My Boring Night at Home- from Stacy

Just another boring night at home. Jef and I sat down for dinner under the cropped sequoia, ready to bicycle to the Last Thursday Art Walk when we were finished eating. Ken walked by and we invited him to join us for dinner. He accepted, and raced off to pick raw asparagus in front of the farmhouse. I love “A” meals – asparagus and artichokes! It was fun recounting some of our youthful antics to Ken, who is receptively interested in life. What a gift!

 

              The three of us watched Dennis and Rowan walking in lock step through the parking lot, a father and son duo, with Anne lagging behind. Moments later Rowan and Garth were carrying a long red couch back our way, and trying to maneuver it through the laundry room door. They ultimately had to step through the herb bed I’ve been working on, with Dennis directing and me shouting, “Watch out! Not there! Oh no!” (just to taunt them.)

 

              Rowan started balancing on a parking curb with Dennis spotting. Suzanne balanced on the next curb. Marlene joined in. Garth grabbed Suzanne around her waist and twirled her around. The two of them giggled. Garth and Suzanne formed a chair with their arms and carried Queen Marlene off to bed.

 

              Then Linda and Larry got home, carting plants from their old home to their new, their patio and frontage a blooming mass of foliage. Linda and I caught up about our stairwell garden plot and our bounty of tomato plants. Larry told me where more lettuce could be planted. He assured me my end-of-the-workday-exhaustion “was just part of getting old.” Linda said, “It was the-end-of-the-school-year-zoo.” Jef and I cleared the dishes and decided not to bicycle to Alberta Street.

 

              I took out the compost, running into Dennis again. We went to check on the baby chicks in the storage building and I couldn’t believe how much they had grown since Monday! Today one of the chicks flew up onto the top edge of their nesting box. Larry and Joe got worried they’d get lost in the storage building, so Larry scavenged around the chicken coop in search of wire mesh and jerry-rigged a covering for the eight foot long box. Dennis and I agreed it was valiant of Larry to protect the chicks, but Dennis wasn’t sure it was necessary, because chickens are “flock” animals and like to stay together. I thought it might be good for their wing and body strength to fly around. I envisioned our chickens bending their knees up and down, lifting weights.

 

              I ran into Peg on my way back to my condo She said I looked sparkly with my glittery shirt and hair wreath. Peg’s such a sparkly gal herself! Jef was editing photos on his computer,

so I put together a get well card and care package for Jon’s friend Inga, who had hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. I left the package on Jon’s patio and thought how warm and inviting his patio looks, just like Jon himself. As I inventoried the clutter on Jef’s and my patio, I vowed to improve our feng shui this weekend. Just another boring night at home. Who needs television when you live in an ecovillage.