Springtime In The Winter

We've lived in our house coming on 7 years. 

The neighbors directly behind us are Roger and Joyce.

Roger is retired and Joyce works part time

at the local Hallmark card shop.     I've  have come

to know Joyce more through my card shop visits than

actually from backyard conversations.

Roger takes meticulous care of their yard and my

encounters with him are more of the friendly wave

from yard to yard.

They have 3 very large Maple trees and a couple of

oak trees on their property.   I admire those trees through

just about every season, but Fall.    Fall is exactly what

tons of leaves do.   It was late in Fall of last year and

the leaves lay about Roger's yard.    I commented to

my hubby that something has to be wrong with Roger.

Leaves would not go unattended IF everything were okay.

I found out through another neighbor that Roger was on

the mend from a back surgery.    He had extensive repair

to his lower disks.

A few weeks had past and we were now in the month

of December.   I stopped in the card shop and spotted

Joyce.   We talked about Roger and she said he was kind

of down being confined to the house and also that there

was so little he could do while mending.

I asked her for their last name and address and said

I would send him a note.

More time past and it was now late January.   For me,

snow up until December and through Christmas seems

nice and seasonable.    When it drags on into January it's

then that a toll can be had on one's spirits.

I thought about Roger and thought, 'What can I do for

a little uplift for him'?

I purchased a large white poster and quickly painted some

colorful spring flowers on the poster.

I then took a photo of the poster and made a card to

send to Roger.     The card said.... 'Pretty soon you will be seeing

Spring right out your back door'. 

The backsides of our homes face one another.   With

the leaves off of the trees they have a view of our back deck.

I covered the poster in clear plastic wrap and I let a couple of

days pass from when I mailed the card until I hung the poster

from the rails of our deck.

Several weeks had passed and the poster had stayed fresh

looking despite the ongoing snow fall.   

I was in the Hallmark store and Joyce said to me.....

"How lovely the flowers looked from their back window".

She told me that it took sometime before they realized I had

hung it up just for them.     Her words were, 'I said to Roger one

day, Deb must have hung that up just for us, because they

can't see the flowers from their window.'

I think the realization of it being a poster FOR THEM, stunned

them a little bit, but in a very good way.

A 99 cent poster - a little bit of time and creativity - and

the uplifted ~Spirits~ of my neighbors.....   PRICELESS.