It is with trepidation that I arrive home from a summer at GHP—how will the labyrinth have thrived?  (Thriven?)  In 2009, the grass was largely dead.  I stayed home in 2010, so it was fine, and last summer it was OK.

But this summer’s heat had me worried.  My lovely first wife assured me that she had watered it religiously and that the grass was greener than it had any right to be, although she was concerned about the peacock fern in the center.

So yesterday when I got home, after I had unloaded the U-Haul trailer and returned it, then driven into my new driveway with the six-inch steel pipe property line marker sticking up next to it and exploding my tire (separate story), I headed back to see what the situation was.

Short version: not too bad.

The grass is green, and in fact seems to be giving the clover a run for its money.  I may try this fall to kill off the clover after all and reseed those areas.

It hasn’t been mowed, of course, but the biggest problem is the fact that last year’s bumper crop of pecans is erupting from every surface.  There are oak seedlings as well, but mowing over those kills them off.  Not so with pecans: they are just a root system with leaves for decoration.  Mow over them, and they’ll be back within a week.  Not only that, but as they grow back, the stems are just as thick as before, essentially turning into little punji sticks, so walking barefoot in the labyrinth becomes dicey.

No, I will have to get down on my hands and knees and dig up each and every one.  Not a problem.  It will give me plenty of meditative time, and labor is beautiful.