Keeping Up

Keeping up with frogs and friends is not always easy. I thought I spotted Frog the day after I cleaned the waterfall pools, but I haven’t seen him since. He used to sun himself for hours on a warm stone, but then it wasn’t warm for days.

I was uneasy about a BFF, because I hadn’t heard from her for a few days. I got a message from her asking if I was OK for the same reason. I replied that I was fine. I realized she had not gotten my account of the neighborhood gathering for Memorial Day. Going back to my message to her, I sent her the screen shot of the photo. We were perplexed until I looked at the icons and saw there were two for her in different colors. Aha! I felt really stupid when I realized I sent two messages to her land line.

There was no way to copy those messages, so I put my phone beside the computer and typed the words to her. After catching up, I deleted her land line from my contact list.

To keep y’all up to date, here is a photo of us as we ate lunch on Memorial Day. J brought his grill through our side yards, and we decided to put it on the back porch because of threatening rain. He said later that he liked it, because people were out there talking to him as he cooked our hot dogs and hamburgers. No one realized he felt cut off when we stayed inside while he cooked. Years ago we began to bring our own meats and a side dish to share. That has worked well for us.

Several of us felt that the gathering was one of our best. We seemed closer, more in tune with each other. When Joyce moved her chair, we could see each other’s faces as we munched on desserts. I enjoyed it tremendously and was happy to have had a deadline to get the porch cleaned up after yellow pollen season. We shared leftovers with each other as the party broke up. It was a wonderful start to the outdoor eating season.

I forgot to mention that Bob led us in prayer before we ate, remembering Americans who gave their lives for our country and asking a blessing on the food. It was not an afterthought, as it was here.

Stair Landing Repair

Neighbors J and D were at my house for the last neighborhood party and noticed one board in the front landing was rotting. Today they came over and replaced it! They arrived with a board, a bag of tools, some power tools, and an extension cord. In jig time they were able to remove the board and replace it without disturbing any of the boards around it.

I told them their teamwork was amazing. I was also impressed at how easily J handled the tools. His comment was, “I learned it all from working with Bob. I never did any construction work before.”

J said they have a similar look at their house. They replaced half a step with treated wood and haven’t painted it. I declared I wouldn’t paint mine, either. This is the latest fashion on our street, and we are leading it proudly. I like seeing mine every time I go on the front porch, because it reminds me that I have the world’s best neighbors.

Turning Christmas Around

For 59 years straight I went to church on Christmas Day. Not this year! Confident the service would be streamed, I turned on the iPad. When I couldn’t find it, I ran to ask David if he knew anything about it. He didn’t. I tried again, seeing the statement that the next service to be streamed would be on December 31. I was frustrated and very disappointed. I must have missed any mention of which services would be shown and recorded. As I sat there in despair, I noticed a text message had come in at 9:50. It was from next door neighbor D. She wrote, “Merry Christmas! Are you doing anything special?”

I replied, “Shawn, Bob, Logan, and Lisa are coming for dinner about 12:30. There is lots of food. Would you join us? Love to have you!”

Her reply turned the day around. Yes! She and Jeff would love to come. That gave me such a boost. I set the table for seven and began to prepare the vegetables. The Chicken and Stuffing casserole was in the refrigerator, ready to be cooked.

Here we are, having almost finished the main meal. D prefers not being photographed, so I cut her off. For the foodies, we had chicken casserole, baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes (not having seven of either), broccoli with Hollandaise sauce, and fried apples. Shawn’s rolls were a lovely addition. For dessert we had the pound cake Shawn and Bob gave me for my birthday, as well as some Lebkuchen. D poured chocolate wine, her contribution to the meal, to go with dessert. That certainly hit the spot!

Lisa said beforehand that she would be very happy if she could watch the football game. At the table I asked her when the game would begin. “Six minutes ago,” she answered. She and Logan watched the game quietly on a phone, not intruding on the rest of us at all. I thought it was a brilliant solution. Everyone got what they wanted.

Unobtrusively, Kasey was working the table from below. I don’t feed the dog from the table, making her wait to lick a plate later. I don’t know what she garnered, but she was very happy. I was glad she had been indulged without breaking my personal rule. Her face showed up in this photo. What a happy dog! Bob took her out for a walk. He came in laughing, saying she ran in circles around him. He just held up his arm holding the leash as she raced around.

The party lasted long enough to be totally satisfying. We relaxed and visited in comfy chairs. Despite my objections, Shawn and D washed dishes and let me load the dishwasher. Everything was cleaned quickly. I’ll say as I’ve said before, I have the world’s best neighbors.

After everyone left I talked to son John $ and Rose, eating Chinese food in Washington. Grandson Nathaniel and Sarah chatted on the phone with me while they traveled from her mother’s home to her grandmother’s house. Daughter Lise was the last, doing Facetime and introducing me to her friend. Tanya (sp?) prepared American macaroni and cheese, a particular favorite of hers. Tanya also cooked the traditional Danish pork dinner and potatoes. The white potatoes are sweet! Lise said many Danes don’t do it as well as she did, and she comes from Nashville TN! She also served the traditional rice pudding, a dish much more elegant than the name implies.

It seemed everyone had a marvelous celebration. It was wonderful to be included in person and via tech assist. It was truly a merry Christmas for me.