Our New Neighbors

Big news in Bear Country, Fans: robins are building a nest in one of the three lilac bushes in the backyard.  It is the one nearest the stairs off the deck that Joe is fond of clambering up.  (He has been admonished not to do so for the time being.)  We spied the nest while we dined al fresco Friday evening before the next system of thunderstorms rolled in.  We then peered at the goings on through our binoculars, though La Familia Robin has selected a secluded spot in which to build their nest so we didn't see too much.

Earlier that evening, Julie and the bambini had had to walk to get the red car from where Julie had ditched it at school pick-up time. (Joe was hosting a friend for a post-school play date so Julie had had to pick-up on foot and didn't have time to drop the car at home.  School releases at 3:50pm and it's a deadbeat-parent-feeling-inducing ghost town by 4pm.)  She'd ditched the car on the street where Joe's friends Sophia and Grant live.  Joe had commented that Sophia and Grant were neighbors.  Julie had said we were their neighbors, too; we just lived one block over and up.  Joe had said, basically, that yeah, we weren't neighbors like Sophia and Grant.  Julie had forgotten she was talking with Mr. Literal.

Anyway, after the initial excitement of sporting the nest had subsided, Joe glanced up at Julie and slyly said, "They're our neighbors."