Within moments, the soldiers' mood infected most everyone, and a kind of edgy solemnity settled over the lawn.
Then the portraiture got under way, as students with sketch pads settled onto the lawn opposite the landmark main building, a Romanesque Revival fortress that was heavily damaged in a fire in February.
I'll start with blackbirds: Just before I packed up myself, in late September, I looked out the window and hundreds (and I mean hundreds) were settled on the lawn, turning it into a mass of darkness against a gray sky and fallen leaves.
"I'm afraid we are going to get tired of all this hoop-de-la," Ms. Shaffer said as she settled into a lawn chair along the route of an Independence Day Parade in Clear Lake, jostling for ground in a crowd drawn by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (and husband), Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Republican, and other candidates.
On a warm autumn afternoon recently, Berry settled into a lawn chair under a massive shade tree behind his home in the eastern Sierra.
Before long, the event took on the aura of a block party as residents settled in with lawn chairs, parasols, even mimosas.
Though guests had comfortably settled into their lawn chairs, ready to relax and enjoy the show, many were in front of the gazebo dancing as soon as Zydeco Magic began playing.
As a result, the commissioners settled on requiring lawn dart makers to improve the warning labels they put on packages, stepping up surveillance of the industry and seeking criminal prosecution of any company that violates regulations more than once.
It had been cold overnight, and a hard frost had settled on the lawns and on the gravel, so the driver went slowly.
"Matthew could have been a settled, lawn-mowing, dog-walking citizen," she said.
Dust blew so far east, it settled on the White House lawn.
