Mucho trabajo

This week, on the hottest day in 118 years, Geraldo from Cricket Garden Service did a beautiful job trimming our laurel hedge. If you've been to our house, you know this evergreen monster. Laurel grows like crazy in spring and early summer, and makes a terrific privacy and noise blocking screen. But when they get huge, keeping them somewhat presentable is an enormous and expensive yearly project. No wonder folks rip them out and build fences! But we've often said we would hate our house in the summer without that wonderful hedge between the front yard and a busy street. And the birds love it too.

Geraldo worked from 8 am to 8 pm, and except for the wide top, he trimmed the entire thing with hand shears. No one has EVER done this, and it looked especially nice. He had one helper, a kid to pick up the clippings, but did all the cutting himself. They worked all day without complaining or asking for anything. I went out a few times and took them ice tea and lemonade, and tried to chat and say encouraging things with my pathetic Spanish vocabulary. And the phase I heard over and over was "mucho trabajo."

No kidding!