the purpose of tacky lawn ornaments

My friend Sherri lives on a block of the city that has some of the tackiest lawns I’ve seen in my life.  Lawns here are not grand affairs, just teeny-tiny plots only accessed by the first-floor residents (of the triplexes that make up the majority of Montreal’s housing).  Despite their minute size, they are tended well.  Hanging baskets, window-boxes, trimmed lawns and patches of beautiful bright color.  People seemed to miss the memo, however, on Sherri’s block.  

The best example (and worst yard) is the one that is not grass, but has the old white rock, faded masonry stone pavers around, juniper bushes, loads of fake flowers in their window-boxes and around the yard.  Then add stone bunnies, maybe some cherubs, a pair of flamingoes (but not bright pink–faded to almost white), a plastic bluebird and a plastic Bambi, and probably any other tacky thing you could think of for a yard (note: I have not noticed the gnome population), and that begins to describe this yard.  Think Disneyland stuffed in a 8 by 8 foot plot of land, and faded by the sun. 

Sherri and I were walking by and I said to her, “Your block has some of the most interesting yards.”

She points at a nicely-manicured yard and says, “See, this one is well-kept and funky, but that one [the aforementioned] is well…”

Me:  ”Yeah.”

Then we saw, at waist-height, three troupes of six yellow-vest-donning preschoolers, holding on to ropes manned by their caretakers.  They were on their way to the park, but they stopped at the same house, because all the kids were mesmerized by the animals in the yard.  They were so cute, pointing at les oiseaux, les fleurs, and the chevreuil.  It was fun to see someone enjoying that crazy lawn.

Sherri said, “Maybe that’s why the homeowners did it.”