jft7

-Penn quote: "Everybody pronounces it 'Soyss'."-

The most interesting dream I had this week was the one in which I was learning mathematics from a mild-mannered (don't know why I used that particular adjective, but that's what I wrote in my dream journal) French engineer. Guess I dreamed about this because I recently spent some time reading information about Augustin Cauchy, an engineer who became a mathematician later in life.

Mere hours after last week's post about the dandelion field, workers were out there with weedwhackers mowing it down.

Judging from the length of the grass in that area before they came through, I am hoping against hope that this is something that happens only every few months. As far as I can tell, none of the dandelions have grown back yet, but, knowing dandelions, they'll soon be back in greater force than before. A few low-lying wild morning glories seem to have escaped the butchery altogether, and are blooming like crazy now that the magnificent dandelion clocks aren't there stealing their show.

I am struck by how ordinary the field now loooks. It's a trimmed, manicured, domesticated lawn, its smooth expanse ruined every now and then with a wartlike tuft of weedy flowers. Understand that before the trimming came, even the grass looked beautiful -- waves of slender, elegant blades. Now it's the grass that one can't look too close at: the ragged stumps of green topped with a film of beige scars.

Even though I know that grass is healthier when mowed, my visceral reaction is that it looks healthier when it can grow to its proper taper. Certainly, unmown grass is more forgiving -- once you have the cut grass it's an arms race against both weeds and the grass itself to keep it looking neat. But unmown grass looks good even if it grows another inch, or is longer in patches, or is sprinkled with dandelions. It looks right.

Reality check. I hope the dandelions come back soon.