Interesting Neighbors

"Isn't it splendid to think
of all the things there are to find out about?
It just makes me feel glad to be alive --
It's such an interesting world."

-- L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Two stuffed monkeys, one wind-up monkey and a toy spider 10-6-14

"Discover the fulfillment of intimate relationships
 with flesh-and-blood neighbors ..."

-- Jose Panate-Aceves and John Hayes

We were cleaning up the kitchen after supper last night, when our neighbor Vera called.

My husband had cleaned the dead bugs and cobwebs and shit out of her yard light, and she was calling to thank him.

They chatted on the phone for a minute, and she popped the question.

"Can you come over?"

My husband and Leo trooped over, bearing a brownie fresh from the oven while I stayed behind and finished with the dish-washing and lunch-packing.

Vera loves to visit. She loves nothing more than mixing up strong cocktails and talking.

By the time I wandered over, the drinks were poured and the conversation was flowing.

Like many elderly folks, Vera sometimes repeats herself.

But mostly, she is a delightful story-teller full of interesting and funny tales about her younger days growing up in Massachusetts and her years of sailing adventures with her late husband, Moe.

Vera has multitudinous interesting stories about her multitudinous interesting friends. And it seems like every time we visit, she tells us something new that we've never heard before, all spoken in her charming New England accent.

Like last night. 

She was telling us about the little Episcopal church she attended in the little village she grew up in that happened to be near the prestigious Groton School. She said students from the then all-boys' Episcopal institution taught Sunday school classes to the local children. After one Sunday's lesson, the boy who'd been teaching her class wrote and mailed Vera a letter saying that he thought she was "the nicest girl there."

She remembered his exact formal-sounding name -- Something-something-something the Third. 

"Oh my God, I should have kept it," she said, laughing and knocking back a slug of her second Manhattan on the rocks. "But I didn't. I threw it away."

Vera usually goes to bed very early -- around 7:30 p.m.

But last night she chatted until nearly 9:30. 

Me: "We're keeping you up past your bedtime."

Her: "Oh, I know. It's okay. I'm really enjoying this. I'm so glad you all came over."

With nearly 90 years of an interesting life to tell us about, a visit with Vera is never boring. We love following her meandering segues from one topic to another, seeing where her vivid memory takes us next through the long life of people she's met and places she's been.

"I just love talking to people," she said, grinning. "You all don't say much, but I just love talking."

Coffee With Sam

"Black as the devil, 

hot as hell,

pure as an angel,

sweet as love."

-- Charles Maurice de Tallyrand 

(speaking of the perfect cup of coffee)

Self portrait with Sam at Starbucks 3-2-14
(aka "triple decaf espresso with a venti non-fat 4-pump caramel latte")

"Picking our go-to Starbucks drink has become a new American rite of passage,

and whether you're a grande hazelnut macchiato or an iced venti soy pumpkin spice latte,

your drink has become part of your personality, a product of dozens of cardboard cups'

worth of searching for the coffee you salivate for, Pavlov's dog-style,

whenever you smell fresh ground beans."

-- "What Does Your Starbucks Order Say About You?", Huffington Post

My son Sam buzzed home for a quick visit this weekend.

Whenever he does that, he likes to go grab a quick coffee together at Starbucks.

So I put on a pair of wraparound shades to hide my Quasimodo eye, and we went.

We talked. We drank coffee.

It was good.

A Surprise Visit From My Very Own Kid

"Well, hello there, Mother," Sebastian said in a voice like silk.

"Surprised to see me?"

-- Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

Monster finger puppets 1-28-14

"There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved."

-- Charles Morgan

"Vernon! My dear, what a delightful surprise!"

-- Georgette Heyer, Frederica

Typically, when someone shows up on my doorstep uninvited and unannounced, my first thought is "Aw, shit."

But when it's my own kid, home for a couple of days because his college canceled classes at the last minute due to dangerously frigid temperatures, my first thought is "Aw-some!"

He didn't stay long, but while he was here I got to mother him a little bit. I cooked meatballs and spaghetti and we all sat down and ate dinner together. I cut his hair. I popped him popcorn (real popcorn on the stove). I rode along in my PJs for a late night drive through run. We went to the mall and didn't buy anything.

No big whoop. Just little stuff. 

Still, it was a really good surprise.

He could have done anything he wanted with his days off. He didn't even have to tell us he had days off. And whatever he chose to do, I would have been fine with it. He's a big kid living in a big kid world, doing big kid things.

But I have to admit, it did feel mighty good that, given the choice, he chose to come here.