The Passaic runs past Riverbank Park with the tide still in it, and on a spring Saturday the ballfields there fill up before nine. Lawn care works the yards on the streets that back into that river light — mowing, trimming, edging, and the cleanups that open and close the growing season. March in Newark is mud and grit, and the first cut of the year is less a haircut than a resurrection. By June the routine has settled into something steady: same day, same lines, clippings gone, walks blown clear. A yard kept that way stops being a chore and turns into a place you actually sit.