Tag Archives: neighbor

thanks to our neighbors, on canada day.

Standard

 

things you might not know were invented in canada

 

1. Peanut Butter -1884 (by a pharmacist as an option for people who couldn’t chew food)

2. The Wonder Bra – 1939 (by Canadian Lady Corset Company)

3.Trivial Pursuit – 1979 (by a sports editor and photo editor who couldn’t find all their Scrabble squares)

 4. Odometer – 1954 (by a nova scotia inventor)

5. Rotary Snowplow – 1869 (by a dentist – a popular train track clearing device)

6. Egg Carton – 1911 (by a newspaper editor who found a new use for paper)

7. Imax – 1967 (by 3 filmmakers and an engineer)

8. McIntosh Apples – 1835 (by a farmer grafting his wild apple trees)

9. Walkie Talkie – 1937 – (by a western canadian inventor)

10. Insulin – 1922 – ( by 3 toronto scientists- not invented but discovered it and its use )

11. Instant Replay – 1955 (by a cbc tv producer)

12. Foghorn – 1854 (by an inventor/civil engineer/artist – who never patented it)

13.  Green currency ink – 1862 (by chemist/mineralogist – ink used to make us dollars green)

14. Baggage tag – 1882 (by a new brunswick railway man)

15. Paint Roller – 1940 (by a canadian inventor – later tweaked and patented by an american)

16. Standard Time- 1883 (by an engineer who brought it to canadian and american railways)

17. Wheelchair – accessible bus – 1945 (by a blind, quadriplegic veteran – took his first ride after his death)

18. Electric Wheelchair – 1952 (by an engineer)

19. Plastic Trash bags – 1950 (by 2 inventors – later sold to union carbide and became glad bags)

“i don’t even know what street canada is on.”

-al capone, american gangster

 

source credits: amanda green, mental floss, canadian pixel

national neighbor day.

Standard

won’t you be my neighbor?

“the more we can be in a relationship with those who might seem strange to us,

the more we can feel like we’re neighbors and all members of the human family.”

-fred rogers

in honor of mr. rogers on this day and every day

 

 

image credit: pghcitypaper.com

salutations.

Standard

what a lovely surprise I found at my new home

when I came out to the front porch in the morning

an intricate web had been spun by a resident spider

such a beautiful welcome. 

“salutations are greetings, it’s my fancy way of saying hello.”

e.b. white – charlotte’s web

max.

Standard

the kindhearted and quiet and hardworking kid

who comes and goes

without much of a pattern

asking if i’ll hire him

to shovel my snow and mow my lawn

now has a name – ‘max’

and his legend is growing and spreading

he came once when i wasn’t home

and my neighbor paid him to do my lawn

in return for the help i’d given her in the past

and the next time he was over mowing

max suddenly stopped his mower

because he found a baby squirrel

who had fallen from the nest in the tree

 and was sitting motionless and scared

we tried to pick the squirrel up

but he feebly ran away

into my neighbor’s yard

who then came out to help

and we all took him to my other neighbor’s house

who loves the squirrels

and said that he didn’t look good

 put him in his backyard and see if he would play

then brought him back

and laid him down below my tree

the squirrel soon passed away

and we buried him in the garden

and now, after meeting him

 my other neighbor has given max a job as well

and as more and more

of his generous and hard-working sprit is revealed

his business and his reputation as a decent human being

both continue to grow.

“as much as we need a prosperous economy,

we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency.”

-caroline kennedy

shovel.

Standard

one day

at the beginning of this long winter

a sweet kid not more than 14 years old

showed up at my front door

shovel in hand

wearing sweatshirt and gloves

quiet and polite

asking if i wanted to hire him

yes!

without a moment’s hesitation

soon he was at work 

clearing my walks, my driveway, my porch

he charged me a very fair rate

 looking to make some cash before christmas

lives with his mom

in an apartment nearby

 i know nothing else about him

except that he works very hard

often appears without warning

just in time

to clear my path and then

is gone again as soon as he’s finished his work

i’ve no way to contact him

sometimes i see his steps and shovel marks

signs that he’s stopped over

but our timing was off

and now

on this weekend

with the long days of deep snow

he’s nowhere to be found

oh, where, oh, where,

 is the kid with the shovel?

and so

i am paying myself

 getting a free workout

day after day

 i’m sure i’ll see him again

maybe when it’s time

to move dirt

for the gardens.

“never doubt the power of love or one woman with a shovel.”

-carrie newcomer

neighbors.

Standard

1st annual neighborhood block party

nice for all of us to mix together

rather than just pass on the street

get to know each other a bit better

 police, fire, and ice cream people

the holy trinity of community support

came by for a visit

raised money for toys for our neighborhood park

lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun.

“nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor’s noisy party than being there.”

-franklin p. jones

give what you have.

Standard

found this sweet surprise

waiting for me in my mailbox

a very old tiny sleigh with a handwritten letter

from a neighbor i’ve never met

who’s lived nearby for over 50 years

she left it for me to add to my fairy garden

when the season is right

she took the trouble to repaint the sleigh

and write me this lovely note

wanting to visit the garden

but too shy to stop by to see it up close

it was such a kind and thoughtful gesture

i wanted to thank her and figured out where she lived

then wrote her a long letter back

to let her know

how much i enjoyed her special gift

and what it meant to me

i really hope that we meet in person in my garden one day.

“give what you have. to someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
― henry wadsworth longfellow