It was blisteringly cold and there was mist that moved in just after sunrise, I was hoping for it to burn off and even though it took a few hours, it turned into a beautifully warm and sunny day.
Having woken up hours before we normally do, the activities of the day were all moved up and when it felt like it should have been lunch time, it was only 10:30. Needless to say it was a bit odd.
I needed to get some sunlight today as vitamin D wards off negative stuff and tends to re-energize me if I have a sunlit break between sessions of work stuff.
The breaks that I take aren't wasted and while out there I'll water plants if they need it, generally tidy up, run the car to charge the battery if it hasn't been driven a few days and rake up the autumn leaves while LL has a run around or swings in her hammock.
After checking on the veggies in the planter box, I turned around and saw this striking butterfly soaking up some sun on the lawn. I had never seen this species before and later found out that it is called a Blue Pansy.
It was so relaxed and let me take many photos, I even went and got my SLR to take a few with the zoom lens. It may only be a small thing, but I derived so much joy from talking to this pretty lady. Yes, I greet butterflies, bees, wasps, spiders and ladybugs because I'm a weirdo and perfectly comfortable with my nutcasery.
While pottering around, our neighbour arrived home and we had a brief chat over the fence. She only moved in 3 months ago but we've been chatting here and there and getting to know each other. She's a very strong personality and has had a hard life, but is a pleasure to joke with and I've enjoyed watching her renovating her house and sprucing it up.
Later in the afternoon we saw each other in our back yards and I told her that we were making waffles as a treat. I'm not good at socializing and I tend to keep to myself. Needless to say, she's been trying to invite herself over to this side of the fence but it's never actually transpired until today. I invited her to come have waffles with us and she accepted.
It was so pleasant to have some adult company for a change. A little bit of conversation and some waffles and coffee later and it felt like it added a new facet to our "over the fence friendship". She has offered to take us up to some of the special spots in Knysna that I don't know and we're planning a picnic on an upcoming weekend.
She lent us her hammock for LL to swing on, brought us some cake a few days back, I swept her yard of fallen leaves last week and gave her some candles to use while it's load-shedding. Little tokens and acts of kindness are awesome to give and receive.
The time that we've stayed here, we've had two sets of really good, solid neighbours in that house and I have come to realize through the years how lucky you are to have good neighbours. It doesn't always happen and having shitty neighbours can be really painful, so I'm grateful to have her there. A rough around the edges, curses like a sailor type - but a real and authentic non-pretentious chick that is always willing to say hi and have a quick chat.
I think that's pretty special and worth sharing waffles over on a more social than usual Saturday.
How do you show your appreciation for your good neighbours?
