Before & After at the Stairs

I realize this is a never-ending task and that the top was starting to fill up with pine needles and leaves even before I made it all the way to the bottom, but it really felt pretty good to be out doing some physical labor on a sunny spring day.  Plus I think freshly raked moss may be the newest trend in landscape design.

The photo on the left is from March, on the right is today.

The physical labor really clears your mind, too - I could see immediately that this exercise would be good practice in ignoring that perfectionist tendency.  Meanwhile, someone else was enjoying that childhood pleasure of being faced with a body of water and an apparently infinite supply of sticks, pine cones and stones all calling out to be thrown.  I pity the fish.



There was also a bit of psychology experiment at the end, faced with carrying five bulky bags of leaves and needles up the stairs.  Do you start with the top bag and build up to that big climb, or at the bottom and get the worst out of the way?



I split the difference, starting with that bottom bag but then rewarding myself with the top bag and alternating from there on.  My legs are still a little shaky.