In Flanders the lawns run right up to the shade of old maples, and Alan's Precise Lawn Care keeps them even from the first cut of May to the last one of October. Mowing, trimming and edging get done the way a straight line asks to be done — the border along the walk held clean, the grass laid in one direction so the whole yard reads as a single piece. Come December the same trucks turn to plowing and salting, and the driveways that were mowed past all summer get opened again in the dark. Winters up here ask more of a shovel than they do in the valley towns below, which is exactly why the change of gear happens early. Both halves of the year end the same way: a property somebody is glad to pull into.