Wash Day

Here's the thing.

Our modern lifestyle used to be more modern. When NDL started on Groundhog's Day in 2010, few in our acquaintance were on Facebook, and Pinterest was an infant enterprise. When we surfed the web and shared a find it typically hadn't already been seen by millions. Now we feel that NDL, for the purpose of spreading the wonders of the internet has has become redundant. Obsolete. Peripheral. Irrelevant. 

Phrases such as 'fold the tent", "turn the page", "end of an era", "move on", "reinvent" - all whirl around as we think, "what are we doing here?". 

We don't usually indulge in naval gazing in this forum, but feel like the evolution of daily posts in 2010 to weekly in 2015, and now only the rare post as 2016 approaches deserves a word for those faithful few who still look at this space.

Many of the blogs we used to enjoy and repost from have completely gone away. Some slowly. Some abruptly. 

Times change. Lives change. Facebook pages are easier.

We have never cared greatly how many views the posts at NDL receive. Although there were times when we were glad for a comment or two just to know that we weren't talking to ourselves. This week the views from Russia are twice that from the U.S.. Interesting don't you think, comrade robot?

In searching for something to share with you today we found this image at the Graphics Fairy. It shows one of our favorite activities. 

Check out those bluebirds of happiness. We see them all the time when hanging wash. 

Well, not really. But we do see robins, orioles, and bald eagles, and they make us just as happy.

Hanging out the wash gives us a sense of peace.  It allows us to enjoy the beauty of the day, observe nature, and listen to the sounds of the neighborhood. We have time to think of the people who wear the clothes and use the linens we are rhythmically pinning to the line. It connects us to traditions of the past and makes us feel like we are more gently using our natural resources. 

And there is nothing better than the smell of line-dried laundry.You get it when you hug your husband and press your nose into his shoulder, or when you climb into the sheets at night, or dry yourself off with a rough, wind-dried towel. 

So, if it's just the same to you, rather than disappearing completely from the blogisphere we're reverting to the pace and rhythm that feels right for us. Until we are ready, if ever, to pin our tastes and show our face online we will keep a presence here for musings, finds, and projects to be hung on our NDL line as they occasionally, naturally occur.

Hope you will still peek over the real or virtual back fence from time to time and say "hi".

Froggy Kong Jr.

Sometimes heard, but seldom seen around here this very serious looking little gray tree frog 

was recently spotted hanging out on our newly acquired Kong Jr. Green Halo coleus.

Perhaps he/she has been waiting for us to provide a suitably camouflaging and photogenic plant for his lounging pleasure.

What a nice addition to the alley wildlife. 

It is possible he/she may be the little guy who hitched a ride in the next door neighbors' car trunk from a nearby lake to the West Hill a few weeks ago? 

Perhaps she/he has now had enough of city life and is patiently watching from this perfect vantage point for an opportunity to hop into another open trunk and be homeward bound.

Fun Frog Fact: 

The gray tree frog freezes in the winter! It produces large amounts of glycerol. The glycerol is changed to glucose, and then it is circulated through the frog's cells. The glucose acts like a kind of antifreeze and prevents ice crystals from forming in the frog's cells. If ice crystals formed in the cells, they would rip the cells apart and kill the frog. The rest of the water and blood in the frog's body then freezes, and its heartbeat and breathing stop! When the temperature warms up, the tree frog "thaws out" and returns to the trees! - nhptv

Grandma, What Nice Mittens You Have On

This scene seen at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville, Wisconsin 

reminded us of the one who freezes snowballs in January to throw with her Southern grandsons in July.

"The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball." 

- Doug Larson

Once she helped us collect Zamboni shavings from behind the hockey arena for a fellow summer birthday child who didn't understand why he couldn't have a snowball fight as an activity for his June party. 

Yup, she's been in the business of making kids' dreams come true for four decades, and counting.

Here's hoping she has a chance to relax and enjoy her special day, which promises to be a beautiful Wisconsin one,

 but with the grand energy level currently at an all-time high she may just have to hold on for the ride for now and collapse later.

Ready. Aim. Enjoy!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...

At a garbage can near you?

Apparently we have not one, but two ursine visitors.

This is the youngster setting out for his nightly alley buffet dinner.

Why mess around with old dry cookies in a suspicious looking metal tin when you can have your pick of giant Tupperware containers full of nice kitchen waste? 

As another famously brilliant member of his family used to say....

"I'm smarter than the average bear!"

Floral Notes with Undertones of Black Ant

We try so hard not to pick a wine for its label....but sometimes we just cannot resist the power of a beautiful design. And generally when it comes to good design, if there is personal, sentimental meaning to it, whatever it is, a minimum of three, of whatever it is seem to end up in the shopping cart. Add a clearance price tag and the number could easily double. Twice the bargain, right?

So, wine with a wonderful heritage peony on the front. At Target. On sale. Just when we are wishing for the peonies to pop open. 'Nuff said.

And it was good. 

Very little information is out there about Heirbloom. This seems to be the only wine they produce. Mysterious, but not a deal breaker. It has a good rating, and it makes a perfect vase for a few heritage peonies that could have been models for the featured bloom.

And did we say that it was good?

Strolling alleys on the West Hill you will see this old fashioned, highly scented peony variety over many back fences. There is a long tradition of plant sharing between neighbors. Peonies come from gardens across allies which probably came from gardens across the streets in front of those houses. Plants that probably originated on family farms hopscotch from block to block all over town. 

These very traditional, probably French in origin, pink peonies came from Milly across the street. Another deep red variety was passed on by a neighbor whose back wouldn't allow her to garden anymore, and the magenta doubles along the alley came from a young neighbor who thought them too blowsy and ousted them in favor of the current trend toward native forbs and sedges. No judging here, blowsy, or prim and staid, all are welcome. 

If you are lucky enough to inherit peonies you are lucky enough, but if you must buy them, and want the heavenly scent they are known for, do your homework. Not all peonies are equally blessed in attributes such as scent, longevity of blossom, sturdiness of stem, and time of bloom.

If your requirements are few and this old standard variety appeals to you, we just might have a root or two to share. Perhaps we could discuss terms of peony adoption over a glass of wine. 

Today's the Day!

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn."  

Predicted temp of 54F. Partly sunny. 0% chance of snow.

We hereby proclaim this the first spring day.

We will get out in it and look for signs of the season while we try to build stamina for upcoming long walks on the Cornish Coast. 

It has been a long, weird, winter. Many distractions resulted in lack of focus.  

There was alot of almost literal naval gazing. 

But really, absolutely nothing to complain about. Our pipes didn't freeze, the slippery sidewalks didn't take us down, our cars faithfully served us with a minimum of deserved crankiness, cabin fever did not reach levels that led to calling the cops, an attorney, or even Dr. Phil.

We came out of the deep freeze with a new roof, a rehabbed kitchen and bath, and tuned up innards. 

Trips are planned. Kids are doing well. Elders are hanging in there. 

And around the neighborhood....houses are selling, which means old neighbors can move on to the next exciting thing and new neighbors are arriving to start the adventure that is home-ownership.

Soon,  we expect to see new babies who have been quickly shuffled through the frigid temps from house to car finally available for some leisurely goo-gooing in the great out of doors. The neighborhood toddlers have surely been learning some new words and tricks since we saw them last fall. We hope to see some of them out splashing in the big puddles in the alley today. One of the truest signs of spring!

So, today is the day! The birds are announcing it loudly enough to hear through closed, 

and still storm-windowed windows.

Here we go!

A Wish

Could a person be any happier than this sweet child looks? It doesn't seem so.

This photo fell out of an old, presumed to be empty, scrapbook purchased at an estate sale. 

We don't know who she is.We don't know where she is.

But we know that she was the apple of someone's eye.

Someone who wanted to capture this sparkly little elf on film.

Someone who she loved back enough to give them this amazing smile.

Every time we look at this image we smile too, and think - we should be this happy. 

We have every reason to be.

So, here's the wish , which like most wishes may come true a little faster with a bit of effort on the part of the Wishee:

Be this happy.

At least sometimes let's overlook the wrinkles in our stockings or our faces.

Put our hands in our pockets and ignore the nip in the air. Or savor it.

Be glad someone loves us enough to give us a bad haircut.

Remember that we are very lucky to have a home, a neighborhood, our basic needs met.

Channel this little doll, or any other child or adult who inspires you to look at and appreciate the raw wonders of daily life. 

And even if it is just sometimes - be this happy.

We've Got it Goin' On

It is time to get everybody else on the bandwagon.

Good proposes April 27 as Neighborday.

They have resources to get the neighboring ball rolling and some great stories of neighborhood life.

So, if you don't know your backdoor or frontdoor neighbors now is the time to reach out and meet them.

Channel Fred Rogers and greet and meet the people on your street today.

In Memorium

Never will we have a back-fence neighbor as wonderful and as colorful as our first one.

Tom passed away this week.

He left us this beautiful tree and many interesting memories.

In 2011 we wrote:

25 years ago we suggested during an over-the-fence chat with the neighbor man that this, then scrawny tree, with a rather ugly name be cut down. Tom moved to the other hill long ago, but whenever he comes around he never fails to say, as we stand under the graceful Hackberry tree in the lovely shade, 

"Yeah, I guess we should have cut that tree down."

Photo: S. Plasch

HB HB!

These busy bees remind us of our very own, very industrious, Honeybee next door. 

You can print this image from The Graphics Fairy,

color it, and send it to our favorite busy bee birthday girl today.

Speaking of honey...look at this beautiful, four pound jar of golden sweetness 

from our very own West Hill Honey Company.

Ain't she a beauty?

Perhaps we will invite Honeybee over for some birthday toast.

Any Given Friday

 ... you will find neighbors and other bon vivants in the sideyard ready to review and celebrate, 

and/or conduct a post mortem and lay to rest the week past.

Our ebullient hosts say the picnic table is open any Friday afternoon with or without the homeowners' presence. Hoo boy! But of course it wouldn't be the same without them.

If you weren't  there for opening day you didn't get a last chance for the end of the 2011 pesto.  Don't make the  mistake of again missing out on the amazing cocktail hour pantry magic that occurs every week when the clock strikes close enough to 5:00. 

Now that you have a standing invitation you'd be fools if you did not cruise by to join the fun. Just sayin'.

The social season has begun! 

Behind Every Great Man

Is a proud mom willing to do most anything for him. No, no, we're not talking about Jon Hamm. Although we're sure his mother is very proud.

Behind him? A model who needs you to buy the March issue of Esquire so that she can earn enough money to buy clothes that cover her whole body.

But the real reason to buy the current issue is to see the picture chosen for publication from a photo shoot held right next door to NDL HQ, by NDL, of the Queen of Cream of Mushroom Soup herself - Honeybee.

Her son, yet another neighborhood kid made good, is photo director for the illustrious Esquire magazine. When he called to request a photo of dear old mom for an article on Moms and pantry cooking we were all over it like Shake'n Bake on a drumstick and had a darn good time trying to get a shot that would capture the true essence of our favorite convenience food gourmand.

There are several great articles you will want to read...

...but page 139 131 is the main attraction as far as we're concerned. Bring your copy on over and you might just score an autograph and some free cooking tips. For example: the best brand of can opener to use to avoid repetitive stress injuries.

Yum yum.


Did You Know?

Trivia:

Honeybee's favorite secret seasoning to enhance a canned soup sauce is Mrs. Dash.

The secret to making her sloppy Joes mouthwatering and her wedded life spicy? Manwich.

Goofs:

The photo crew did not notice until the shoot was over that Honeybee was holding the supposedly hot skillet barehanded by the base rather than the handle.

Quotes:

"Not bad for cold Ragu."

"A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal."

Super Love

We interupt our Valentine love fest to show a little love to hometown boys made good, Megafaun.

"Hope You Know" from the LP "Megafaun" is the lovely background for this Toyota Camry commercial that we are expecting to see during the Superbowl.




We thought only Hallmark commercials could make us tear-up. But between the touching images and beautiful melody in the advertisement, and the memories of these musically talented, former little rascals weaving in and out of neighborhood life, well, we got a bit misty.

Well done boys.



P.S. We wonder if another local connection might be found with the cork covered car. Could it belong to this woman?

Hackberry

25 years ago we suggested during an over-the-backfence chat with the neighbor man that this, then scrawny tree, with a rather ugly name be cut down. Tom moved to the other hill long ago, but whenever he comes around he never fails to say facetiously, as we stand under the graceful tree in the lovely shade, "Yeah, we should have cut that tree down."



Photo: S. Plasch

Grandma Power

There is a baby boomlet going on in the neighborhood which has led to a bumper crop of devoted new grannies (and grandpas), many of whom are making superhuman efforts to be there for their kids and grands no matter the distances between them. Here, from our favorite independent bookstore, Redbery Books, is a lump-in-the-throat inducing book about the strength of a grandma's love.




Bibs embellished with a transportation motif seem like good go-with gifts.




Here you can read an interview with illustrator Julie Paschkis at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Then you can check out her colorful website.




It was just yesterday (and don't try to convince us otherwise) that we waved (between contractions) to some of these new, young mothers and fathers as they passed by the house on their very first day of school, on the very day the first baby was born to this family. Oh my! How time flies.

Let the Record Show

After a brief meeting of the planning committee...




...the sideyard social season began on Sunday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m and 44 degrees.






Appropriately, the idea snowballed and picked up stray neighbors as it rolled along.




A good time was had by all.

Well, That Was Really Something

Our sophisticated meteorological equipment tells us that we received 14" of snow this weekend.












A white Christmas is looking like a pretty sure thing.

Waiting for the Big Chill

Every neighborhood needs one. The tinkerer, the gadget guy, the crazy inventor. Fortunately we have the king of all of the above who is also a really sweet guy with the nextdoorneighborly patience of a saint with all the little kids who constantly stream through his yard asking a million questions about his very interesting activities. And it is no wonder they are drawn to the kidmagnet he has created by building ponds, bridges, treehouses, playground equipment, stilts, sandboxes, and anything else that anybody even slightly mentions might be fun addition to his amusement park. Last summer the inventor took on the ultimate big project - a beautiful new garage and workshop built in cooperation with his equally handy son.

This summer's plan (after the sailboat was scraped, repainted, and moored at the yacht club) was an iceboat. One day we looked down the alley and saw this headshaking hallucination.




On approach it seemed that the inventor was napping in the sun, sitting straight up in his new contraption. If one of the 55 MPH wind bursts that we have been experiencing for the last few days had come along just then, it would have been a very exciting surprise launch. We asked and he sheepishly admitted he had been dozing, and then goodnaturedly recreated the situation for the camera.







We love the detailing that looks like a big old paint chip sample in colors of Sky, Little Boy Baby Bootie, Robin's Egg, Swimming Pool Bottom, Larkspur, Forget-Me-Not, Robert Redford's Eyes, Horizon, Windex, and Anemic Smurf. (We have always wanted to be in charge of naming paint colors. It is actually harder than it seems. Can you tell we had suggestions for this lovely blue spectrum from someone who offered their help, but who is clearly not qualified or able to take the responsibility seriously?)




When the lake freezes over, not so very long from now, and wheels have been replaced with runners, we hope we get an invite to the inagaural ice run. If we do, you will hear about it. Stay tuned.

Honeyed Future Memories

It is some small consolation that if we can't continue to keep company with the Young Neighborlady we can at least envision her writing away in her new home in the very room that was formerly the office of Wisconsin's first poet laureate, Ellen Kort.

Yes, there is some comfort in knowing that, in a way, it was meant to be.

It seems Ellen Kort is something of a kindred spirit to the Young Neighborlady and others in NDLand. Here she writes about something that has been on our minds (and our toast) quite alot of late.

Over and Over Again

When I go to the grocery store and stand
in front of the shelf filled with jars of honey
every brand spells the word Mama
early morning toast sliced from a loaf
of homemade bread spread with honey
dipped from the little wax rooms of bees
Honey was a luxury at our house and every
time we had it Mama told us how bees
need strength to fly from one plant to another
how their little bodies grow fat from the dust
of pollen when they enter the open house
of flowers how they have to regurgitate
a sip of nectar 200 times in order to turn it
into honey Mama naming what cannot
be named the pure grace of hard labor
the soft hum of gratitude Mama
I’m beginning to understand how the long
Years unwind how stories come back
On the wings of memory simple things
Locked together an offering of recurring
Echoes Even now your voice sweet as honey

- Ellen Kort


When the Young Neighborlady is poet laureate we can say, "She lived right there, just across the alley. She wrote every minute she could while doing a terrific job of raising three beautiful and spirited children, nurturing her marriage to a wonderful man who never failed to think big, and gently gathering everyone she met into a colorful, everlasting, kind of freaky and geeky, bouquet of friendship."

Now Who Will Bring the Funk?

A favorite greeting card of NDL reads, "Anybody can bring the greenbean casserole to the neighborhood party but...

...it takes someone special to bring the funk."

Today our funk is leaving in a beat-up minivan followed by a big truck. And we are, well, in quite a funk about it.




We will miss more than we can say (while trying without success, to avoid tears) caterpillar collecting with the alleyettes, spontaneous pesto parties, receiving beautiful baked goods in overgenerous repayment of loaned recipe ingredients, the unique squeak of a door that adds its tone to the neighborhood screendoor symphony, cups of coffee in the kitchen, glasses of wine on the deck, crazy potluck lunches, the sight and sounds of a happy, busy family coming and going in the alley, lots of laughter...all the liveliness that we have had the pleasure to observe and be a part of for the very quickly passing last 8 years.