Logan’s School Program

Logan made a special trip across the street to invite us to his end of year school program. We wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Parents and guests were seated when the kindergartners came in and stood around the edge of the auditorium. The music teacher announced a “Kodak moment”, inviting adults to find their child and take close ups before the program started.

052716 Pirate Logan posing before program.JPG — Logan dressed as a pirate

Every child had a special part, either singing, announcing a piece, or acting in a skit. Most of the time Logan was on the corner nearest us.

052716 Logan on stage.JPG

Shawn and Bob invited us to join them for pizza at the Rendezvous restaurant near the school. Their daughter Courtney was there, as well.

052716 Logan Courtney Shawn Bob John.JPG

Shawn told the story of Logan’s tooth, and I wanted to see the space where it had been. He kindly posed for me.

052716 Tooth pulled the night before.JPG

As we waited for the pizza to come, Courtney began sketching the back of Logan’s head while he played tic tac toe with me. I shouldn’t have been surprised at how good it was, because Shawn is very artistic. Talent must run in the family. If I had done anything half that good, I would have taken it home and framed it.

052716 Courtney sketched Logan's head.JPG

Logan wanted her to draw a tooth fairy, which she did. It’s the upper one in the photo, a happy tooth face with wings. That didn’t coincide with Logan’s idea of the real tooth fairy, so Courtney drew a more traditional one to please him.

052716 Courtney drew two tooth fairies.JPG

Logan ate one slice of pizza, pulled his arms into the body of his shirt, and leaned against the back of his chair. Shawn explained why Logan was tired. He pulled that tooth out the night before and was convinced he had to stay awake until the tooth fairy came to take his tooth. They didn’t realize that at first, but finally Bob sneaked in and did the job so everyone could sleep.

052716 Logan fell asleep.JPG

My Most Meaningful Trophy

I’m not going to ask neighbor Bob to build me a display case, but I’m very proud of my new trophy for walking. After I retired and moved to North Carolina, I extended my walking schedule by one day. John joined me, so it’s on our agenda to walk six mornings a week. We go to the creek and back, a two-mile walk which takes about an hour. Please note that John could walk twice as fast, but he restrains himself by walking not more than two paces ahead of me.

Several years ago I bought a 10-pair bag of socks, rotating them once a week. That means each pair is worn six hours a week unless it rains. I lost four socks, so each pair is now worn every eight weeks. Don’t worry; this is not an arithmetic problem. After years of steady walking, I finally wore a hole in the heel of one sock. This is my hard-earned trophy.

052716 Hole in sock.JPG

I hope to wear out a few more. Since I have equal opportunity sock employment, I expect more holes in the future. If you are eager for a math problem, could you take the statistics here, project them in the future, and tell me if I have a lifetime supply left?

Mouthful Mumble

Neighbor Amy has only three weeks to go until moving day, so I drop everything to run errands with her. She is terribly busy picking up boxes, dropping things off at Goodwill, taking garbage to the dump, and buying supplies for last minute projects. I just go for the ride and the chance to visit and laugh. Laughter is a key component.

There were two letters on the center console which I had kept pinned down with my elbow. Amy is a fast driver, though I think all four wheels stayed on the road. As she drew up to the curbside mailbox, I handed her the envelopes. She poked them toward the chute, withdrew her hand, flipped one letter over, and licked the flap.

“Th un nah ee ulled,” she said, as her tongue traced the edge of the flap.

I was already laughing when I asked, “What did you say?”

“This one was not sealed,” she replied, grinning and laughing. We were on the way to pick up her dental records, and I thought she sounded like she was in the dentist’s chair already, with her mouth full of instruments.

Amy Makes Me Laugh

I made neighbor Amy repeat the phrase the first time she said it. Then she explained, “You use it when you’re threatening a child.”

Yes, we’re probably showing the age we grew up in. It was perfectly acceptable for a parent to tell a child what was going to happen to him if he didn’t straighten up and fly right. Although I grew up in the South, I hadn’t heard this one before.

The threat was, “I’m gonna jerk a knot in you.”

Amy said, “You have to say it through clenched teeth with a mean twist to your voice like this. If you don’t pick that up right now, I’m gonna jerk a knot in you.”

I laughed and laughed. I can’t imagine those words coming out of my mouth. They might be quite effective if there were no PC police around. Have you ever heard it in real life?

Pleasure Followed by Gardening

Our favorite neighborhood foster child came back for a brief visit. Dennis would have stayed with his former foster parents Shawn and Bob, but they had a full house. He slept at our house. That meant we had a chance to visit with him when he wasn’t busy with them, other neighbors, and friends.

I don’t know Dennis’ whole story, but he overcame many obstacles in his young life. One of the worst was the disservice from social service agencies. He was put in six different homes in about eight years. Shawn and Bob took him in when he was already a teenager, and he has another year to go before he can get out of the system.

Shawn and Bob can be so proud of him. He still has the good manners they taught him and was a pleasure to be with. After meals, he cleared the table, not only his own dishes, but ours as well. Dennis also made his bed voluntarily!! He spent time chatting with us and thanked us for everything we did for him.

The most pleasure I got from gardening was knowing it was over for the day. I realized it was time to plant the seeds we bought weeks ago. I strode outside carrying the shovel, a trowel, gloves, and the seed packets. Four o’clock seeds went near the fence. I liked their description, that the plants can be temporary hedges. Nasturtiums (which my dad called nasty turtiums) were planted in the middle of the garden. They like full sun and poor soil — should be perfect. The delphiniums were planted near the porch in partial shade. By the time I finished, I could hardly stand upright. What a difference there was in the way I went out to garden and the way I returned! I don’t think I would have been able to make it back to the house without using the shovel as a walking stick. Neighbor Amy thought I was joking about becoming an instant cripple because of gardening, but if anything, it was worse than I let on. Prudence would dictate I have a caregiver in the house before venturing out to battle the garden. I’m telling you, gardening could be lethal! The poor seeds would agree. They had to wait until afternoon for their first watering.

Bob the Builder Brightens Our Lives

When the doorbell rang, John opened the door and said, “Bob the Builder! Come in.”

Bob, otherwise known as neighbor Bob, had come over to install two solar tubes. John and I fell in love with the concept after seeing homes of two classmates in Oklahoma and Arizona. Our friends used these tubes in dark hallways, kitchens, and baths. Our kitchen was shadowed by the back porch, and the interior bathroom had no natural light at all. I’m convinced Bob can do anything he sets his mind to. He was everywhere – on the roof, in the attic, and on a ladder inside. Being experienced with construction, he measured very carefully and went about the job confidently.

I took a photo of him as he put the clear cap on the roof.

051616 Bob finishing solar tube on roof.JPG

The rest of the afternoon I kept going to look at the kitchen and bathroom to see the light flooding in. Below is the interior bathroom lit only by the solar tube.

051616 Inner room lit by solar tube.JPG

While the sun was high, the flat disc in the ceiling looked like a spotlight in the kitchen. Later there was just a soft glow.

051616 Kitchen with solar tube.JPG

Logan appeared shortly after his dad started working. I asked why he wasn’t in school, and he said saucily, “I’m taking a day off.”

John had the more likely story from Bob. Logan had an earache during the night. Old man and little boy played checkers for the first time together while Bob worked. It reminded me of all the times John patiently played with our grandsons. At least today, John had the edge on Logan.

051616 John and Logan play checkers.JPG

Public Apology to Tom

I was thrilled with our gift of Amy’s birdbath and sat right down to thank her and her friends for installing it in our empty, wisteria-cursed pergola. I wrote at night, not my optimum brain time. It didn’t occur to me until the next day that I might have insulted Tom. Can you imagine the conversation that might have gone on at Amy’s house?

Amy looks at her messages and says, “My goodness! Anne called Tom a fairy!”

Tom comes over to look at the screen and reads, “I know the garden fairies who worked this magic – Amy and her dear friends Mary and Tom.”

So, Tom, I apologize for writing a statement that some might construe as slanderous. I looked up fairies in Wikipedia and found the mythical creatures are gender neutral. Given the current uproar over bathroom laws in North Carolina, what do you suppose the politically correct gender police would do with that?

Garden Fairies

Now that our garden has plants in bloom, I’m reminding myself to look out of the window whenever I’m in the kitchen. We had been out all afternoon. As I washed my hands, my eyes skimmed the view from the lilac bush, over the roses, to the wisteria. Wait! Go back an inch! What is under the pergola?

051616 Birdbath a surprise.JPG

If this had been a scene in a movie, I would have rubbed my eyes in disbelief. It was a birdbath made to look like a daisy. Perfect! Just the day before, John and I said we should take neighbor Amy’s advice to put something under the wisteria. There is no telling when we would have gotten around to it. Now the deed is done, and I love it.

051616 Birdbath reflections.JPG

I know the garden fairies who worked this magic – Amy and her dear friends Mary and Tom. Amy sold her house, and Mary and Tom have come from South Carolina to help her pack. Amy said we could have this garden fixture, despite my protest that she might want it at her new home. If I had been here, I would have insisted that they shouldn’t take packing time to do such a huge favor for us. I don’t know that I would cut off my nose to spite my face, but I can certainly see myself getting in the middle of magic and making a merry mess of it.

051616 Birdbath under wisteria.JPG

Thank you Amy, Mary, and Tom. I’m sure you know that every time I look at the birdbath, I’ll remember your magic that surprised us.

Pop the Packaging

Neighbor Logan (5) went with his dad and John to buy supplies at Lowe’s. As soon as they came back, Logan ran in with his books from school. He gets two small paperbacks every day to read at home. John was picked to be the readee and sat down with Logan on his lap. I was downloading an application, so I didn’t stand around to be amazed at the boy’s ability to read. After he read his books, Logan ran in to ask me how long you could live without food and water. I’m not sure what prompted that, but we found a simplistic answer that you could live three weeks without food, but only a week without water.

Logan’s quick eyes spotted a box filled with air bags that had protected my latest online purchase. Like bubble wrap, air bags were irresistible. As soon as he started jumping on them, I reached for the toy camera. Because there is always a lag after pressing the shutter, I didn’t think the results would be useable. The first shot caught him in mid-air, one arm and both feet blurred.

051316 Popping airbags.JPG

The second showed the pleasure on his face after popping them all. Simple things can bring such unexpected delight.

051316 The winner!.JPG

Shakedown in the Neighborhood

Neighbor Amy very kindly said my debt was paid in full. I cheated her out of a milkshake at Biltmore weeks ago and subsequently had two with her.

As I nixed John’s suggestion that time, I kept him from having a shake, too. We agreed we’d have a half-price Sonic on the way home from buying a secondhand car. Unfortunately, I ate too big a celebratory dinner and couldn’t face a shake. Days later we stopped at a fast food place in Knoxville after a concert. The voice from the order sign said the strawberry machine had been turned off. We were indignant. Who in his right mind would turn off a shake machine when we needed one? A strawberry one, at that! If my brain had been working, I would have suggested we go elsewhere. Alas, John was the loser and settled for chocolate. Please note the settling for chocolate was his sentiment, not mine. I know for a fact that chocolate is king.

Weeks later we went to another concert, this one in Asheville. We heard five Russians sing Russian Orthodox church music and folk songs. Milkshake fever was running high, and we finally had our half-price Sonics on the way home. A big plus was John’s having strawberry chunks in his.

People who read the shake saga from the beginning said I’d never live it down. It’s going to be one of those family/neighborhood tales with a life of its own. I have the feeling the next time we go out with neighbors Shawn and Bob, I’d better offer them a shake before we do anything else.