How is it I Never Met This Guy Before?

This is a short, neighborly story. This weekend Kate and I spent a little time cleaning out the last bits of stuff from the Stevenson Ln. basement. The real estate agent suggested it would make the basement look bigger. By the end we had a completely full truck and a queen size mattress, box spring and an old dining room table to unload. We left it in the alley for bulk trash pick up, which it turns out isn't a service offered by Baltimore County.

I contacted both Salvation Army and Goodwill, the latter of which didn't accept mattresses. The former did, but made it difficult to manage. So I settled on taking everything to the dump. A shame, I know, but what are you gonna do?

The climax of the story, please. Yes, of course. So today I went over early in the morning to tie everything to the roof of the truck for transport. In the middle of hauling all four pieces over to the car a neighbor on the opposite side of the alley came out and offered to help. I was very happy to accept. After lifting the mattress onto the truck it became clear the tying everything down was going to be tricky. Doable, but time consuming. My neighbor...we'll call him Scott because apparently that's his name, then offered to haul everything to the dump himself in his pick up truck. He was heading that way anyway, he said. I tried to refuse, but he was insistent. So I took him up on the offer.

We chatted as we loaded his pick up. Turns out he moved into his house in '98, exactly the same year, and only a month or two earlier than my move in. And in all that time we never had the occasion to meet. Now, eleven years and change later we meet in the twilight of my residency, probably never to speak again, and the guy goes and does an incredibly neighborly thing.

I think people are inherently good. Or rather people, by nature, think of others at least as much as they think of themselves.

Neighborly Advise

My garden out front has prompted some neighborly conversation that's included some gardening tips. This past Sunday we got a knock on the door and it was this lady from down the street asking if she could buy some of my basil. I told her she could just have some, but she insisted she pay me. She gave me two bucks in change and I asked if she could show me the best way to cut it. She was from Thailand and said she had a lot of wisdom about herbs. I grabbed a pair of scissors and watched how she snipped the top of the herb brushes at a angle. She also let me know that I should be cutting the flowering that's growing above all the herbs, supposedly the flowering effects the taste of the herbs making them more bitter. She was very kind and helpful.

Today I was out front cutting the flowering off and this nice redheaded lady came by and told me how much she loved my garden. She said she had to admit that when she walks by here everyday she brushes her hands past my herbs and that the smell of the lemon and cinnamon basil just makes her happy. That is such a wonderful compliment. She said her name was May, I think, and that she comes by here all the time. As I was throwing the flowering into the trash, she said I could still use those for seasoning stir fries and stews, by taking the flowering off the stems and freezing it. So then I started saving them. I just got done getting all the flowers off the stems and throwing a full bag of herbs into the freezer. My hands now smell amazing.

It's great to get such wonderful neighborly advise. Thanks ladies!