Our neighborhood group had not been together since the Fourth of July. Summer was a busy time for us and some of the others, as well. I loved Joyce’s response to my text message, “You say party? I am there!” You can’t beat that kind of enthusiasm.

Two households had prior commitments, and one was nursing their post-op dog. That left four homes to do all the partying. Food, coming in first ahead of the people carrying it, was plentiful and delicious. Read and drool! In order of appearance we had homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers, homemade applesauce, Brownies, Asian coleslaw, more vine-ripened tomatoes (never too many), and deviled eggs from backyard chickens. Of course, we had the usual burgers , brats and potato salad. Amazingly, the food didn’t seem to stop our talking.

Logan was very well-behaved, eating his meal and chatting with all the adults before being excused from the table. He and John looked at a Lego airplane that might have belonged to our son or grandson.

We talked of many things from personal history to amusing anecdotes – all fun and interesting. I picked one to share. Bob and young son Logan traveled several hours eastward to take some furniture to his daughter and son-in-law. They recently relocated nearer the coast and had not amassed much furniture in their married life. Bob said they had a chair in the living room and a crate in the kitchen. Just so you know, Bob is a man of few words, but the words he chose COULD have been exaggerated.

Logan added, “We took them a TV set, too.”

That statement started the complete story. A few days ago the young couple saw a TV on the curb and took it home. It wasn’t a good sign when water poured out of it when they tried to turn it on. Out it went to their curb. A short while later they saw a car stop. A big man got out and loaded the TV into his car and drove away triumphantly. Doesn’t this take recycling to a whole new level? I had visions of it traveling about outside like the proverbial Christmas fruitcake inside, re-gifted eternally.

The talkers are below: