Above the Rest

About Above the Rest

From the overlook on Gorge Parkway, Bedford shows its whole shape at once — Tinker's Creek cut deep into shale, hemlock holding the north slopes dark all year. Above the Rest works the streets that ride the rim of that valley, where a yard can run flat to the curb and then fall away into treetops. In the green months the work is mowing and edging until the grass takes a clean line against the drive; in the cold months it is plowing and salting those same curving approaches so the first car out doesn't have to think about it. Weather here comes off the lake and arrives sideways, and the only real answer is to be out in it early. Every finished lawn is a small level place kept honest above a very old ravine.