Let The Sun Shine In

The weather has been glorious, around 23C. The sun is out, birds are chirping, little buds on trees and plants are poking through, I've already hung my laundry on the line to dry. Windows are open and neighbours are outside.

Skateboards fly pass my window. A bum in the parkette at the end of the street took his shirt off and rubbed his pasty back against a tree trunk, grunting in satisfied ecstasy, humph, ahh, ohh. That's a tree I won't be hugging in the near future.

I walked up our street and exchanged hello, happy Spring, yippee freedom, holla back world, etc. with several neighbours. My mother is who knows where soaking up the sun to address her vitamin D deficiency. Everyone's cleaning out their gardens and yards of winter's debris. I am sweeping out the leaves that I missed in the fall. A few of our clay pots have cracked over winter. My neighbour said plastic is the way to go. She then invited me to go shopping with her along St. Clair.

It was something to walk along a familiar street with someone. We pointed out shops that the other doesn't frequent. It's like we've walked on different streets and now these streets merge. But Neighbour and I, we are such kindred spirits.

We stopped at Markett where they were grilling mini angus burgers outside. We each had one, then we looked at the meat the shop sold and planned a BBQ for later in the month. I pointed out my yoga studio to her, she showed me a shop that sold garden and home knick-knacks. Neither of us had noticed the other's store before.

We went to Joe Fresh and looked at tops. Of the four items we chose separately to try on, three were the same. We each bought an identical shirt.

On the way home, she said she needed to stop by the health food store. I said, Great, I need to get some soap there. She said, Me too, that's what I'm stopping to get. We went in and both bought soap.

Then she said, I'm just going in to Shoppers for a sec. I said, Me too, I need to get hair dye. She said, That's what I'm getting. So we went in and got hair dye, though different brands.

We got home, where she puttered in her yard and I puttered in mine.

That's when another neighbour invited me over for a BBQ. Except I was putting together shelves for my potting shed so I declined. It was so great to see everyone outside, wearing T-shirts and smiles on the first truly warm weekend of the year.