We’d invited some friends over for pizza and Steven had made some appetizers. As he put the plate of tomato, mozzarella and basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the table he proudly announced. “This came out of Kathy’s garden!”

“Oh, the tomatoes!” Nicole asked as she scooped one off the plate.

“No, the basil.” Steven said and smiled at me.

“The tomatoes came from the grocery store.” I admitted.

“But she’s growing some great looking cherry tomatoes!” Steven said. He looked over at Nancy. “Would you like to see her garden?”

“Um…Steven there’s not really much to see.” I said passing the plate of olives to Nancy’s husband Frank.

“Oh, come on…you’re not giving yourself enough credit.” Steven got up and tapped Nancy on the arm. “Do you want to see?”

“Sure.” Nancy got up and followed Steven out the back door to our deck where five pots of cherry tomatoes were tied along the deck posts.

I handed the plate of cheese and crackers to Nicole’s husband Jake before following them out to the deck.

I opened the back door and could see Nancy patiently standing next to Steven as he proudly pointed to the dozen or so cherry tomatoes ripening on the vines. “It’s a pretty nice crop she’s got coming in!” he said.

Nancy nodded and tried to look impressed.

“And her basil’s right over there!” Steven pointed to the pot of basil next to the rocking chair. “Oh that’s nice.” Nancy agreed.

“Hey, Nancy! Can I get you a glass of wine?” I asked as I stood in the open doorway.

“Oh, that would be great!” She came back into the house with Steven following her. I let Nancy in and stopped Steven at the door closing it quietly so the two of us were alone on the deck.

“Didn’t Frank and Nancy have a huge garden when they lived in Connecticut?” I whispered to him.

“Sure they did.” Steven looked over his shoulder. “It was probably the size of our whole deck. They grew everything! Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers!” He shook his head trying to remember. “I think he even tried pumpkins or watermelons at one time.”

I groaned as I smacked my hand to my forehead. “So do you really think Nancy wanted to see my five tomatoes plants and a container of basil?” I groaned even louder. “I can’t believe you even called it a garden?”

Steven patted me on the shoulder and reached for the doorknob. “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. Last year you only had two tomato plants and this year you have five. I’m proud of you!”

I laughed. “Thanks.”

“Hey, just think maybe next year your garden will be in the yard and not on the deck.” Steven gave a hopeful smile.

I just shook my head. “Let’s not go crazy. I can barely remember to water the five plants I have.”

As he opened the door we heard the knock at the front door. “Pizza’s here!” we called in unison.

I walked into the laundry room and saw the laundry basket overflowing with clothes. “Oh come on! I thought I caught up with the laundry yesterday!” I cried as I began sorting the dirty clothes into piles.

“Are you talking to me?” my husband Steven called.

“I am if you’re the one who dumped all the dirty clothes in here!”

Steven came to the door. “I only threw in what I used when I showered this morning.”

By now I had three separate piles. I held up a pair of my son Alex’s shorts. “I’m pretty sure I know who did this.”

Steven backed out of the doorway and headed to his office. “Hey, I’m just glad it wasn’t me.” he called over his shoulder.

“ALEX!” I called up the stairs.

“What?”

“Didn’t I ask you to put your dirty clothes in the laundry room yesterday?” By now Alex was at the head of the stairs.

“I did.” he stood there looking confused.

“Yesterday?”

“Oh…um…maybe it was this morning.” He gave me his most charming smile. “Sorry.”

“Nope, not going to work.” I said motioning for him to follow me. “I would have done it for you yesterday but now you get to do it yourself.”

I was pretty sure I could hear a slight moan behind me as Alex followed me. “I don’t want to hear any complaining.” I cautioned. “I’m tired of having to do laundry everyday. It’s about time you did your own.” By now we were both walking into the laundry room.

Steven was already there taping up a sign on the shelf over the washing machine. When he saw me coming he pointed to the sign. “I made this for you.” he said than smiled.

In bold print the sign read: HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED AT THE LAST FEW LOADS OF LAUNDRY AND CONSIDERED JUST THROWING THEM AWAY?

“Amen to that!” I said looking at Alex, then down at his three piles of dirty clothes. “That’s exactly what I was thinking when I came in here this morning! I adjusted the sign so it was centered on the shelf. “I think I just might go out and get this thing laminated!”

It was noon and my son Alex was just coming out of his bedroom.

“Want to go down to the beach and grab a hot dog for lunch?” I asked him as he came into the room rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Alex looked out the window. “It looks like a perfect beach day.” He began to stretch. “So, I’m going to say no.” He stifled a yawn.

“What?” I was confused. “But you just said it’s a perfect beach day?”

“I know.” He wandered into the kitchen and I could hear him rummaging though the refrigerator. “Do you know what the traffic’s going to be like getting down there?” he called out to me. He finally came back into the living room. “Do you know there’s nothing here to eat?”

“I know. I didn’t feel like going grocery shopping this morning.” I explained. “That’s why I’m suggesting the hot dog.” I smiled at him.

Alex stood there for a moment thinking about it.

“What if I told you I could get you to the beach without hitting any traffic?” I added.

Alex didn’t seem convinced. “How?”

“Your Grandmother was the original back road warrior and she taught me all her tricks.” I got up and grabbed the car keys. “It’s time I passed this knowledge down to you.”

We were in the car backing out of the driveway. “Knowing all the local shortcuts is the best thing about living near the ocean.” We were stopped at a traffic light of a major highway that led to the beach. “Now, off season we’d just go straight to the beach.” I pointed to the highway that now looked like a parking lot as cars jockeyed for the better lane. “If you go that way now, you’re talking about getting to the beach in about an hour.”

“I know, that’s why I don’t go down there in the summer.” Alex grumbled.

“Well, that’s just sad.” I said. “We live by the beach we should be able to enjoy it too!” By now the light had turned green and I crossed over the highway. “We’re going to weave our way though a few towns, take the roads less traveled and be eating a hot dog in less then fifteen minutes!” I looked at Alex and smiled. “I promise!”

Cutting through two developments, and taking roads parallel to the direct beach route we were pulling into the parking lot of Windmill Hot Dogs in less then fifteen minutes.
“Wow!” Alex said as he got out of the car. “I didn’t think we’d be able to find a parking space.”

I smiled as I pointed to the sign on the light pole. “That’s because this lot is only for customers, and they really do tow you if you park here and go to the beach.”

“Did you know that before we got here?”

“Of course, or I never would have suggested coming down.” I pointed to the line of cars driving up and down Ocean Avenue looking for parking spaces. “You think I want to be one of them, waiting to see if someone’s pulling out soon?” I shook my head no as we headed into the restaurant.

Once we ordered our hot dogs we sat outside to eat and listen to waves crash against the beach.

“Isn’t this nice.” I said looking over at Alex and taking in a deep breath of ocean air. “This is how locals enjoy it here.” I sighed.

Alex laughed. “So after the hot dogs do you want to go get some ice cream?”

“Sure.” I smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure I know a short cut.”

I’d been sitting on my back deck trying to enjoy a beautiful summer morning when I couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay, you two! It’s time to knock it off!” I cried.

Steven looked over at me. “Who are you talking to?”

I pointed to the catbird sitting on our grill top, screeching at the top of it’s lungs at the open window that our son’s cat, Kiki was sitting in. “They’ve been at it for the last twenty minutes!”

Steven looked over. “Huh, I hadn’t noticed.” He went back to reading the newspaper.

“You hadn’t noticed?” I got up to shoo the bird away. “How can you not hear that!” The catbird’s wailing was deafening.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I guess I just learned to block out things I don’t want to hear.”

I turned back to look at him. “Well, there’s a conversation we might need to have.”

He looked up from his paper and smiled. “What? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“Yeah, right.” I laughed and turned to shoo the catbird again. But as I got closer to the grill I could see Kiki wasn’t yelling at the bird at the same time. They were taking turns. I stopped and looked over at Steven. “They’re having a conversation!”

“What?” Steven looked over at me.

I pointed to the window. “I swear, I think they’re having a conversation!” I watched as the catbird cried several times then stopped. Then it was Kiki’s turn to meow a few times then stop and wait for the catbirds response.

“Oh, great.” Steven shook his head. “Now you’re going to tell me what you think they’re saying to each other, aren’t you?”

“Well, I could.” I began waving my arms until the catbird saw me and flew away to the nearest tree branch. “But that would mean I’d have had to listen to that screeching for a few more minutes and I can’t do it.” I went back to sit in my chair and listen to the pretty sounds of birds chirping by the feeders. “Ah…isn’t that better?”

“Sure.” Steven handed me a section of the paper.

It had only been a few minutes before the catbird was back on the grill yelling at Kiki. “Oh come on!” I cried.

“The bird’s probably got a nest nearby.” he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just doing what come naturally to it.”

We continued to listen to the screeching a few minutes more. “Oh, I can’t take this!” I got up and went to railing of the deck to scream at the bird. “The cat is locked in the house! There’s no way she’s coming out! Give it up, she’s not a threat!” Both the catbird and Kiki looked over at me, then the bird flew away again.

When I turned around Steven was looking at me. “So you decided to be a part of their conversation?”

“Hey, it worked didn’t it!” I smiled as I sat back down.

Moments later the catbird landed on the grill again and started back up. Steven looked over at me.

I held up my hand, “Don’t say anything.” I warned him.

Steven just shook his head. “What would I say? I don’t hear anything.”

Alex and I were driving into our development when we both spotted the lemonade stand set up down the street. Two little girls, both holding signs, were waving and calling out to us.

“Should we stop?” I asked Alex.

“Sure, an open pitcher sitting out in the hot sun for who know how long sounds like a great plan.” Alex turned his head to me. I was pretty sure he was trying to avoid making eye contact with the girls as we drove past.

I took a quick glance at the pitcher and noticed that it was uncovered and that there was no ice floating in it. “Wow! You’ve got good eyes spotting that so far away.”

Alex shrugged.

“I just feel bad for them.” I said as I looked in the review mirror and saw their sad faces looking at our car driving away. “Remember how excited you were when you had your lemonade stand?”

Alex laughed. “When did I have a lemonade stand?”

“Are you kidding me?” I couldn’t believe he’d forgotten. “It was in January and you set it up in our living room!”

Now Alex was really laughing. “January? Why did you let me do that in January?

Now it was my turn to be surprised. “Let you? Are you forgetting how determined you get when you get an idea?”

Alex nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “How old was I?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I’m going to say around three.”

Alex shook his head. “I must have needed some money for something.” He looked over at me again. “Did I get any customers?”

Now it was time for me to laugh. “You had plenty because while you were dragging your Little Tikes picnic table into the living room I was on the phone calling all our friends and neighbors to come over so you wouldn’t be disappointed!” I looked over at him and smiled. “You looked so cute sitting at your table patiently waiting for your customers.”

“Thanks for making that happen, Mom.” He patted me on the shoulder. “I guess when you’re three you don’t think about a marketing plan, huh?”

I smiled as I pulled into our driveway and put the car in park. “Hey, that’s what Mom’s do.”

Alex was quiet for a moment. “Well, now I feel bad about not stopping at their stand.”

“I can fix that too!” I smiled as I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.

Alex laughed, then looked a bit concerned. “We don’t have to really drink it do we?”

“Of course not.” I shook my head. “You just smile and say you’re going to drink it in the car then we’ll get rid of it when we come back home.”

Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a few bills. “In that case it’s on me!”

I was sitting on the back steps of my deck watching two bunnies nibbling away on some clover flowers when Steven came out and sat down next to me.

“Aren’t they adorable?” I sighed as I pointed to the bunnies. “I just love watching their little faces scrunch up when they chew.”

Steven didn’t answer so I looked over at him. He wasn’t looking happy.

“Are you okay?”

“This was suppose to be a lawn!” He made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “Not a field of clover!”

“But I love the clover!” I argued. “It’s beautiful!”

“Do you know how much money I’ve spent in the last year putting down sod and seed?” He was shaking his head in disgust.

“But look at the bunnies!” I cried. “They’re so happy!”

“Yeah…the bunnies are happy.” he said in a monotone voice.

Just then a couple of chipmunks darted by. “See? They like running through the clover too!” I smiled over at him.

“They’ve also dug fifty holes in the lawn that I just spent a ton of money fixing!” he complained.

I decided to stop with the mammals and looked at the bees landing on the clover flowers. “See we’re also helping the honeybees!” I looked over at him. “You can’t deny that the honeybees could use all the help they can get right now.”

“They’re not helping if I want to walk barefoot out in my yard.” he complained.

“Man, you’re a tough sell.” I shook my head and watched everything else that was loving our clover but him. “Well, I think it’s pretty.” I leaned back and watched a butterfly land next to the bunnies.
“They’re still weeds in my expensive lawn.” he grumbled.

“Weeds or not I’m going to check and see if I can find any four-leafed ones.” I stood up, brushed the seat of my pants off and headed for the first patch of clover.

“Didn’t my brother Donnie already explain to you that a four-leafed clover is nothing but a genetic defect in the roots of the plant?”

“Yup, and I explained to him that a genetic defect like that is nothing but good luck for me when I find one!” I bent down and began gently brushing my fingers through the clover. It wasn’t long before I found one. “Yeah!” I gently pulled it out and held it up for Steven to see. “I just had a feeling there was one in this patch!”

Steven came down from the deck. “Wow, that was pretty fast.”

“Told you it was lucky!” I looked around our yard, a sea of white clover flowers. “I think our lawn is beautiful.”

Steven shook his head. “Well, I guess if you’re happy with it I can try and start to like it too.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” I handed him the four-leafed clover and bent down to find another one.

“But I still can’t believe how much money I spent…”

“Nope.” I interrupted him as I scanned the patch of clover for another one. “You’re negativity is messing with my luck meter right now.”

Steven laughed as he headed back to the deck. “Luck meter.” he mumbled.

That’s why I’m sure he was surprised when I called out, “I found another one!”

I was having a busy errand day, and one of my stops was an oil change for my car. The sign in front of the garage promised it would take only twenty minutes, and I was counting on them to keep that promise as I handed my keys to the mechanic.

I went into the tiny waiting room and noticed another woman sitting next to the magazine table. We did the customary smile-and-nod to one another before I found a magazine I wanted and sat down to catch up on which movie star was breaking up with whom.

I’d only been there for a few minutes when the waiting room door opened and a gentleman walked in, sat down and asked, “Do either of your ladies watch Dr. Phil?”

I peeked over my magazine to see which of us he was talking to. Luckily it was the other woman, so I brought my magazine back up to cover my face.

“I watch him every once in a while.” she admitted.

“Well, he’s the reason my girlfriend broke up with me.” he complained as he moved a chair closer to his new confidant.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” she answered.

Now I have to admit their conversation was more entertaining then the three month old magazine I was holding, so I continued to eavesdrop, my eyes peeked over the top of my magazine.

“Why do you think Dr. Phil had anything to do with it?” she asked.

“Because she watches that show every day and whatever he says, she does.” he shook his head sadly. “He must have been talking about the kind of relationship we had because she broke up with me that very night.”

“Maybe it wasn’t about Dr. Phil.” she sounded as if she wanted to help him.

“So you think it was something I said?” He sounded confused. “Because I’m not a real big talker, so how could I say anything that would have upset her?”

I was still peeking over my magazine and could see him shaking his head disgust. “Man, I hate that Dr. Phil guy.”

He looked my way and noticed I was peeking over at him. “Would you let some guy on the television tell you what to do?” he asked me.

I looked over at the other woman hoping for some help, but she was looking at the mechanic who had come into the waiting room holding her keys.

“Your car is ready.” he said, handing her the bill.

She gave a sigh of relief as she grabbed the bill out of his hand and ran to pay the cashier, leaving me alone with In-Need-Of-Therapy-Man.

“So would you?” he asked again.

“I’m sorry,” I looked back at him. “Would I what?”

“Would you let some guy on the T.V tell you what to do?”

“Well, no.” I put my magazine down. “I’d make up my own mind. But I really don’t know what your girlfriend would do.”

“EX!” he said a bit too loudly.

“I’m sorry. I meant to say your ex.”

“I thought all you girls listened to Dr. Phil.” he shook his head again. “Or do you watch some other stupid talk show instead?”

I was beginning to see why his girlfriend broke up with him as I longingly looked at the waiting room door, wishing the mechanic would come in and save me too.

“It’s happening!” I cried. “This is the second time today that I forgot where I put my car keys!”

I was searching the counter tops moving canisters and the toaster, but not finding them.

“Aren’t they in the basket?” Steven asked as he came into the kitchen to help me.

I held out the empty basket where the keys were usually kept. “Nope.”

“Where did you have them last?” he asked.

I thought about it for a minute. “Well, I had to have them when I came in from grocery shopping.” I reasoned.

Steven looked out the front window. “Maybe you left them in the car?”

I shook my head. “No, because I had to unlock the front door to bring the groceries in.” I kept searching the counter top.

Steven had gone to the front door. “Found them!” he called.

“Oh great!” I went to the front hall, thinking that I’d dropped them on the table in the entry hall.

Steven was standing with the front door open, pointing to my keys hanging from the lock.

“Oh, come on!” I reached over and pulled them out of the lock. “Who does that?”

“You.” Steven laughed as he closed the door.

“I’m serious, Steven. I’m having way too many senior moments.” I tossed the keys in the basket on the counter.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you need to exercise your brain?”

“What?” I laughed. “Constant worry isn’t exercising it enough?”

Steven laughed as he opened the refrigerator, took the container of pineapple out, grabbed a fork from the drawer and stabbed a chunk from the container. “That’s why I do crossword puzzles.” He popped a piece in his mouth.

“I hate crossword puzzles.” I grumbled. “I can never seem to finish one.”

“They aren’t the only brain games.” he reminded me.

“I know, I tried Sudoku but that was a giant fail!”

“What about search-a-word?” he stabbed another piece.

“I thought those were for kids?” I leaned against the counter and took the fork from him, stabbing my own piece of pineapple and popping it in my mouth before handing him back the fork.

“They make them for adults.”

I shook my head, I wasn’t feeling the search-a-word angle.

“You could learn a new language?” he suggested.

“I barley passed Spanish in high school.” I complained.

“Learn an instrument?”

“Started the ukulele.” Shook my head. “Lost interest.” I said sadly.

Steven tossed the fork in the sink and went to put the pineapple back in the refrigerator. “I don’t know what to tell you?” he leaned back against the counter. “Oh, by the way, do you know where my blue suit is?”

“It’s in the downstairs closet, left hand side, still in the dry cleaners bag.” I was a little confused. “Why do you need your suit?”

“I don’t need it.” He said with a laugh as he walked pass me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “But now you know you still have a great memory.”  

I was sitting on my back deck, bouncing back and forth between feeling annoyed and resigned, while I watched a squirrel hanging upside down on my bird feeder. “How long can he do that?” I asked Steven, who was sitting next to me.

“What?” Steven looked up from his newspaper.

I pointed to the upside down squirrel. “He’s been hanging like that for almost twenty minutes.”

Steven shrugged his shoulders.

“You’d think he’d feel like his head was about to explode!”

“It doesn’t seem to be bothering him.” Steven went back to reading his paper.

“It’s bothering me.” I grumbled. “He looks like he practicing to go on the Ninja Warrior obstacle course.” I was staring at the squirrel whose legs and arms were tightly wrapped around the cylinder bird feeder. He slowly turned his head and looked at me before going back to eating the seeds. “You know. Where the contestants wrap themselves around the giant log and it spins really fast, trying to knock them off.”

“Uh-hum.” Steven said, but when I looked over I could tell he wasn’t really listening.

“He’d win.” I grumbled.

“Uh-hum.”

“You’re not even listening to me.” I cried.

“I am.” Steven put his newspaper down. “You hate squirrels. I’ve got it.”

“I don’t hate squirrels.” I corrected. “I just don’t like when they eat out of the bird feeders.” I pointed to all the birds sitting on the tree branches waiting for the squirrel to leave. “I wouldn’t even mind if he just took turns. But he’ll hang upside down, eating until the feeder’s empty!” I looked over at Steven. “How’s that fair?”

“Oh, you want a fair squirrel?” Steven began looking at his phone. I assumed he’d gotten a business e-mail so I went back to staring at the squirrel, hoping he’d finally do the right thing and leave.

Just then my phone pinged. Picking it up I could see it was a text from Steven. I looked over at him. “Why are you texting me? I’m sitting right next to you!”

“Just open it.” he said, then smiled.

I opened the text and it was a picture of a tiny Adirondack chair hanging from the side of a tree with a squirrel sitting on it, eating a ear of corn. I held the phone up to Steven. “Are you kidding me? You want me to get a squirrel feeder?”

“No, but if you want him to stay away from the bird feeders it might be the only solution.” Steven looked over at the upside-down squirrel. “Do you really think he’s enjoying his meal?” He pointed over to my phone. “Of course he’d rather be lounging in a chair when he eats.”

I thought about it for a moment. “Nope. Not hanging a tiny chair on a tree.” I shook my head no.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Well, then I’d get used to Rocky over there eating all your bird seed.”

It was right at that moment the squirrel did a little back-flip, landed on the ground and scurried away.

Steven pointed to the now empty feeder. “It looks like you’ll need to refill that.”

I sighed then looked back at my phone. “The little chairs are kind of cute.” I admitted as I began scrolling through the site. “I wonder if they come in different colors?”

“What are you looking at?” Alex asked as he came into the room and saw me looking out the window and up into the sky.”

I pointed up to the top of the telephone pole that was next to our driveway. “Do you see the crow sitting on the top of the pole?”

Alex came over to the window. “Oh, yeah. I wonder what he’s doing?”

“He’s building a nest.” I had to look down for a minute because my neck was getting a kink in it. “I’ve been watching them come and go all morning.”

“On the top of the pole?”

“Nope. Keep watching.” We both looked back up as the crow began to caw.

Finally another crow landed on the pole and looked at the stick the first crow had delivered. After a moment the crow seemed to give some sort of approval because the first crow took off with the stick and flew across the street to the big pine tree in our neighbor’s yard. “I think that’s where they’re building their nest.” I squinted trying to see better. “See, this is where I wish you’d let me use my binoculars!”

“We’ve talked about that.” Alex reminded me. “You can’t be the creepy neighbor who looks out your window with binoculars.”

“Fine.” I was still trying to see where they were in the pine tree. “It could also be their decoy nest.”

Alex looked confused. “A decoy nest?”

“Isn’t that wild?” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Crows are that smart! They build the decoy so that after the babies hatch, if a hawk sees them flying with food they just go to the decoy nest and the hawk thinks the babies are gone!”

Alex nodded his head in agreement. “Sounds pretty smart.”

Just then another crow landed on top of the pole and began to caw. “It’s not just the couple who build the nest, but the babies from last year help, too. It’s like a barn raising! The whole community comes out to help!” We both looked up to see what this crow brought. It was a large white thing that he’d pick up, then put down and caw, then pick up again.

“He seems pretty excited about his find.” Alex said. We waited for the approval bird to show up.

When he did, he was only there for a moment before he sent the first bird away without his donation. The crow, left on the pole, watched him fly off, then quickly pushed the white thing off the top of the pole before flying away himself.

I turned to Alex and started to laugh “Rejected!” I looked back out the window. “I have to see what it is.”

“Really?”

“Of course!” When I got across the street and saw what it was, I couldn’t help but laugh as I came back into the house. “It was part of the bone from a T-bone steak!”

“Seriously?”

One hand on my heart the other palm facing him, “I swear!”

“Wow! I thought you said they were really smart!”

I shrugged my shoulder. “I guess one of them in their group didn’t get the memo on approved nesting material!”

We watched as another one landed on the top of the pole with what looked like string.

“But I have to say, now that I saw that, I like crows even more!” I cried.

“Why?”

“Because he didn’t want to hurt his feelings so he waited until he flew away before he pushed it off the pole.” I looked over at Alex. “That’s so sweet!”

Alex looked at me for a moment. “How do you know he didn’t call him stupid before he told him to fly away?”

“Well now you’re just trying to ruin it for me.”