The Best Neighbors

 I've included the card from Tom (on the left) and Patty (on the right) because this neighborhood does party together.  We are all ages, all incomes, some retired, some professional.  It is all made possible because both Tom and Patty Hunt make it their business to learn names and wave as neighbors drive by.

This card is so appropriate because we gather on the front porch on Friday nights in the summer and drink wine.  But the best part is the conversation.  We love to have new folks join us and hear their stories.

Often our conversation centers on the books we are reading so this past fall Patty, David and I attended a talk by Sharyn McCrumb, an Appalachian writer of some renown. So Patty and Tom presented me with a singed copy of her latest book.  It continues to amaze me how appropriate these gifts have been.  There certainly has been a lot of thought given to each one.  I will enjoy Ghost Riders.  Thank you, Tom and Patty not only for this gift but for all the wonderful conversations that we have had.  You are the BEST!

One Fall Day

"....God wishes to see people happy amidst the simple beauty of nature"

One fall day, Gayle, Dolores and I walked the Lick Run Greenway.  Gayle's birthday card reminds me of that morning and the simple pleasure of walking with friends. We were happy just as God intended.  

We gathered Hedge Apples along the way because they were thought to repel spiders.  Gayle's grandfather had them placed in bowls around his basement for that purpose.  Little did we know we were picking up a fortune.  The Coop is selling them for 45 cents each.  Dolores says we can get rich.

And the gift, a bracelet which is in memory of Mel Simmons.  the proceeds go to support the Mel Foundation and the work they do funding cancer research. It's lovely.  Thank you, Gayle.  I look forward to many more Greenway walks.  I treasure your friendship.

My Favorite Things

When I die I want flowers.......lots of flowers.  But not those funeral wreaths or tightly arranged vases of hot house roses.  No, I want baskets of flowers tumbling around and joyfully reaching out into the space they inhabit.  

Although Mary didn't make the party, she got it right when she sent flowers, two large bunches of color which I have enjoyed on the table in the foyer every time I pass through the house.  We know that Mary was involved in her favorite thing, remodeling houses, that afternoon.  Finding herself covered in paint and dust she realized the party was going on without her and this was a problem.  You see, Mary is a party girl as well as a talented designer who has rehabbed two of the most dilapidated houses in our neighborhood. She loves our neighborhood, throws parties so we can all get together, and always checks before renting to a new tenant to see if they will fit in with the neighbors.  We missed you, Mary but the flowers were wonderful! Thank you.

Hard Cider is In

The sale of hard cider is up 65%.  After hearing this on Public Radio I cracked open the first bottle of the Foggy Ridge Cider that Ed and Cindy gave me.  Wonderful!  Not only was it cool and refreshing but that little tangy bite was perfect.  I remember drinking cider as a child that was a bit fermented and then with health laws in place we couldn't get hard cider any more.  Now I find it in all the stores sometimes replacing beer.  

Ed told me about their tour of the Foggy Ridge bottling facility in Dugspur, VA where this gift was purchased.  It's always exciting to find good local items and businesses that are flourishing.  David and Carol had come for dinner and we shared this first bottle which made a good addition to the talapia and salad greens from the backyard winter garden. I felt quite included with the "in" crowd now taking up the joys of hard cider.

Thank you, Cindy and Ed!

When You Know How it Was Made and Share the Appreciation It's Even More a Miracle.

My cousin, David, was older than I and as a result we didn't get really acquainted until he and I both returned to Roanoke some six years ago.  One of our common joys is shopping for original hand-built pottery so we try to take in the Pottery Show every year.  Admiring the raku pottery by David Overshire I told David he should purchase it.  I had one of Overshire's pieces from two years ago and appreciate the the smooth texture and subtle glazing of his work. David purchased it. Unknown to me he was buying it for me. 

I have taken many pottery classes over the years.  The poem above is one that was written by a fellow student in 1971, Virginia Downes, a doctor.  I don't remember much about Virginia but have kept her poem and often contemplated her description of making a pot as a symbol of birth and God as the potter "giving birth", "delivering a pot" and "working miracles'.  

When thinking of how to thank you, David, I remembered the poem and pulled it off the shelf to once again consider the significance.  This pot I will treasure.  Thank you!

Peace, There is Always Hope 

Some may wonder what will happen to our children.  Will they be embroiled in wars and violence as they grow into adulthood?

Hannah loves peace signs and she picked out this peace sculpture which is made of folded paper magazines.  It was also made in the USA.  Today it sits in my dining room reminding me that there is hope just as Hannah brings hope to my life.  In her I see a sweet peacefulness and joy that will influence not only her life but extend to all she meets in this world.  Thank you, Hannah, for reminding me and for being a special person who brings me hope for peace.  Love, SuSue.

Sisters Jackie, Frankie, and Clare

Logos

 

Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes?
If you say the right words, the wine expands.
If you say them with love
and the felt ferocity of that love
and the felt necessity of that love,
the fish explode into the many.
Imagine him, speaking,
and don't worry about what is reality,
or what is plain, or what is mysterious.
If you were there, it was all those things.
If you can imagine it, it was all those things.
Eat, drink, be happy.
Accept the miracle.
Accept, too, each spoken word
spoken with love.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(Why I Wake Early)

Synchronicity, when found is effervescent.  Like the carbonation of a soda drink a synchronistic moment bubbles up joy because in that moment we know that somehow we are all connected.  And this is truly magnificent!

Jackie read the poem (above) from Mary Oliver as her gift.  Only moments later as I opened Clare's gift and found a portion of that same poem I am once again reminded that SW Virginia is a blessed place, a thin, sacred place where connections are easy to find whether they be friends, animals or the earth.  This I have learned.

The Grand Marnier will expand as we open it on Tuesday and watch the election returns.  Thank you, Clare, for the gift and for coming to my party. Thank you for being my friend!