All of which goes to show....do what it takes not to fight with your neighbors. They may be unreasonable (one of ours called the cops to report an abandoned car parked in front of our house....that belonged to my daughter who was on vacation). They may be dead wrong (one of ours thought that, because their property is subject to an easement for use by their adjoining neighbors, they had an easement to use my property). They may even be right (when we were first married more than 30 years ago, another of ours objected that our dog, who we had trained to retrieve the newspaper, was taking their paper. She was.). We have learned to be considerate. When their wishes infringe on our right to live as we please, we set down boundaries, explaining why and what we are doing, accommodating what we can. Neighbor doesn't like cars parked in our driveway? Too bad. We have friends. Neighbor likes to spray the property line with Roundup? Fine, so long as not one drop gets on my plants planted along the fence line. Neighbor doesn't like the view of my yard from their living room window? Fair enough. We do what we can, planting screening to soften infrastructure installed by the developer. Of course I wonder why they didn't do the same on their own property. But I screen nonetheless. It's all part of being a good neighbor. Funny how barking dogs and trash containers get people nuts. We have neighbors who seems to think that leaving the emptied trash containers up on the street for an hour past trash pickup is a sign of poor breeding. Oh well. The green can is so heavy that I cannot wrangle it up the driveway. I get half way up, and it rolls me right back down. So when my gardener fills it, he also does the service of putting the green can up by the street. Neighborhoods used to be organized with those wonderful alleyways at the back of the property. We don't live in that world any more. As for dogs, there's a big difference between a young dog learning to enjoy staying in the yard alone for the first time and a dog that barks all day, every work day while its owner is at work. But not to my neighbors.

A very interesting thread...my first had none of it, work of any kind was an anethma to her.....my second...we met online, and among her pics and bio were garden pics...and I thought, "wow, a gardener!"...well, turns out, DW of 3 yrs likes to look at the gardens , and look at the butterflies...and she is so patient about my endless hours outdoors, late winter evenings standing in the rain as I "draw in my head" with a shovel.....and spend summer weekends doing this and that....and she'll love the finished product.... Now...I always had the dream I'd fall in love in a garden...a chance encounter...finding that beautiful woman...feminine...yet unafraid to get her hands dirty... in overalls with her hair back digging a hole and planting something....I guess the real reason...is that if you look at true gardeners...(not the chemically sterilized flowers in rows) but a true gardener...who loves and lives all aspects and creaturs of the garden...who has an appreciation for the diversity of the web of life in the garden...then that person is a nurturer...and nurturers are the most loving people I have ever met... I always thought the creation story was in the garden for a reason...that we have left the garden...and until we return...we won't truly appreciate those things greater than we are...my garden is where I talk to my late father (who taught me the love)..it's where I see miracles and creatures great and small....and I have often thought of a relationship between a couple in the garden analogy....that love is like a garden....it will have sun shine, and will endure storms....wind...rain...weeds....but if the master gardener tends lovingly to the garden.....prunes, weeds, fertilizes.....s(he) will harvest something that is of such awe and wonder....for love is ultimately a great mystery....and one that never loses it's dynamics in a garden..and a tended garden never loses it's mystery....but ratehr grows more beautiful with the passing of each year.... And so I hope the same for my love and my garden...

Chase, oh girl - you have me bawling but also so happy for you that you re-connected. Peppi, is right the older ones are so special. She sounds like a great lady! What you said about life being too short...how true we all know but we all get so busy and time flies by when we are not looking. Your story reminds me so much of my Aunt Winnie. She doesn't live close-by anymore and she kept telling me when is she going to see the baby. She wouldn't make the Christening - she wasn't feeling well - which is not her usual. She is like an ox we all say. So, I go up Memorial Day and have the best visit with her. She has macular degeneration and shined her light right on Grace - who of course bawled her head off. We were laughing - the baby was fine. LOL She was the keeper of so many family memories and had so many stories about my mom. She told me "Margaret, I'm getting the baby a cross - don't let anyone get one for her". She was in the hospital a week later with pain in her foot. She turned 84 on flag day - June 14th - and passed away a week later. I saw her in the hospital and she was in horrible pain. She was my great aunt - married to my nana's brother - my Uncle Freddy. She was one of a kind - a strong broad - ahead of her time and I loved her with all my heart. I hate that my children will never know her. So - virtual hug. Hope you don't mind me sharing my story. To me life and the joy in life is all about moments like your lunch.

Thank you everyone. Tomorrow will be interesting to say the least. Only our contractor/carpenter crew were here today clearing out their stuff, wiping things down for tomorrow's move in. They ran out of time to move the appliances in the house. And they know they have to be here before the movers because their open trailer is still in front of the house - blocking the mover truck... But after all this, tomorrow all I need is a winter coat, comfy shoes and wave my arms around in different directions. I also have a clip board with our packing sheets so I can mark off the boxes on my copy as they come in. DH is having major joint problems today with the weather. I'm quite happy to leave him in the trailer with the cat tomorrow. He can make the coffee. So I'm heading to bed early tonight. Tomorrow night our own beds will be set up! Yippy!