does it get any better than this?

a relaxing soak in the penthouse hot tub with the love of my life. then a sublime dinner of fresh, tender asparagus, creamy crab bisque, and grilled, bacon wrapped, diver scallops. all followed by a steamy roll in the hay......

okay, okay. hahahahaha, you're right. i wouldn't know anything about ANY of that kinda stuff. (sometimes i make things up.) but i can tell you a true story that recently had me asking myself,

"Does it get any better than this?"

saturday was an absolutely perfect fall weather day here.

when my kids were little we sometimes walked the neighborhood in the fall to find the best pecans. it was not just an adventure, it also gave us a sense and source of pride having personally gleaned such valuable *inside* information.
we were: The Pecan Detectives.

(the ready supply of the tastiest and/or largest soft-shell pecans those excursions afforded us was a welcome bonus. we also observed that the smaller, harder shelled ones were oilier and therefore tastier, but more often the luxury of cracking a huge, soft-shell pecan outweighed the relative goodness of flavor. lazy? indiscriminate? pragmatic? you be the decider.)

now, back to my story-

last saturday as i drove up to mom's place i couldn't help but think about that as i looked around at all the pecan trees scattered around the property and wondered which of the dozen or so bore the tastiest fruit.
hmm? now there's an idea...

"hey mom, you wanta go outside for a walk? it's a beautiful day."

"sure."

as she puts her shoes on, i find a plastic bag and tell her what it's for. "there're pecan trees galore out there, mom! we're gonna collect 'em!"
she smiled at my enthusiasm and said, "well that sounds like fun." and off we went.

now, her walker works just fine indoors, but the tiny plastic wheels in the front slow her outdoor pace down from turtle to snail speed. we only made it to 3 trees in an hour. most all of the pecans were medium sized soft-shells. we collected, cracked and ate a bunch at each tree. mom had a vague recollection of somewhere she used to live having a pecan tree. she thought maybe Abbott Street, her girlhood home. i told her, no, but you're probably thinking of your house on Ravensway with the huge tree and a million tiny pecans.
she lit up with an expression of recognition and said, "yes, that's it! ... i remember stepping on them when i'd go out the front walk to get my newspaper."

about that time we heard familiar voices and there were Aunt Sandy and Uncle John. the aides upstairs had told them where we were. they helped us finish filling our bag and then we all 4 went back inside and visited for almost an hour.

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we gave away 95% of mom's dishes, etc. when she moved to the memory unit. something i couldn't bear to get rid of (one of the many things i still, eccentrically, keep in my car and reintroduce her to occasionally...) is a set of silver nut crackers and picks. kinda like these, ya know? so i brought 'em up and filled a small bowl with pecans.

hopefully mom will get a little bit of exercise using them. we'll see about that...

on the way out, i gave the majority of our hoard to the aides.
they were most appreciative.

so, the next day when i arrived at VT, one of the cooks was vigorously lashing out at branches with a 20 foot long pole. Opal, one of the aides we'd given our stash to, was busy gathering pecans in a jumbo-sized dog food bag. i pulled up beside them, rolled my window down, and hollered, "i expect a pie before thanksgiving."

she laughed out loud and said, "you got it, mr. mary anne!"

now you tell me, does it get any better than that?

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while we're on the subject, here's my favorite version of my favorite song.
peace, y'all.