We have a push mower

I like the life my grandparents lived; I think they were healthier and good stewards of the earth.

They didn’t watch much TV and read only local newspapers. Most of the food in their fridge and cupboards didn’t have ingredients. They had only one of everything; TV, fridge, automobile, residence. They ate pears and cherries off of their own trees. They had stress and struggle, and times were tough, as tough as they had been before and as tough as they are now. They had antacids, aspirin, cough syrup. We grandkids had to eat the turnip and squash, but there were fruit flavoured jellies and pineapple-orange juice as well. Their clothes smelled like clothes; cotton, linen, wool, and starch, and shoe polish. And their clothes were mended, re-sized, passed on, and familiar. They treated their sons like children when they were young, and like men not long after that. Too early, perhaps.

My grandfather had a push lawn mower and a pocket watch he wound each night.

When we moved into our house, there was a push mower from my Dad waiting in the garage.