IS IT FAIR?

A neighbor called last night at a quarter to eleven and asked if she could come over and visit--my lights were still on and she knows I'm somewhat of a night owl. She did come over, and I offered her a piece of Costco chocolate cake--you know the one, the four layers of decadence? She said yes, and then she only ate about a third of it. Who eats a third of a slice of Costco chocolate cake?

We talked until five minutes to 1:00 when her husband came to walk her home. All of a sudden he appeared, like a silent ghost, showing up suddenly through the screen door, and nearly frightened me to death.

Today, this friend--who still has all of her children at home, so you know she can't just sleep in on a Sunday morning, like I can (thank goodness for one o'clock church)--did NOT fall asleep during Sunday School class, like I did.

Now I ask you, is it fair that someone should be so wonderful--she really is, totally wonderful--and has the self control to not eat a full piece of Costco cake, and has enough energy to stay awake and alert and even make comments in Sunday School class and Relief Society, and her comments were totally coherent, intelligent and relevant, is this fair?

I don't think so either.

SORRY GILMORE GIRL

I've been working on a post on my "Starlight" blog on and off today and now it's late and I have nothing to say. (And I didn't get that post finished either.) Obviously, I NEVER have nothing to say but I'm too tired to say it and download photos, etc.

So, I will just download one photo and say to Gilmore Girl, "I'm sorry I forgot to bring the Dr. Suesses to you." (She calls them Dr. Suess flowers--says they look like something out of his imagination.) My neighbor, Genny knows that Gilmore Girl loves these flowers and she brought them for her.

Gilmore Girl had a sadness last week and they would have cheered her up a bit. But just a bit. It was a big sadness. For a woman, the biggest.

So, sorry. Here's a photo. Can you smell them? Actually, I don't think they smell, so take your nosie poker off the monitor.

That'llbeall.

A PRODUCTIVE HALF HOUR

Tonight I went across the street to see how my neighbor was--her husband was taken to the hospital in an ambulance this morning. He is much better--he has pneumonia.

Then I thought of my Healthy Living Group and the commitment I made to walk five days a week. So I walked around the neighborhood.

Then I saw another neighbor unloading "stuff" for a garage sale tomorrow morning for the Cub Scouts. I went by to see if I could help and spied three bikes, which I bought at the pre-garage sale.

Tonight was a three-fer: A visit with a neighbor. Good news about her husband.

A walk to keep my promise.

Bikes for the grandkids to ride when they visit. (I went to the movie "Up" with some of those grandkids today. It was such fun to be with them and the movie was top notch.)

I have always been a night owl, getting more done late in the day than any other time. Maybe tomorrow night I'll actually get my new chapter out of my head and on the computer.

WENT TO A GARDENING CLASS TONIGHT

This is a darling woman who lives in my neighborhood. She has an amazing garden, you would never know it is in the middle of a city.

She has three ponds.

And many fish.Here and there are working garden tools and implements that are beautiful little still life's.

She is a school teacher and so doesn't begin to garden until June. You could have fooled me and all the other woman that attended the class.

I learned a lot, the most important bit--because our soil has so much clay in it--is to add every bit of organic matter to the soil that you can get your hands on.

Many thanks to a generous woman, generous with her time, her talents, and her plants--she is going to let us have starts, bulbs, etc, and perhaps most important she is generous with her laughter. You just can't help but feel good when you are around her, this amazing gardener.

INSOMNIA

Nine years ago I had insomnia. My neighbor had insomnia too. I walked the neighborhood. She did laundry. I filled the night with quiet footsteps and thoughts. She filled the night with the scent of laundry detergent and fabric softener. I loved the scent of her detergent so much that I changed mine. She did not hear my thoughts so she didn't change her opinions, habits or normal behavior to quirks.

I never saw another person at 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., etc, but I did see an occasional car. That always frightened me. Who was driving in our neighborhood at that hour? What were they up to? I didn't carry a cell phone nor a weapon. My karate skills were kind of the "wax on, wax off," variety and I can't stand on one leg for longer than a few seconds.

I always went right home when a car came into the neighborhood and hoped I didn't fumble the key in the lock before bad men came to kill me. They never did, of course. The next night, when I couldn't sleep I went back out, into the night--perhaps an egg salad sandwich is missing from my picnic basket.

Last night, for the first time in about eight years I had insomnia . At 1:30 I gave up and got up to watch recorded "House" episodes because it's eight years later, the world has changed--more crazies driving the neighborhood at night--and probably the biggest reason: I'm lazy, so I watched three House episodes instead.

Since I haven't watched House from the beginning and since some of these were recorded in 2004 and some in 2009 and some, somewhere in between, I'm wondering things like, "How did Cuddy get a baby?" "Who killed himself and why?" (I only saw about three minutes of that episode--where Cameron said, "He's cold.") "Did Foreman, Chase and Cameron get fired and if so why? And if they did how did they get re-hired? And while they were fired what was with all the numbered people wanting to fill the vacancy? Is this a 'teaching' hospital?" See how much I don't know. "Why is Wilson so nice and why is House so...so...House-ish?" And my final question, "Why doesn't House get fired!?" I mean, really, let's face it, he's pretty much a law unto himself.

Oh, one more question. "Why can't normal hospitals have a House?" I wonder if my neighbor has answers. I see her light on at all hours of the night so I know she is back in an insomnia mode and maybe she watches TV while folding socks.

At 4:00 a.m. I still couldn't sleep but went to bed anyway. As I lay there, staring at the dark ceiling, I wondered one last thing. Why do I like House so much when the mere mention of his name sends my dear husband from the room, muttering and questioning my sanity.

These are questions that feed insomnia.