johnsonboy

Sometimes I feel like life is a tomato field, while I want to live in a patch of unruly weeds.
This may not be an original thought. It may not be progressive. it is admittedly chaotic and not to be bandied about lightly. But I feel I can be frank here.
When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more than to live isolated in some remote wilderness. I planned on running a trapline and writng novels. Of course I wanted a wife and kids out there with me.
Later, as an adult, when that proved impractical, I still had the strange feeling that I would end up living in geographical isolation, with a hardy group of nuclear holocaust surviviors. I had the exact place picked out. I'd love to take you there some time.
20 years ago we all expected a nuclear war to break out at any time. At least I did. I suppose it's still a possibility, although it's hard to maintain that level of paranoid hysteria forever.
The mind simply won't allow it. One has to get on with living.
I did end up living in a couple of pretty remote spots, but only temporarily. I wasn't well-enough eqipped, I couldn't keep the bears out of the kitchen, much less the mice.
Next time I try that it will be a different story.

I've spent a lot of time in out-of-the-way places hunting for oddballs.
I have a it of a problem with symmetry.
However, like anyone, I enjoy a good pattern. I like it when things make sense.

As I understand it, the lawn is a French idea funneled through English mannerisms into American sensibilities. Or the lack of sensibility. It is an example of symmetry replacing sensibility.
Short tight grass is a bizarre commodity, but an apt enough symbol.
Not surprisingly, with this point of view, I'm not known for my great lawns. When I actually had a yard I extended flower beds and planted native shrubbery, especially berries, where people might have had a lawn. I could get away with it because it was not some drab suburban street.
I think my lifelong affinity for weeds is founded on solid reasoning. Bless their leaves and stems.