Maples arch over the streets of Athens borough, and by August they throw enough shade that a lawn grows in alternating patches of sun and cool. GrassMasters works those front yards on the grid between Main Street and the river — mowing, string trimming, edges cut along the old concrete walks that run past every porch. Late summer in the Valley is humid and generous, the kind of weather that puts an inch on a lawn in a week and dares someone to keep up. In autumn the job turns to leaves and a final cut; in spring, to the cleanup that gets the turf breathing again. There is something steady about a street where every lawn sits even, and that is exactly what the route is for.