The Tioughnioga River runs the length of Marathon's valley, and mist sits on it most summer mornings until the hillsides burn it off. Brendan's mowing and landscaping starts once that lifts — mowing, trimming, edging along the walks, hauling clippings and tidying beds. Village lots off Main Street and long hillside yards up toward the ridges each ask for something a little different. There is real pleasure in the last pass of a lawn, when the stripes line up and the border cuts sharp against the drive. By fall the leaves come down off the maples and get gathered before the ground goes hard.