The spooners

  Sometimes just when I think I'm going to run out of things to write about, life has a way of creating moments that my mind just wants to capture in words ,so that those moments never get lost and forgotten . Today was another one of those days. 

   It started out slow again, still wallowing in self pity from this cold. Jim went golfing and invited Brock along. He didn't realize he was invited to be his golf caddy and not actually play the game.but they had a good time anyhow, meanwhile the rest of us slept in and walked to the mediocre town for coffee and pastries. We went to a toy store where  we met a lovely German woman who happily spoke broken English to us. She was pretty adorable to visit with. I understood about 1/4 of what she said ,but I pretended to understand 3/4. I asked where the best place to visit the black forest was. In my mind, the Black Forest sounds so enchanting and mysterious. I thought Robin Hood came from the Black Forest. Jim told me he came from Nottingham forest. Whatever. I picture the making of fairy tales and round German women serving up Black Forest cake in their little fairy tale cottages with German dudes dancing around with beer in their hands clicking their feet to accordions. The lovely toy store lady told us to go to titisee . That's the name of the best village to visit and it happened to be where she grew up. 

   I found it incredibly disappointing. The drive their was frightening to start with. There wasn't anything spectacular about the forest. One thing we have going for us in California is beautiful nature. It's kinda hard to beat. The town itself was built near a lake, but compared to Donner lake ,near us there just wasn't much to write home about. It was a complete tourist trap and when a man treated me like I was going to steal wool socks from his cheesy tourist shop I was done. I was so done I actually told the guy I wasn't going to buy the socks now because he was so rude. To be treated like a thief is the most offensive thing to someone who values honesty more than anything. I thought ,well this is a crap day. Then we met the spooners.

   Our mobile home is situated on a nice grassy pitch with a neighboring mobile . It's laid out in such a way that it feels like we are the only ones here. Earlier in the day I spoke with our friendly neighbors and told jim we had a sweet family living next door. When we came back home to make dinner they were sitting on their deck. Jim was sent out to BBQ but this is jim. He made friends instead. Before long we had them bring their chairs over and park on our side of the grass. Claire was from Scotland originally and now living in England with her English husband mike and two kids Ben and Matt. Claire immediately charmed me with her sincere smile and friendly honest presence. She was hilarious! She taught me all about what is means to be a Scotsman. You see I learned that the weather is positively dreadful almost all of the time, so the people love comfort. They love to eat deep fried butterballs, literally, cuss like sailors, and drink like fish. I think I like Scottish people. She was so delightfully charming. She taught me the word in Scottish for getting tipsy is getting pished.  If i ever go to scotland and use that word i will impress the scottish people. She had an intense fascination with toilets. Yes that's right toilets of the world ,

and was quit knowledgable on the subject. She told me that when they built the train from London to France, men had proposed putting some sort of burning wood stove that the women would have to carry their feminine products to and toss in the fire to incinerate. A woman stepped in and caboshed that plan, but can you imagine having to carry your nasty renderings from womanhood and sit around a campfire with a bunch of other menstruating woman to get rid of the necessary things? For real? That's kinda strange and funny but like she said, men were in charge, to them it seemed legit.

   Anyhow we spent the evening with the spooners. Claire affectionately referred to her husband as " spooner" all night. Their kids were amazing, incredibly funny and eager to listen and share adult conversation. We had amazing conversations and Claire asked so many honest questions about our way life ,always prefacing with" I don't want to offend I just honestly want to know" 

   At one point she had me laughing so hard I passed wind on the hard plastic chair. I know it's not lady like to tell it, but it did happen. It vibrated across the deck like a jackhammer on concrete. Claire was to busy talking to notice but the look of utter shock and horror ,and the eminent laughter from her husband let me know I didn't get away with it. I was embarrassed of course but what are you to do? I asked cole to bring me the cherry brandy.

   People are such an amazing gift in life. At home we are blessed with the best friends in the world. But it never ceases to amaze me how many honest, sincere and kind people are out their waiting to befriend. I love traveling and meeting new people and getting their perspectives on things. I have a strong feeling we will see the spooners again, maybe a long long time from now,but until then they will always be a fond memory for us and the kind of people you just never will forget.