From a distance this picture looks like I’m golfing.

(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 40)

This week, I cut the grass.

Which isn’t notable other than the fact that it had been a while.

I’ll get to why this is a situation worth writing about in a minute.

But first, I think the title is clever, because I push and pull the lawn mower.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture when I was using the lawn mower, so you’re stuck with this less good picture of me with the weed wacker. (Whacker?)

More on that in the Notes.

OK. Back to the idea of push and pull.

There’s the literal push and pull of the lawn mower, and there’s the metaphoric idea too.

Here’s the problem with my Sunday trips to New York: It cuts a day out of the week.

I knew that was going to happen, and I was prepared for it. And I do bring my computer with me to sneak in a little Sunday work.

But a few hours down in the morning, a few hours back at night - that’s a significant part of the day I can be thinking about my work, but not actually doing my work.

Which is fine. I knew that for most of the fall I’d be making Saturday a de facto work day. That’s part of why I’m doing my long runs on Thursday - so my recovery day is on Friday and I can get work done that day. (And also so I’m not sitting in a car all day on my recovery day and possibly cramping up my legs.)

Yes, that also means as the runs get longer and longer it’s taking a significant chunk out of my Thursdays as well.

So, you see, something has to go when things pile up like this.

A few years ago the days weren’t as full as they are now, so I would have time to tend to the yard.

Now - and I always say that I’m super appreciative of this because it means things are going well - I have a bunch of work to do and I have my days structured around that, and the yard work takes a back seat.

So this week, well, things got a little crazy because I needed to cut the grass. It was bothering me. But the writing work still needed to get done even though the yard work needed to happen.

And I needed to run 9 miles on Thursday.

It all got done.

By coincidence, I am not going to New York this weekend…but that still doesn’t mean I’ll get more work done.

This should be the last of the grass cutting for the year, which is helpful. There will be plenty of raking, but I’ll find time here and there for that.

The best thing about having cut the grass? Everything looks nicer, and that’s helpful too.

Because when I’m sitting and working, knowing that I don’t have to cut the grass…and knowing that when I walk outside I won’t have to look and be like, “Ugh, I still have to do that”…that’s all helpful.

And it makes the time away from the writing work to do some of the yard work well worth it.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

“Heartbreak Weather” - Niall Horan
“Harry Styles” - Harry Styles
“Renaissance” - Beyoncé
“(self-titled)” - Marcus Mumford
“You Can Play These Songs With Chords” - Death Cab For Cutie
“Kintsugi” - Death Cab For Cutie
Licorice Pizza
X-Men
X2

I may have actually listened to ‘You Can Play These Songs With Chords’ and ‘Kintsugi’ last year, but I don’t remember exactly. And, yes, there’s a reason for the Death Cab For Cutie quick binge. I look forward to writing about it.

Notes

*One last note about that picture - that was me putting the finishing touches on my yard work on Thursday…after I ran nine miles. I am happy you can’t smell me in that picture. I was disgusting myself with how sweaty I smelled.

*I will still try to watch the Jets today because their starting quarterback who’s been injured these past few weeks is making his season debut and I am excited about it and I think they’re better with him throwing the ball, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to watch them. We’ll see how it shakes out.

*Last week’s trip was less exciting as far as the football game, but it was a good hang with my brother and we ate a lot of unhealthy food so I guess it was a tick on the positive side of the ledger.

*If you follow football you know there was a serious head injury to the Dolphins quarterback and it should have been handled better and when I see that I remember why I hadn’t gone out of my way to let myself enjoy the NFL these past few years.

*Baseball, on the other hand, is good and perfect. (No it’s not.) The Mets are going to the playoffs, but the division title is still up in the air, which is kind of hard to believe after the way this season has gone. I don’t know about them…but I could use the first round of the playoffs off. It’s exhausting watching these games. Tonight is pretty must-win if they want to win the division.

*I had an eventful weekend. I hope to tell you all about it next week.

*The social media links are below. I particularly recommend the Instagram if you care to see pictures of me when I smell pretty bad after running but not have to worry about actually smelling me.