recent events from our driveway

we live on a long road full of trees and dogs and houses. lately, there have been a series of unfortunate events occurring across the street from our house. we have observed each of these things in the same way, as we backed into our gravel driveway.

one morning, we left early to run errands as we seem to be doing quite often these days. upon returning later that afternoon, we noticed that our mailbox was missing. yep, it was not standing where it had been just a few hours earlier. we walked across the street to investigate. upon the torn up ground, we found both our mailbox and out neighbor's mailbox. a guessed that perhaps someone had fun playing mailbox baseball the night before. but, we probably would have heard that and teh mailbox was standing before we left earlier in the day. the ground around the mailboxes was rather torn apart, too. we knocked on our neighbor's door and she told us what happened. "i bet you're wondering about your mailbox!" She said that a woman swerved to miss a dog on the road and slammed into our mailboxes, skidding off the side of the road. The woman's husband had already paid a visit with apologies and an offer to repair both mailboxes for us free of charge, of course. He explained that this was the second time his wife had swerved to miss a dog along with his suspicion that she is actually falling asleep at the wheel! Thankfully, she was unharmed although understandably shaken up by the crash. Our mailboxes were fixed and replaced within the day. Additionally, A spoke with the man at length finding out that he does home repairs, door and cabinet installations. So, we plan to get his help with those things around our house!

as we back into our tree lined driveway, we have the pleasure of seeing our dear neighbors' front yard which functions as a sanctuary for birds and various wildlife. she even has a sign on either side of her yard as in nears the road, "do not mow. wildlife habitat." mainly for the people who keep up the grass by the road. it's a beautiful area, really. unfortunately, there are lots of houses made of ticky ticky tack invading us. therefore, more power lines are needed to support their energy gorging. as we were backing in the other day, we noticed the "do not mow. wildlife habitat." sign had gone unheeded. the whole front grass by the road was sawed down to stubble. i can only imagine that she is sadder than we about it.

let me share some good news though. we spent last night with long lost friends whose company we have been deeply longing for over the past five months that we spent away from them. we'll be hosting everyone in just two weeks for a rockin' time of more catch up, specifically about some of the other unfortunate spiritual events that have been occurring within our community. not a lovely conversation, perhaps but a necessary one.

In the meantime, i will be doing some crocheting and making yummy vegan treats to eat, but best of all we will be decorating the christmas tree today! we spent the morning picking out some holiday books at the PTA thrift store. From Kwanza to Hannakuh to the story surrounding the birth of Jesus, we piled them up in a cloth bag printed with the words, "Breastmilk, the gift that lasts a lifetime." What finds! It's rather disappointing to see titles like, "The Birth of Jesus" with nary a slight mention denoting Mary in labor or giving birth. Most don't even have her holding Jesus afterwards but rather lying him down by himself in a container while Joseph stares out the stable/cave door. It's enough to make me what to create a book that deserves the title, "The Birth of Jesus". Perhaps, after the tree is trimmed and we've eaten some muffins with soy nog!