On Common Ground

Spring is the season for action, it seems.  Here in the desert, I expect to see a whole lot of gardening, planting, watering, mowing, raking, mulching, fertilizing, digging, pulling weeds, and weedwhacking with weed eaters.  Sweeping the sidewalks is an occasional senior activity; (remember push brooms?)  Using a motorized leaf blower is more common and energizing (noisy) in this young neighborhood.

Our community thrives on common ground.  Conforming to front-lawn rules and regulations is customary in this arid frontier.  My wife says keeping the weeds down is the reason – much easier to mow, water, and fertilize than to kill weeds.  I think it’s for curb appeal – a nice view while backing out of the garage in the early morning, and driving in at night.  Same with the tan vinyl fences, which I love as maintenance-free.

You may detect an attitude, but the point of this language lesson is to share some “verbal nouns, also called gerunds, which refer to actions.”  –  examples.yourdictionary.com/noun-examples

Here are more nouns derived from verbs:

I prefer boating, bowling, camping, computing, eating, hiking, playing, reading, relaxing, serving, sleeping, and watching movies with my wife.
“These are a few of my favorite things.”  – lyricsmania.com

A couple of those do not look like action words, but in my book they are. Admonishing (advising or urging) is not my thing, but one can have fun with storytelling and writing personal history.  Everyone has a unique story to share – is that not common ground?

Growing hollyhocks is one of Kay's specialties.

Graceful running is fun in the sun.

Discovering a wind spinner in the backyard is a curious thing.

Rooting out these bad boys is a common-ground challenge.