Saturday, February 25, 2017

Though the Mind's Eye

We had this strange couple over to our house the other day.  They appeared to be in their seventies but  were rather gregarious and energetic for that age.  It was a bit exhausting, and a little bit annoying on my weekend off from work as they seemed to be talking all the time and they had enthusiasm for anything and everything.  Maybe they did not have many friends and had all that pent up stuff to share.  Yet, in all honesty, it was somewhat our fault, as we had initiated the call to visit their yard.  A friend had suggested that they also had some hillside erosion issues when they built their house and that we might get some ideas for our yard.

It was a three day weekend for my husband and I.  I was glad to be out of the city and back into our newly purchased get-away on the river.  The house is over 70 years in age tucked against the trees, but has been well maintained.   It was not large and still needed a lot of superficial work as a son of the prior owners had lived there a year and repaired nothing.  The rooms with contemporary high ceilings and track lighting and the wide windows overlooking the river on the left side and overlooking the backyard with a view across the river and the softer view of the marsh on the right from our rise of land were what I looked forward to soaking in with a cup of tea each Friday.  Each view was a painting.  Everything at the CIA had been tense these last weeks, and even though I was in the history section of the department writing biographies, I could feel the confusion and craziness just outside our section.  Warden, my husband, could shut everything out while he worked on his computer code, but I was in a room of people separated only by cubicles and could feel the distraction.  I was working on a detailed biography of Sarandji of the Central African Republic which had not been all that intriguing.

Anyway, Warden had called this elderly couple for a tour of their yard on the river.  They did sit on a bit of a hill, but the slope down to their tributary of the river was much softer.  It was hard trying to keep up with the couple, casually dressed in jeans and hoodies, on what was our warmest day of the new year thus far.  They showed us every single tree they had ever planted in their ten years of living there.  They pointed out various birds in the woods, the vegetable and flower gardens, and finally we got to the side of the hill where they had placed retention walled supports that we were interested in studying and the river where they had put in rocked reefs to deflect the waves from eroding more shoreline.  

The couple talked over each other and corrected each other like long term married couples do.  I decided that the best method was to divide and conquer.  So Warden took the husband for a while and I followed the wife.  Then mid-way we switched.  When we finished, we of course had to invite them back to our house to get their advice on our land challenge.  They were like happy dogs, covering paths and identifying plants and suggesting reinforcements in our yard while we tried to keep up.  By the time they left at 1:00 PM I was both hungry and ready for a lie down.  I was also wondering with some trepidation if our paths would cross more often when we fully moved down here.

(P.S.  The above is mostly true and happened last weekend.  We are the elderly couple, of course, so I have no idea what was running through the younger couple's minds, although I wrote this as if I did.  But I do know we (hubby) talked way too much.)

20 comments:

  1. That was an amusing recounting.

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  2. Reading through this the first time, I did imagine that the elderly couple would turn out to be serial killers and slaughter the young couple (you know me and my imagination). Reading the second time, knowing the truth of the intriguing story, I could relate you your thoughts. Often I wonder about how my enthusiasm affects others. Fun post Tabor:-)

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  3. Lol. Great post. I wonder the same because I am so passionate about some of the volunteer work that I do. Food for thought!

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  4. Well done, Tabor! I had no idea that you had turned it around like that until the end. You also made that very fit elderly couple sound like people I'd like to have around my place. Loved it. :-)

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  5. Canadians have a wonderful and fresh sense of humour.

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  6. With a name like Chubby Chatterbox you can bet I'm a big talker. I need to do more listening. I tell this to everyone I come in contact with.

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  7. You got me! I was thinking what an annoying couple at first but then thought, but you are such a wild life enthusiast, why wouldn't you be interested in such a couple.

    Nice twist.

    My mom had an erosion problem on her creek. She put in riprap, sand planted with reeds to hold in everything...worked well. I believe the state helped with the cost as it fell in with their conservation plans.

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  8. WHAT GREAT WRITNG

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  9. I like this
    and yes
    you are very creative :)
    and I have an erosion problem in the woods
    but too much else to do to worry about it at the moment

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  10. Good story, i like that it's about you from another point of view!

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  11. I thought that you were that couple at the beginning of your story, but then I wasn't sure. I did recognize the husband who talks to much. :-)

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  12. That's really funny -- writing from that perspective. We do that, though, don't we -- think we know what the others are thinking. Often I've had occasion to learn later what the other(s) were actually thinking and it wasn't always what I had imagined it to be at all -- but sometimes was. Maybe you'll get to know them and can find out what they actually thought eventually. Should be good for a chuckel or two, at least. They might even enjoy reading what you wrote about the experience.

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  13. ...good for a chuckle as well as a chuckel or two!

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  14. This was clever!

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  15. I was gonna say: Are you on thyroid? Anyway, I'm jealous, because I have literally no energy at all!

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  16. Sounds like this strange energetic couple is quite entertaining!

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  17. Having things to say isin't a bad thing, unless you keep repeating yourself! Or seem to have delusions.. As long as you tired them out, that's good! Fun twist at the end here.

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  18. Interesting exercise in describing your day. good job. btw, I replied to your comment on my last post...it's not all our land.

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  19. What a wonderful twist. I want to visit both yards. And would not want to invite anyone back to our garden. My days of tidying and primping the plants are, unfortunately long gone. I am a fair-weather gardener, and even then I prefer to sit and breathe it all in than titivate. Let me honest - I am a disgrace!
    Blessings from dalamory

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  20. Lovely story with a twist, it reminded me of my partner Paul, who will discuss the minutest (boring) detail about the HOUSE with anyone who comes to visit. But there again that is how we all socialise and learn things...

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Take your time...take a deep breath...then hit me with your best shot.