In the first No Kings Day protest in June this year, a speaker asked, “Who is our neighbor?” Below, the crowd is gathering in a Veterans’ Memorial Park across the street from Rebecca’s and my home.
Jay, our Presbyterian minister, suggested a few weeks ago in Sunday school that Jesus gave his answer in the Parable of the Good Samaritan: ‘Undocumented workers were our neighbors.’
Our community’s Food Pantry announces its reply on the wall.
The arrow in the picture below points to our neighborhood’s physical location in Decorah, a town of 8,000 in northeast Iowa. We live in a bowl surrounded by forest and dissected by the Upper Iowa River.
The wood and water diversify our co-residents to include the youngsters in the first photo. And their father, who is keeping watch.
Of course, peaceful intercourse requires boundaries — good screens make good neighbors.
Occasionally, we employ stronger measures, with due process protections in place. Our community’s Animal Protection Officer — yes, that’s what he’s called — returned this raccoon to the wooded wild.
Sometimes, we have to choose who lives and who dies.
We chose our birch trees over the Asian beetles, including the one pictured below, that we transplanted three years ago. It had to be moved because we put in a new sidewalk and back porch. Yes, we felt guilty, but so far, it has survived.
You may wonder, what about our human neighbors?
Ed and Carol live across the street from us. We’ve had many conversations in their backyard and also at monthly dinners at Rubyiats, a restaurant on our street four blocks west.
They frequently babysit John and Stephanie’s three daughters, who live one house to the east of them. When they can’t, Jim and Kathy, across the alley, pinch-hit.
A couple of years ago, we caught the raccoon when, while on the new back porch, I saw a skunk walk under Hazel’s back stoop. Hazel lives next to us to the west. The skunk escaped, but the raccoon, who happened to be pregnant, didn’t.
Hazel is 93 and a force of nature. Her three daughters visit regularly to help keep Hazel in her home. Josh, a single parent of a boy and a girl, who moved from Arizona, lives next to Hazel and also keeps a close watch.
Craig and Sarah live behind us, just to the south. Sarah cuts my hair and Hazel’s. Craig built our garage and is completing their new cottage as they move toward retirement. Camrin, their daughter, will take over Sarah’s business and has purchased the family home.
When we need new lens prescriptions and frames, we walk two blocks west.
Some day, someone will cart us across the street.
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