rest of the back yard for free, but I have so many little plants he’d have to dodge in the someday shade garden that I thought that too much trouble to ask.

His appearance cheered me up. I was a little down, truth to tell, about the goats and ducks. I checked with City Hall the other day to see what the regulations are concerning the keeping of pygmy goats, ducks, and the like. It turns out that it’s just fine for me to keep them; their pens simply have to be located 100 feet from any neighbor’s property line. Since my lot on the cul de sac is wider at the back than it is the front, I pulled out a copy of the land survey just to check. At the back edge of the property, the lot is 158 feet wide. Darn. Do you know those goats would have eaten my poison ivy and invasive honeysuckle? Never mind. My neighbor is Gabriel, and he rides one heck of a mower.