trim

The ivy along the front wall looks more tidy and organized than I feel ... the efforts of Pablo to bring our yard into (o yes, constant theme) marketable order have left the surrounds of the house looking extraordinarily pristine - unnatural in more ways than one. The sudden death of the pachysandra this summer, in our absence, has left a very symmetrical, bare earth set of beds divided by a gravel path out back, looking as if it ought to be turned into a boules court, or an Aunt Sally pitch (a kind of game of skittles played in the back yard of English pubs, for the uninitiated, or furnished with a Buddha and turned into a serene meditation space). It certainly doesn't look as though anything could possibly ever grow there ever again.