#56 A Surprise Gift!

As I was sitting here working on my gratitude for today there was a knock on my door. This has never happened before unless I ordered delivery or had plans. 

It was a neighbor to give me a Happy Purim gift!!!  What a wonderful surprise!

Purim is a Jewish festival celebrating the survival of the Jews from the Persian Haman's plan to destroy them. It is from Thursday night to Friday night and from all accounts is usually a big party over the weekend. Here is a basic description. 

This year with "the corona" (as they call it here) there will be no big street party or public celebrations and we are not supposed to go to other people's houses. There is a curfew each night from 8:30 PM until 5 AM the next morning from Thursday-Sunday. 

I'll have to wait until next year to see how Purim is truly celebrated here, but until then I am delighted with my surprise gift!

I think this may be a word search.

I'm not sure what this says but it is one side of the box.

#311: The [burnt] orange door

For my birthday my next door neighbor gave me a new door! The shed in my back yard had an old, awkward, non-standard door. It had holes in it into which bees had moved, the wood was peeling up, and the paint that once coated it had peeled off years ago. It looked awful.

I didn't think the old door was so bad, really, but my neighbor reminded me often [read: for last 2 years] that HE was the one that had to look at it all the time, because their patio looks directly at the front of my shed.

When I returned home from Burley today, the new door was in!

Please note the color: official burnt orange. Don't believe me? You can go look yourself here!

He also primed the rest of the shed so that first thing next spring, I can paint it white. And my second painting goal of the spring? To paint the trim on my house. Yes, you guessed it, HEX: #8F5700.

#224: Neighbors.

Creative Commons CC0

I love my neighborhood and especially my neighbors. Here's why:

• We stand around and talk while we mow and our children ride bikes around.
• We wave to each other.
• We notice what happens at other people's houses. For example, the person that is supposed to come and walk your dog? Yeah, we know that she only came over 3 times in two weeks during the day.
• When I had a leak while I was out of the country two years ago, two of them went into my crawl space to check things out. They also dealt with the water company and emailed me all the details.
• One couple kept my ficus alive while I was in Ireland this summer.
• Another neighbor watered my lawn a couple of times while I was gone.
• I can borrow their children to go to the movies with (next up: Inside Out).
• They help me put in insulation.
• We DJ each other's parties.
• They lend me an egg to finish a recipe I've already started.
• They invite me snowboarding.
• They aren't afraid to tell me to slow down when I drive to fast in the neighborhood.  Not that I've ever done that.
• We come running when someone on the street calls out for help.
• We collect each other's mail.
• They help me move furniture into my house.
• They help me move furniture out of my house.
• They fix my lawn mower.
• One pumped up my tires the first time I pulled out my bike after 3 years in the shed.