Every year about this time, I haul out my ancient lawnmower and wonder if this will be the year it will refuse to start. And that is just what I did this past Saturday. I dragged the poor old thing out and pulled on the starter cord - and pulled, and pulled, and pulled. But nothing happened. I thought, that's it - she won't start, I will have to get a new one. But then I gave one last pull and - amazingly - she roared into life and surprised the heck out of me. I was very pleased, of course, and I pushed my geriatric lawnmower around and cut some grass in the front of my house. This lawnmower is amazing - 20 years old and still working!
Speaking of old - I have been looking at this abandoned house down the road from us for over 20 years, ever since Peter and I moved to this area. The house was an uninhabited ruin then and still is. I keep wondering if it will just fall down some day but it continues to stand there. I wonder who owns it and why no-one has ever done anything with it, but I also admire the tenacity of the house, refusing to collapse despite neglect and decay, after all these years.
The abandoned house overlooks a pretty little creek that eventually runs into the Ottawa River. It could be a nice place to live if anyone ever decided to restore it. I am sure there must be an interesting story about this house. Wonder what it is?
On my way back to my own house, I stopped by the side of the road and took some pictures of the farm near my place and the beautiful Laurentians in the background. These are part of the Laurentian Mountain range, which is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world (over 500 million years old). Amazing to be that old and still standing. Hooray for old things.
5 comments:
Twenty years ago they built things better than they do today! Faithful mower.
I loved the empty old houses in that area too. I took a bunch of photos of them too, before we moved away years ago.
Great post. Poor ol' lawnmower. And still doing its trick. Perfect!
Every time we come to visit you I look forward to exactly that view as we approach your home from one of our little toodling drives or another. As my family is from Montreal I spent many an idyllic summer in those ancient mountains and they were among the happiest days of my life. That "Big Sky" view of them from across the miles of open farmland always brings me peace.
Our lawnmower is also an ancient push type. It has to be leaned sideways to start but once going it does the job. Most of the time, though, my horse does the lawn cutting- eco-friendly and quiet. Abandoned houses are always fascinating -always make us wonder about their history. As kids, we used to play in an abandoned house -slightly scary and most mysterious.
They don't make 'em like they used to! Well done that lawnmower. I love the simple shape of that poor abandoned house, it is beautiful.
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