WOMAN WHO TENDS FRONT YARD PROVES RARE FIND IN JUNGLE OF L.A.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
She's Valley Gothic - a Grant Wood painting standing tall and proud on the front lawn of her Burbank home, holding a Weed Eater
The Weed Eater company was founded in 1972 by George Ballas in Houston, Texas. . Norman Rockwell Noun 1. Norman Rockwell - United States illustrator whose works present a sentimental idealized view of everyday life (1894-1978) Rockwell would have captured her for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, a piece of lost Americana - Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American painter and printmaker. His works represented light as it is reflected off of familiar objects. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in for one of his Depression era renderings, painting her staring out the window with pensive pen·sive adj. 1. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful. 2. Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness. eyes, watching the grass grow. Her name is Opal Donason, and she is cut from a breed of women who are ``as rare as snow in L.A.,'' she says. Women who do all their own yard work. Mow and blow. The whole nine yards. For the last 27 years, no gardener, neighbor's husband, or kid living down the block has ever pushed a lawn mower over Opal Donason's front lawn. Only she has. ``I started out with the idea of saving money, and found out it's great exercise,'' she says, correcting an oversight in a column I wrote a few weeks back lamenting the lack of ``real men'' doing their own yard work, opting instead to hire gardeners. Opal wanted to remind me that there are still a few ``real women'' out there taking care of their own yards, too. Not many, but a few. It rankles her a little. ``I'll lay odds more women don't do their own yard work because it's always been known as man's work. Who said?'' Yeah, who said? Wanna wan·na Informal 1. Contraction of want to: You wanna go now? 2. Contraction of want a: You wanna slice of pie? fight? You spend a few minutes talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to Opal, and it's like you've just stepped back into those wonderful years when artists like Rockwell, Hopper and Wood were chronicling the landscape - bringing us people like Opal Donason to admire because they were the heart and soul of this young country growing up. Not beautiful, rich people. Hard working, family people. Today, magazine covers feature the Madonnas, not the Opals. Artists are more interested in expressing themselves, not Middle America Middle America 1 A region of southern North America comprising Mexico, Central America, and sometimes the West Indies. Middle American adj. & n. . So, when you run across an Opal Donason, with that Louisiana twang still strong and beautiful in her voice after 72 years of living, you stop and you listen. Because, like she says, her kind is as rare as snow in L.A. ``I did try a gardener this one time,'' she admits Wednesday, putting on her gloves to rake the leaves scattered everywhere around her yard from heavy winds this week. ``I asked him if he wanted a glass of water. He said he'd rather have a beer. I told him to get lost.'' So much for gardeners. Opal has no gripe gripe v. To have sharp pains in the bowels. n. 1. gripes Sharp, spasmodic pains in the bowels. 2. A firm hold; a grasp. with women who don't do their own lawns, but she does think they're missing an easy and cheap way to exercise and stay in shape - even though the work's dirty, sweaty and requires some strength, she says. ``I think many women today don't want to appear unfeminine, but I've been a tomboy tomboy Psychology A popular term for a girl whose developmental gender-identity/role is discordant with her genotype. Cf Sissy. my whole life so it doesn't make a hoot of difference to me,'' she says, reaching for the lawn edger. ``I have a hundred and one other things in dire need of taking care of right now, but they have to step aside for the living things - the grass, shrubs, trees, potted plants, new plants and just plain outside puttering, like raking up these leaves. ``That's one of the beautiful things about California,'' Opal Donason says. ``We've got more gardening weather than any other state, so we can get more exercise.'' Over the years, she has allowed herself one small luxury, as she calls it. ``Before I retired 10 years ago, I had automatic sprinklers put in. They are a godsend god·send n. Something wanted or needed that comes or happens unexpectedly. [Alteration of Middle English goddes sand, God's message : goddes, genitive of God, God . ``Now there's where you can waste a lot of time, if you don't have autos,'' she says. ``If people can afford just one, autos or gardeners, they should choose auto sprinklers. ``It takes 10 times longer to keep a place watered down than to mow, edge, trim and clean up - which could be sweeping, hosing off or the controversial blowing.'' Opal pauses, looking down her block at other lawns. ``Nine times out of 10, you can tell who have gardeners because in the winter they sow rye grass rye grass, short-lived perennial, leafy, tufted plant belonging to the family Gramineae (grass family). Two species are grown in the United States—Italian rye grass (Lolium multiflorum seeds, and the lawns stay green all winter. ``My grass is Bermuda and it grows very little during the winter. Usually, it just turns brown.'' But with all this rain we've had, it's still green and growing. So Opal Donason puts on her nose and mouth mask, her ear muffs, and her sunglasses, and cranks up her old power mower Wednesday. A Valley Gothic - as rare as snow in L.A. - heading down her driveway to mow her own front lawn. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Opal Donason, 72, of Burbank has been taking care of her own weed pulling and front-lawn mowing for the last 27 years. David R. Crane/Daily News |
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