October and November are beautiful months in Northern California. In many areas we have a “New England”-type fall, with leaves colored bright-red, yellow and orange. Temperatures aren’t as cold as they are in New England, but they are definitely cool and crisp, with deep-blue skies and little rain, making it a wonderful time to be outdoors.

After months of intense sewing, I find it necessary to take time off to refresh and replenish ideas. For me, the best place to do this is the garden, so most of the past week I’ve spent gardening. This meant clearing my backyard of weeds, broken branches and debris left by the deer, who used to call my backyard, “home.” I say “used” because I recently was able to close my yard with a deer fence, so I’m hoping to put a pretty flower garden there in the spring.

As I was busy pulling weeds and cleaning up I could hear in the yard next door, the sound of little boots running back and forth, back and forth, never stopping, never walking, just running- The little boy next door, five-year-old Blake, is always busy doing something, but it doesn’t matter what he’s doing, he does it running.

When I garden my mind runs off like Blake’s boots. Usually it goes so far away that I’m unaware of the things happening around me, so it was awhile before I was aware of silence. The boots had stopped running. At the same time, I was feeling uneasy; feeling like eyes were watching me. I looked up and through two broken boards in the fence that divides my yard from my neighbors’, saw two eyes staring at me.

“Hi!” I said. Blake asked what I was doing, then announced that he was, ” working, too.” After a few seconds of silence he asked if I had any sticks- only he can’t pronounce “s’s,” so it took a few minutes for me to realize what he was talking about, though if I had looked up, I would have seen his eyes focused on the bag of “sticks” that I had been collecting to throw away. “Sure, I have a whole bag of them,” I said. “Then can I have one?” he asked. I told him to go ask his dad and if his dad said yes, I’d give him one.

Once again the sound of running boots, away, away, and back again- then- two eyes, peering at me through the fence. Silence. “Well, did your dad say that you can have one?” “Nope,” he said, “but can I have just one stick? Please?” I replied that I couldn’t give him one because his father said no.

Over the next hour, he phrased and rephrased his request, asking in every possible way, despite my efforts to distract him. I finally asked what he wanted a stick for. He told me he, “was building a nest, so would I give him a stick?” I asked if he was going to turn into a bird. He thought about this very seriously for a moment, then got a big smile as if that was a great idea, and answered, “Yes!—-so can I have a stick now?” I replied again, only if his father gave him permission-

Off ran the boots, this time disappearing for a while. But before long I heard them again, running back to the fence where I was working. Added to the sound of running boots, was the sound of something big being dragged. He told me that it was going to rain and he needed to cover his nest which, I saw, consisted of a few pathetic-looking sticks that he had managed to find in his yard. Then I heard his father, who was outside painting, yell, “Blake, bring that plastic back here!” The plastic was quickly swooped from atop the nest and was noisily dragging behind the running boots again. I sensed the painter was about to get his drop cloth back- and Blake wouldn’t be starting a new litany of requests.

Besides the garden being a nice, if brief, respite from sewing, I also found it entertaining. I’m not sure what new ideas will come from my experience, but something is sure to appear on the front of one of my upcoming dresses. Interestingly, before I took my garden break, I had just completed embroidering two chicks on the front of the dress I am now about to complete. There are no nests on it, just chicks and flowers- I’ll leave the nest making to my little neighbor next- door . I guess I’m ready to start sewing again, but I will miss the sound of little boots running and my entertaining conversations with Blake

~ until my next break!