We have the best neighbors around. Mr. Ivan, as we call him (because we didn't know his last name when we first moved in), is such a wonderful man! Grandpa would have loved him, I'm sure. Ivan is one of those guys that knows a little bit about everything and has connections with everyone all over the country. He can rig up a rain barrel or a composter out of miscellaneous pieces of stuff that he finds when he's out driving around. (I'm telling you, Grandpa would have loved him!) He's amazing.
He's also sooo generous when it comes to helping me out with my garden. Ivan's garden has been green for several weeks now and he's sticking more things in every day. His garden is not anything like what we used to have to slave away in as kids (sorry parents, but it felt like that at the time), but for a little city lot, he's got an amazing thing going over there! He is semi-retired, so he spends lots of time in his garden tending it, making it a bit better, checking everything out over and over again. A few years ago when he saw me trying to be some sort of horticulturist, he wandered over and gave me a few tips. Then he offered me some stakes to label my garden. Then he gave me his surplus when my peppers and tomatoes didn't grow. See why he's a dear neighbor?
Well, this year we've expanded our garden space. It's more than twice the size it was last year and I was excited to get out there when we got home from Paraguay to start planting a few things. Ivan suggested I get it rotatilled again before I started. Well, I would do that if I had a rotatiller, but since I don't, I was out there on Saturday turning the soil over with my shovel. I took a break because we were going to meet Oma and Opa at the park for a few hours and when I got home, my garden was all plowed so fresh and neat! Can you believe that after Ivan and I had that talk, he got on the phone, called one of his friends, went over and picked up his tiller and came back and did our garden all before we got home from the park?! What a great neighbor, I'm telling you!
I told him that this kind of thoughtfulness deserved something like a warm rhubarb pie or a loaf of homemade bread for starters. He just laughed and asked, "Do you need any seed potatoes? I've got lots left." This man isn't out for rewards and payments. He's out to be a great neighbor! What a blessing he and his family are to us! I hope he can say the same thing about us!
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3 comments:
He IS like Grandpa!
I hope your garden grows and produces lots of things the boys can enjoy watching and then eating. Mr. Ivan's going to be watching it, too, to make sure you have enough produce coming from it.
(and you're the one who wanted 14 kids so they could all help in our garden)
As for being a good neighbor to him, I'm sure he's enjoying watching your boys play and grow, wishing he were young again.(^_^)
I think the bread and pie are a very good idea! No one has ever turned down a homemade loaf of bread in all the time I've been making it.
No matter how you look at it as a kid, working in the garden is slave work. Amazing how your view changes when it's your own garden!
Mr. Ivan needs a BIG Hug! He sounds like a real gem!
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