I read an article recently that claimed there is a silver lining behind all the dangerous weather this summer: that it’s showing the weaknesses in the infrastructure. I suppose that could be considered a positive side effect of the weather-damaged roads and bridges and such, but as comforting as that thought might be, it doesn’t seem like a good payoff. If the things that were damaged are rebuilt to be stronger and better, and if other places that didn’t have to deal with the damage takes measures prevent damage from happening, it might be a good thing. But that’s a lot of ifs.
Although I am not one to go looking for silver linings — they smack too much of positive-thinking phoniness — perhaps I should accept my wind-scorched grass in the same vein: treat it as if the damage to my lawn merely showed up the areas that need special care. That’s assuming, of course, that the grass will grow back. Otherwise, there is no silver lining.
Still, it does seem as if there is a bit of greening in the scorched area. To be honest, I’m not sure I can trust my memory, and I was too discouraged those first few days to want to memorialize the brown swathe, so the green might be more a sign of my hopefulness than of actual repair.
Despite being discouraged, I am aware that sometimes setbacks don’t mean a whole lot. For example, when I bought my car, I got a lemon. There were many things wrong with it, and the dealer wouldn’t take my word for what was wrong. (The thing I most clearly remember was that the transmission screeched when I switched gears.) Every time I took it in, they told me in exaggeratedly patient tones I wasn’t used to the new car, the inference being I was young and female and didn’t know what I was doing. Most annoying of all, they underlined in my owner’s manual the section about how to shift. It wasn’t until a friend of a friend who loved to fight took the bug back to the dealer and got someone to actually drive it, that suddenly the light dawned on them. There was something wrong with the car! Apparently, a synchromesh had never been installed, the very part that allowed for ease of shifting. So they fixed that. Not long afterward, the clutch cable broke, and then . . . you get the picture.
Yet here I am, still driving the same car fifty years later. I’m not sure what this particular story has to do with silver linings and dead grass, since it seems to fall more in the category of “you never know,” but it seemed to fit.
It’s funny that I seem to be acquiring a few VW Bug collectables when I still have the original vehicle, but I find these trinkets amusing. (Which is probably why they were gifted to me.)
I suppose in years to come, I’ll look back on this situation with grass in the same way I look back on my “lemon,” but for now, I am just hoping that with special care, the grass will cure itself. If that can be considered a silver lining, well, then, so be it.
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Bertram's Blog 
June 18, 2022 at 5:47 pm
My guess is the grass will come back, with or without special care. Grass was around long before us, and will be around long after we’re gone. It knows how to survive drought, and how to thrive when the drought ends.
The silver lining for me is the resilience of the grass inspires us to deal with adversity as it comes.
June 18, 2022 at 7:39 pm
Now that’s a silver lining I can accept!
June 19, 2022 at 12:24 am
Please stay optimistic with plants. With your observation and by nature plants survive with hard times. The workers killed one of my plant but as optimistic I continue to kept it in good condition. It has survived ( after three weeks) I started to find again the leaves started to grow so I was very surprised and satisfied with the survival capacity of the plant.
There is lots of preconceptions and prejudices ideas men with women (with cars) or woman with men often it is very sad sometimes life is like that.