neighbor trails

One wonderful detail of our place here on Sundown is the proximity to an old friend (and former housemate, in fact), who lives "just one pasture over" as I often explain it to people.  It could also be called "next door" I suppose, but since both places have long driveways leading off of Sundown Road, the most efficient way to get between them is to cut across a long narrow pasture, rather than going out driveways and down the road.

Since the last big snow, there has been a fair amount of traffic between our houses, and a nice little path has worn down, by trips back and forth to borrow some warm clothes from a guest, to loan a pair of sewing-scissors, and the last few days, Cedar coming over to borrow the sewing machine and my (limited) expertise as she works on a special sewing project.

It's easy to stay indoors, to stay isolated, from neighbors especially in the cold winter months (unless, of course, your young hungry husky barges into people's front doors and starts eating their pets' food, but that's another story).  We jump-start the neighboring by knowing some of them already, but we are reminded in our recent exchanges of visits, how important those connections are.  It's a good reminder to keep reaching out to others as well, that that verb of "neighboring" is so important for building natural, resilient communities.  Looking out on the neighbor trail through the pasture, just a bit deeper and wider than the deer trails linking other corners, I am reminded that, with a little effort, we can make more of those--a network of neighbor trails and connections for all kinds of support.