Thursday, July 8, 2010

Happy cat

Larisa the Happy Cat has been eating all afternoon and, according to the vet, will probably be ready to come home tomorrow without needing surgery. The vet said they have some very sick cats in ICU right now and it's nice to go in there and have one who comes to the front of her cage to see what's going on, purring loudly and "prancing with her tail held high". Guess she's a lucky girl also. I didn't know she'd been in ICU - that's probably just as well.

I've been thinking about neighborhoods. Yesterday afternoon I walked across the street to visit Judy, my older neighbor. I took her her mail and a container of strawberries from our garden. I'm not a gift bearer, usually, but I remember that's how neighborhoods used to be, and I've got a neighbor, Jennie, who is a gift bearer and now my friend, and I want to spread the good neighborly energy. Judy and I talked for an hour while her portable air conditioner blew across the room to cool us down from the 87-degree weather. For the Seattle area, 87 is hot.

While we were in San Antonio last week, I read Voluntary Simplicity on my Kindle. I've been drawn to simplicity and frugality and living in alignment with my values for the last few months, as I started to plan my post-work activities. Right now our garden is burgeoning and there are strawberries in the freezer and we ate our first two ripe blueberries this afternoon. We pulled out the finished broccoli plants and tossed them to the chickens next door, who were quite appreciative. We extracted six eggs from their house and will have them for breakfast tomorrow morning.

But, back to my topic, the idea of neighborliness is pulling at me. Judy said that in the 80s our neighborhood was close knit, but in the 1990s some people died or moved away, and the new neighbors were closed in (us, for example), busy with work and families and not inclined toward neighborliness. I told Judy I was embarrassed by the quality of neighbor I've been, and I intend to change that. It's wonderful to have time during the day for such purposes.





4 comments:

Linda Reeder said...

You sound like a person I would like for a neighbor, but you would have to have the chickens, not me.

Teresa Evangeline said...

I'm so glad your kitty is fine. And, neighborliness/community is what it should be all about. imo. It's good to have time to create that kind of neighborhood. Sounds like your garden is doing well...

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

It's nice that you are building a neighborly relationship. As I approach retirement, I've been thinking that I need to cultivate a friendship or two...not neighbors, probably, but that same kind of simple support...because most of my long-time friends have moved away.

Linda Myers said...

When I worked I talked to a couple dozen people a day, both in my workplace and on the phone. I knew I'd need to replace those people with other contacts. Starting with a few neighbors seemed like a good idea.