Winnie lives next door
in an old farmhouse painted blue.
And on the farmland surrounding the house
a slice of suburbia has grown.
Even though Winnie and I are as opposite as night from day -
she makes a terrific neighbor.
When I stroll over for a chat,
I get lost in thought in her gardens.
One of the lovable things about Winnie
is her eccentricity
evident in her garden designs.
Those little nooks and crannies of the garden
filled with something unexpected
hold onto your attention.
Winnie is also an artist.
She works with clay -
making interesting sculptures of the human head.
These sculptures dot the garden as well.
It might freak some people out -
but once you know Winnie it just seems normal.
Really, it does.
Those little bumps on the head -
those are ideas sprouting.
They start on the inside and extend to the outside.
Winnie has lots of ideas sprouting in her head.
And that's why I am feeling blue.
Winnie is moving.
:(
She is moving to a smaller place in Lambertville.
But Lambertville will be good to Winnie
since it is filled with lots of other artistic people
with ideas sprouting in their heads too.
My husband,
Mr. Straight-laced engineer type,
is going to miss Winnie too.
He even told her so.
Hopefully the new neighbors will have ideas too -
and not the kind that plow down the gardens replacing them with grass.
Those would be bad ideas.
Time will tell.
