Nangle Natters: Summer lovin’

Summer lovin’

There are butterflies on my front stoop. There are bumblebees too. Isn’t that brilliant?!

It all came about when a couple of months ago I was sitting in front of my house on the old dustbin shelter. We’ve got those big black bins now, the ones that service half a street at a time, so the concrete home of the old school refuse receptacles is empty and just offers a shelf in front of the house for me to sun myself on as my own pretend summer garden.

Assorted flora, like fruit crates as window boxes

I was dangling my legs down over the pavement, deep into my Kindle and smelling of sun lotion, when a lovely gentleman identified himself as my neighbour. Was this – he asked – my front garden? Well, it’s the couple of concreted-over slabs in front of the building that I live in, I admitted. Would I – he enquired – be averse to his putting a sunflower there, just to brighten the street up a bit. What a delightful and generous idea! I eagerly agreed and thought no more on it.

About a week later I returned to my stoop for another revel in the sunshine and found not simply the proffered sunflower, but several boxes of assorted flora, like fruit crates as window boxes arranged around the ground floor flat’s bay window. And there was even a watering can neatly hidden to the side. I was thrilled.

Fast forward to last week and I was on sitting my stoop, admiring the ‘garden’ when the aforementioned butterflies and bees appeared. A glorious reminder of the ecosystem that my generous neighbour has now included my little retreat in. This is community. And I’m honoured to be a part of it.