The Weskeag River runs both directions in South Thomaston, filling and emptying past the village twice a day while the marsh grass leans with it. Jess's cleaning and yard work handles the lawns nearby — mowing, trimming, edging, raking out the winter sand in spring and hauling off leaves in the fall. Yards here are cut from spruce and ledge, so they come in odd shapes, and the trick is making an odd shape look deliberate. Midsummer afternoons the tide pushes a cool draft up the river, which is a gift when you are walking behind a mower. By October the light goes low and gold across the marsh, and the last cleanups finish under it.