good friends, neighbors, and our favorite things

I could write and write and write. Instead today I will simply say that our neighbors, Fred and Helene, have been a great gift in our lives. We spend time together impulsively...when we find ourselves with a moment or an hour or so to sit and enjoy the fruits of all that planting labor and can share and catch up on each other's doings...and try to worry less about the "not doings".

A recent Friday they kindly had Donna and I to dinner...it all came together perfectly. Before Donna got home from work Fred and I were chatting, looking at this gorgeous gate and enjoying the day. Helene came along then we had drips and drops of rain. Faster drops moved the conversation to their screened in porch and before long a spontaneous dinner plan was hatched. Donna came home, delighted to celebrate Friday with friends. We shed the worries of the day, grabbed some melon we had to offer for dessert.

The food and company were joyful for me. Helene is an outstanding researcher so she has all kinds of stories to tell about her finds and people she corresponds with. Fred dreams big, like me, and we commiserate about the demons of perfectionism. Our conversation topics range from tools and yard maintenance, mowing and weeding and cute furry garden destroyers, on to local history, flea market finds or religion, literature and philosophy. Nothing is off limits.

They are away this week, being grandparents in California, but their cottage garden is keeping us company in their absence, and you can see how heavy with morning glories the gate that leads to Fred's young orchard is. The variety, Heaven Blue, is a favorite of my father's, and he generously shares seedlings he gets from a local nursery. The row of 4 homes, from Voto's to our house, the farm house and my sister's place all have some, and this year they have been better than ever on picket fence, a comfort~ joy in the dawn stretched into the afternoon as the oaks across the street keep the blooms open far into the day.

We share plants back and forth....well, between my folks as the other next-door neighbors Donna and I have been lucky recipients. I am hoping that we can offer from our own divided perennials one of these seasons. Fred salvaged some Rose of Sharon, almost bare root sticks, set aside to be thrown away at a local nursery. He nursed them along himself and the rewards have been wonderful. This is the best shot I could get of one bloom of vigorous plants on the path through the garden gate path has at least 4 different colors, if not more. There are so many more blooms and colors and I am hoping those flowers will give them joy after a a happy journey.

My folks have at least one of his offerings and we popped one into my yard to replace a red maple sapling that did not winter well.

Maybe it is maturity that makes it easier for people of may parent's age to approach a stranger and ask about their plants or their bird feeders or life in general. My father saw a woman working in her garden and stopped. She spoke of her morning glories coming back from seed...as "volunteers" but what she shared with my Dad turned out a little different, The variety did not Heavenly Blue, but I adore them. The star of pinkish violet set in the purple pops out of the grand green leaves in a small but majestic display. The buds are a swirl of white and pink and purple. The folks used to grow clematis at the back step and it was not doing well the last couple of years. I put my vote in early for a repeat of the annual. We are sucking the marrow out the bones of summer's end and allowed ourselves to enjoy the sun, read and snack on our inherited lawn furniture.

There is always something to see and watch for in just a moment's walk in any direction. I hope you find the kind of treasures we are rich with around here.