Going on holidays (or vacation) can take many forms. It could involve flying to Hawaii, Europe or Asia, a cruise to Alaska or the Bahamas, a drive to the mountains or a beach on the ocean.

Going on holidays implies an escape from the responsibilities and obligations of everyday life that leave us weary. Holidays offer a significant change from our daily life. They support the belief that a change is as good as a rest in restoring our depleted energy. Holidays are often not restful.

We are not experienced travelers. Our friends go to many exciting and even exotic places in the world. We, on the other hand, admit to enjoying a drive through Saskatchewan where the view of the prairie extends unimpeded by dramatic scenery.

Appreciation of the prairie requires a sensitivity to the subtleness of various shades of green. I guess it is our limited traveling experience that allows us to be so easily captured by so apparently little. Our friends pause and smile politely as we extol the virtues of slightly rolling hills and then turn their attention to, lets see, their last safari in Africa.

We are acknowledged homebodies. Some people actually enjoy having a holiday in their own home. The home stops being the command centre for the busyness in their lives.  It affords time to do items on the "longed for" list like the book waiting to be read, the artwork or hobby lying dormant, or maybe puttering in the yard.

Yards, however, have lawns. Historically, lawns were areas of grass  or pastures regularly grazed by sheep until reduced to a low and uniform level.  I imagine the sheep, in their own way, fertilized the lawns as well.

Lawns first attracted the attention of the aristocracy in Europe who apparently thought it was pedestrian to have sheep maintain their landscaping. Sheep were replaced by labour intensive methods of cutting, first with scythes and shears and eventually by the lawn mower and edge trimmers ubiquitous to our neighbourhoods.

Grass grows whether you are on holiday or not, particularly with the absence of sheep. It is up to us to obediently comply with neighbourhood standard, well, kind of like sheep. The only thing close to a putter in the yard is the sound of the lawn mower.

I am weary of lawn care. I would like a change. At the very least, my form of holidays this summer will include a break from it. I have contracted with a lawn maintenance company for weekly mowing and trimming. The only thing exotic about this holiday is that the lawn maintenance contractor is from Laos.

I already feel energized. I think I will open a new book.

© C O P Y R I G H T   2 0 1 0.  Gary Holdgrafer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.