M J Nicholls

About M J Nicholls

Early morning in Braintree comes in on salt air off the Fore River, with a low gold light sliding down the oak-lined streets — and that is when the mowers come off the trailer. M J Nicholls is a lawn care outfit working this South Shore town: the ledge-and-maple yards under the shoulder of the Blue Hills, the tight grids of streets near the Monatiquot, the long green slopes out toward the Highlands. The work is plain to name and deeply satisfying to look at — grass cut to an even nap, edges run clean along the walks and drives, clippings gathered, spring and fall debris hauled off so a yard can hold its season. By evening, when the shadows stretch the length of the lawn, the stripes are still there and the place simply looks tended.