A Different Commute!

If you read about my first week of work, you may remember that I can walk to work (when I don’t get lost like I did on my first day). I can also take a bus. Using the bus takes between 25 and 40 minutes depending on how long I have to wait for the bus. Walking fast takes 50 minutes. It is about a 4 mile walk, and it is good exercise. But most importantly, it is a very interesting walk. I try to walk two or three times per week.

So one Saturday when Lynn and I were heading to the big “farmers market” in the town center, I took pictures of “my commute” to share with you. I have put captions on all of the photos and they tell most of the story. I will add some detail here, but you can follow all this by just looking at the photos.

My commute starts out winding along the cobble stone streets of my neighborhood heading toward a small busy road that heads toward the center of the city. Before I get to the city center, I have to pass through the “transportation hub” of Plovdiv. There are two bus stations, and the train station all clustered together.

The tunnel I show in the picture is several hundred yards (meters) long because it has to go under one of the bus stations, all of the train tracks, the train station, and then a under a wide four-lane road. There are several tunnels like this in Plovdiv, but none of them are as long. However, most of them have small shops lining each side. By small, I mean they may only be 12 ft long by 5 feet deep. I am always surprised at how busy (or empty) they are. The one tunnel here is really “the best” - - if that can be said of any of them.

The large cobble stone street after the transportation hub is very different. It is very pretty, and the sidewalks are wide and easy to walk on. But this boulevard has the nickname of “Shoe Street” because two of every three shops on both sides of the street are shoe stores. Like almost all of the shops in Bulgaria, these are very small (not as small as in the tunnels, but not large like in the US). Lynn and I have not figured out how these stores survive. We don’t see many people in them, and the competition is all around them. But based on the number of shoe shops on this street (and other places), Bulgarian women must have closets full of shoes. Either that, or the shoes get destroyed quickly on the cobble stone streets and rocky sidewalks.

Next, I enter the large city square, and then head off down the pedestrian way. This takes you toward the “ancient” city at the other end of the walkway. The photo at the beginning of this blog shows Plovdiv City Center from one of the small hills in the “Ancient” part of the city. The pedestrian walkway is in the middle of the photo between the two small hills in the center of the picture. You can not see the walkway, but you can see the Radopi mountains looming up in the background. They are about 50Km south of the city.

As you walk down the pedestrian way and you get closer to the ancient city, you begin to pass by some of the ruins which have been excavated.

After the pedestrian walkway, I zig zag onto several of the old ancient stone and cobblestone streets (they are more like trails). Then it is into another shorter tunnel under a very busy wide modern intersection, and I am quickly at the building where I work.

I’m not sure how I will like this walk when the weather starts getting colder, or the leaves have all been stripped from the trees, and it is dark walking to and from work. But I’m hoping that even with the seasonal change, I still will enjoy the walk. If not - - then there is always the bus, and the shorter walk home from the bus stop.

First Week of Work - - It’s The Little Things!!!!

Well I finished my first week of work. It was definitely the most different first week I believe I have ever experienced. But what surprised me were all the little things that we/I take for granted in the US. Following are a few examples.

1. Environmental controls - (this means heat and air conditioning). Our office is on the top (fifth) floor of a government type of building. All of the offices on the floor are empty except for my NGO and one other office. There are no environmental controls anywhere in the building. If you are in the lower floors, the stone of the building help keep it cool (or warm). On the top floor, you have the sun hitting the roof, and the heat coming at you. This week was VERY WARM. Monday and Tuesday were 100+. The little digital thermometer in our office was reading 34-35C (95F). The temperature dropped slightly Wednesday thru Friday, and it was only 92F in our office on those days. I had worked outside in that kind of heat. But I had never worked (or tried to work) at a computer at that temperature. It was a little difficult. I found the sweat from my hands and arms made “mousing and typing” very hard. Also, I got tired much quicker.

2. Ergonomics – I am used to desks, and chairs that can be adjusted to proper heights, and keyboards at correct levels. All of our chairs are adjustable in five different directions in the US. You become so used to all this, that you forget about it, and take it for granted. A folding chair or “kitchen type” chair can get slightly uncomfortable pretty quickly. We have two old office chairs, but they were being used by “salaried” employees – not the volunteer. One of them went on holiday for the rest of August, and I immediately took her chair.

3. Stairs and no elevators - I mentioned that we are on the fifth floor. But I did not say that there are no elevators in the building. The stairs are pretty wide nice marble steps. There are some wide cracks in them, and there are a couple of three inch wedges chipped from them. I actually like the stairs. I take them two at a time, and get a small bit of exercise. However, I noticed that anyone else visiting us comes into the office “huffing and puffing” and out of breath.

4. Building Maintenance - It rained hard Thursday night (we needed the rain here). Friday morning going up the stairs, I noticed a large (10 ft by 3 ft) puddle of water on the fourth floor near the turn around on the stairs going to the fifth floor. There was a similar puddle on our floor (fifth). I was told that one of drain pipes backs up every so often during heavy rain. When we left for the day Friday afternoon, the puddles were still there.

5. Traveling to the villages - We support minority farmers in the villages 30-60Km outside of Plovdiv. This week, we had some important visitors from the US who wanted to see what we were doing, and how we did it. They had driver and a new VW Passat. It was nice and it had air conditioning. Our “much older” VW does not have air conditioning, and the window next to me is “stuck” in the up position. Tuesday was another one of those 100+ degree days. It was a great day for me, and our visitors. However, I found myself remembering that both of our cars at home have great air conditioning. Just another one of those small things we take for granted.

6. Getting to work - This turned out to much more of a challenge than I expected. It is about 4 miles for me to walk to work, and that is what I did on my first day. I had walked back home from the office last week, and had the route all worked out. Well - - I thought I did. The office is just on the other side of the very old part of the city. Lots of very small, narrow curving cobblestone streets. It is very quaint! It is also very easy to get turned around, disoriented, and lost! I was 5 minutes from the office. I went left when I should have gone right. I quickly knew I was in trouble, but there are lots of trees in Plovdiv, and I could not find my bearings. I just kept getting further away. When I got to the river, I made another incorrect turn – and it got worse. Of course we do have great city maps. But…. I had already checked this all out, and left the map at home! Finally, I had to call the office, and try to tell them where I was. It was kind of like “at the corner of “walk and don’t walk!” By the time I finally found my way back, I was almost an hour later than I had planned to be. This was one time when I was glad I was just a volunteer, and they are not paying me! I started taking the bus after Monday.

So… that was part of my first week at work here in Bulgaria. It probably sounds much worse than it really was. The people I work with are GREAT. They are caring, hard working, and want to help others. They are also very understanding of “the crazy American”. In this blog, I just wanted to focus on some of the things that I found myself missing. These are the little things which we in America often take for granted. I know that I did - - and I found that I missed those little things more than I ever imagined.

Mike

First Week in The City

For years as Mike and I looked forward to retirement, I fantasized about living in a city environment for the first year of retirement, a place like Boston, or San Francisco, a city manageable in size, a place with a history, a place with universities and opportunities for continued learning and cultural events a plenty. Never did I imagine that my dream would come alive anyplace other than in the US. But it has. Our home city for the next two years will give us all that I imagined and more.

We have been here for 6 days now. We have already enjoyed two free evenings of international folk dance, set in an old Roman amphitheater, dined in a Turkish restaurant with other PCV (volunteers), checked out the upcoming schedule for the State Philharmonic Orchestra, navigated our way across town on buses, and found the bare essentials for our apartment on our own.




Our neighborhood provides a small safe haven. It is a labyrinth of short dead-end streets squared in by four main thorough-fares. It is a mix of Communist era bloc apartment buildings, new contemporary apartment buildings, single family homes dating back 80-100 years and 3-4 story older multi-family homes.


There is a large school filling the block next to us followed by another block of green space where young families, bubbas and friends gather particularly in the evenings. Every street has at least one little store, vegetable stand or outdoor café. There are restaurants, clothing, shoe, flower and book shops on the ground floor of many of the newer apartment buildings or old bloc buildings along the edges. All the essentials can be found within this square. There is a vet, hairdressers, seamstresses, insurance agents, liquor and tobacco shops, dollar (or lev) stores, hardware and auto parts stores, internet offices etc. Missing is anything resembling a chain or box store. Reminds me a lot of the neighborhoods of NYC as seen through the eyes of Shawn.

Other than a bed, wardrobe, table with 6 chairs, 5 glasses, and 8 bowl/plates our apartment was bare when we arrived last week. One of our counterparts went home and got us a sheet, comforter and two pillows for the night. With the few groceries we had picked up and a jack knife we brought with us we were able to put together a salad for dinner. However, Mike had to walk the streets for 45 minutes just looking for forks so we could eat. The dollar store was our first stop on day two. We’ve since gotten sheets and turned the one given to us into a bedroom curtain taped to the window with two sided tape. The pillow shams have been sewn together to cover the glass door. Without them, we felt like the ladies of Amsterdam. Dinners are usually spent staring back at the lady across the street on the second floor who is staring at us through our uncovered living room window. As soon as I figure out how to bake without measuring cups or ingredients I recognize, I’ll introduce ourselves with some sweets!!


Laundry had piled up during the last week of training and the first week here. Our dilemma in taking care of it was how to dry it. In Bulgaria, about 80% of homes have a washing machine (most often in the kitchen). We are one of the 80% so washing the clothes was not the problem. Rare though is a home dryer! No problem! Take them to the Laundromat. No there are none and our apartment does not have the clothes lines strung across the balcony like EVERYONE else has. We’ve been warned to be observant of culture and were not sure how hanging our clothes over the edge of the balcony would be accepted. So we held off as long as we could. Finally, I did what PC has suggested over and over again regarding grass root projects and used available resources. I did have a broom and a mop, when laid from one ledge to the other created a mini drying rack. With the hot afternoon sun helping and a few items laid to the inside edge of the ledge we got the clothes dried. We are still working on a permanent solution but are struggling with making the lines reachable for me without strangling Mike. Maybe Mike should hang the clothes out to dry!


Along with all the new aspects of daily life, we are pleased to see many carryovers from the village life we have experienced for 10 weeks. Smoke wafting into our second story window alerted us to the fact that our neighbor was canning on the street below. A fire pit was set up on the sidewalk topped with a half barrel of boiling water and filled with jars of fruit being preserved. This is how my family in the village preserved food. While watching over the operation dayado (grandfather) and friends pulled up old stools or crates set out a backgammon set and enjoyed the time together. Two hours latter only the lingering smell of smoke and a charred circle on the sidewalk gave hint of the afternoon’s activities. We have seen ladies with tree branch brooms cleaning the sidewalks, people walking in the streets, and two horse drawn carts trotting along side city busses. There are still young mothers with baby carriages everywhere you go, loud talking between neighbors, and a few cars older than Scott on the streets (though not nearly as prevalent as in the villages.)

Public transportation has been the biggest headache so far. This is discouraging since we are dependent upon it. After the Folk dance performances on Fri evening we waited about 45 min just off the main walking blvd of the city for our bus but it never showed. The cabbies must be we aware of the inconsistencies as they were lined up ready to serve as people gave up on the buses. Yesterday (Sat) we wanted to go to a larger store on the outskirts of the city. Mike and I spent an hour looking at a very good map of the city with bus routes laid out clearly. We traced routes and finally found the one from our neighborhood to the store. #4 was a mini van, came in a reasonable amount of time and off we went. OOPS! There is also a Bus #4 that follows the same route but makes the critical turn toward the store. We were on the van, not the bus. That mistake cost us a long walk in the sun. Today we wanted to get to a park on the west side of town. We packed our bag and set off after consulting the map. Again after waiting 45 min. with no #17 bus in either direction we gave up. We will have to find a source that gives us the information about how often the buses run, if there are weekend exceptions etc., but our experience in all of Bulgaria is that there is a reluctance to print any of this information (even for trains). Could be a cost issue, frequent changes or just not wanting to be held to it and endure the wrath of those who could come back and complain. Whatever the reasons, I’m sure there will be many more of these incidences before we find the information we are looking for or the experience to know what to do. Better Bulgarian would also help. We can probably ask the questions at this point but understanding the answers is another thing all together!

I’m sure this city will offer all that Mike and I dreamed of for retirement along with the additional benefits of learning about and living within a new culture. We are excited about our work yet have a realistic view of how difficult it will be. (More to come on the work later)

Lynn
PS Recommended book about Bulgaria: Street Without A Name by, Kapka Kassabova

TA- TA - - - DUM! The Влок (Train) Ride

Riding the “rails” in Bulgaria can be quite an experience. Most of the PC volunteers take buses rather than try to cope with the “older” trains. They can be late, slow, unreliable, and uncomfortable. However, the easiest way for Lynn and I to get from our Pre Service Site to our permanent site in Plovdiv was to take the train. We made the 5 hour trip on Saturday July 25. It was approximately 45C (110 degrees F) that day. Most of the trains are old - - which means they don’t have air conditioning. In fact, many of the windows are “stuck” in the closed position. Our train was an “express” train that crossed the mountains, and then moved along the central valley of Bulgaria. This blog talks about that trip.

Clicky – Clack is the way a train sound is generally described. However, that is not the way that I heard it as we moved slowly through the Balkan Mountains. There would be a quick TA-TA followed by a different DUM sound with a little more time between the TA and DUM than the TA-TA. But the sound is not really what you focused on because the mountains that you were passing through were gorgeous. We followed the Iskar River through the mountains for almost two hours. We were in the Iskar river gorge with the mountains all around us. The Iskar is the longest river in Bulgaria, and the only one that actually flows through the Balkans.

Every so often you would see part of the mountains cascading down toward the river, and wonder where the train was going to go. That is when it would descend into the darkness of one of the 22 tunnels we passed though during the first two hours of our trip.

The mountains we were passing through are part of the Balkan mountain range which runs East and West through the Northern part of Bulgaria. The Balkans are also in several other countries to the West and North of Bulgaria. In the states, you sometime hear this larger area of several countries referred to as the “Balkan Peninsula”. The mountains are slightly higher than the Appalachian Mountains in the Eastern part of the US. The highest mountain is approximately 7000+ feet. My guess is that most of the ranges on either side of the Iskar gorge were 4,000 to 5,500 feet - - but I’m not sure.

The pictures show the awesome beauty of this one train ride, and help give you an idea of the spectacular scenic resource Bulgaria has. As we climbed into the mountains on the slow moving train, the temperature dropped into the high 90’s. I spent most of the first two hours hanging out the window snapping more than 100 pictures.

This train ride also highlighted some of the stark differences about Bulgaria. Yes - - you can see all the beauty that is almost everywhere in this country. But you also pass by some of the economic realities of Bulgaria. They are everywhere along side the train lines. During the Communist period (1944 – 1989), everyone worked, and there were functioning factories everywhere in Bulgaria. But with the change to a democratic – capitalistic society almost all of those factories shut down. According to some Bulgarians, this happened “almost overnight”. The result is that you find factories through out Bulgaria which almost look like they have been bombed out. The windows are all broken, and everything is in disrepair. Lynn or I will talk more about this in other blogs. However the symbols of bleak empty factories along side of the tracks were a constant reminder of some of the economic issues in Bulgaria.

From a personal perspective, this train ride may have been like a train ride across the US 80+ years ago. It was very hot. We had a compartment to ourselves. Each compartment has six (or eight) seats in them. Smoking has been stopped officially on the trains now - - but it can still happen in some compartments. We did not have that problem. We did get the window in our compartment to go down. But most of the windows along the “walking side” of the train car did not go down. They were stuck in the “up position”. That stopped most of the “cross draft” from one side of the car to the other. However, the temperature was so hot that even a breeze felt more like a blast furnace. As we watched the Bulgarian country side move by, we noticed that any sheep, or cows or goats were all clustered together under the shade of the one tree in the pasture. I even saw a hawk on the ground standing in the shade of a pole - - instead of sitting on top of it.

After the relative coolness of the mountains, Lynn and I just sat quietly in the seats sipping water, and watching the world go by. It seemed to be better if you could somehow enter into a type of “Zen-like” zone, and just try to block all the heat away. All of the heat made me think of the times I had been stupid and gone for a long (four hour) bike ride on days when the temperatures were close to 100. But just like all those rides, we survived it, and it was not that bad.

When we got to our permanent site, all three of our partners (counterparts) were waiting to meet us. They had two cars. One was for all our baggage and the fan we were given by our host families, and the other was for passengers. They made the short ride to our apartment. When we first saw our place a month ago it was not finished. It was just bare walls and tile floors. The land lord did a great job of completing the kitchen area, and we had a bed and a kitchen table. It was great to finally get to our own place - - and be able to start the next step in our Peace Corps adventure.

Mike

Sidewalks!!

I’ve been trying to understand the use of sidewalks here in my town since I arrived. Generally they are made of paving blocks. Depending where you are in town, they may be plain concrete squares, or quite decorative ones in patterns. Most of the center of town is a pedestrian way with various kinds of blocks, stones and bricks. It is well maintained and there has been an extensive project underway extending this pedestrian way another block. Along the walkway are many benches, flower gardens and of course the shops and restaurants and outdoor cafes. This area is lovely and well used by both residents and tourists.

Away from this pedestrian way most of the streets are tree lined. The roots have heaved many a block over the years, making the footing quite uneven. The older sidewalks along the adjoining and parallel streets to the center also seem to provide many a crevice for growth of all kinds.

When we arrived in May many of the sidewalks away from the center were impassable with weeds dominating the space. But little by little residents came out with hoes, and bent in half attacked the weeds, clearing the sidewalks in front of their homes. A pile of debris would be left by the curb and disappear within the week following with the appearance of a dump truck manned by several town workers with pitchforks. I learned the practice of clearing/cleaning the sidewalk in front of your home is a carryover of a mandated during Communist times .It was an individuals responsibility to keep the sidewalk in front of their residence clear and clean. Even those living in the block housing would work together on Saturdays to tidy the area in front of their building.

As some portions of sidewalks here in town have been cleared others have become blocked with piles of logs, stacked awaiting the maul. Some have been chopped, split and stacked into the many nooks and crannies around the houses, but not all.

The weeds and stacks of wood create barriers for walkers. They however are not the worst interference to forward movement. Sidewalks also act as parking places, so it is not unusual when trying to make it from one end of the block to the other to have to circumvent 3, 4 or 5 cars parked on the sidewalk. Not all of them operational.

Along with the obstacles to circumnavigate are the big and little animal “bombs” one must tiptoe around. Depending in which direction from the center you travel, you may be sharing the sidewalk with cats, dogs, goats or occasionally a cow. There are no paths dedicated to animals.

So…….what you most often see is people walking in the streets, sometimes opting to step onto the sidewalk when they have a clear (but not always clean) shot of making it to the next corner, or when dodging the occassional car.

Just a little something to think about the next time your walking on a sidewalk!!!!

Lynn

Site Selection - It is getting Real!!!

The site selection process is a significant Peace Corps “ceremony”, and I believe it is done the same way in every country where the Peace Corps is located. The staff will make up an outline of the country. This is generally done on a Gym floor. For our selection, it was done outside in a large parking area. Then the staff will put pieces of paper in the appropriate location with the names of the town - - not the names of the volunteers going there. With 62 of us, we needed a large place draw the map, and then fit all of us on it.

Individual names are called out, and staff members give you a rose, and lead you to the paper with your town on it. You then stay on that spot until all of the other volunteers have been lead to their towns. The ceremony and the process have some important implications.

You have to remember that none of us have cars. No volunteers anywhere in the world have cars – or can drive cars. You will rely on public transportation. In most countries this is much better than in the USA, but it is still slow. Standing on your town card in it’s approximate geographical location within the “Bulgarian map” is important. You want to know who is located in the same region as you. Those volunteers will be the ones that you can easily reach on public transportation. So… you want to know who they are, and start working on how you can get to them. You also want to know where your PST training site mates are, and how long it will take to reach them. Since it can take one day to travel from one side of Bulgaria to the other – especially if you are going to or coming from a very remote location, you may not be able to see some of the friends you have made during PST. It can also cost 20% of your monthly allowance to do a round trip across the country. The ability to get to other volunteers can become important – especially around holidays.

So - - That is the ceremony process. However, there is an enormous amount of work that happens long before the actual ceremony. That is where the Peace Corps staff comes into the picture. OK - I have mentioned the Bulgarian Peace Corps Staff in earlier blogs, but I think I need to say a lot more here. This group of approximately 20 people is amazing. They are smart, considerate, caring, professional and wonderful people. Let me give you a couple of examples.

We arrived in Bulgaria May 20^th. We had been traveling all night, and most of the day.
A few of the 62 new trainees had never been out of the country. We were all tired, anxious, and a little stressed. As our feet hit Bulgarian soil, our first challenge was getting through customs. Many customs locations are large, confusing, chaotic places with long lines, multiple signs, etc. And the language is different. As we entered the large area, there was this women at the door to greet us, and tell us what line to go through, and what to do after that. And she was saying it in ENGLISH. I remember thinking “Wow, this is helpful!”. I was heading for the correct customs line when it dawned on me that “this women” was the Bulgarian Peace Corps Director – our new Boss! She was on the other side of the customs “booths”. She was the first person we saw from Country Peace Corps. She was there to greet us practically when our feet touched Bulgarian soil, and she was helping. I know the symbolism of the PC staff being there to help did not hit me then (I was tired), but it has since. Because the entire Bulgarian Peace Corps staff is the same way.

Yes – there are peace corps rules that have to be explained, and followed. Yes they sometimes seem to be overly concerned about our safety (but maybe they should). But I have still been very impressed. These 20 staff people have to choose the sites for all 62 of us. This decision will impact every aspect of our lives for the next two years. And they have 4 weeks to learn as much about all of us as possible in order to try to make the best possible decision. And the staff works hard at this. Lynn and I feel like most of the staff knows us VERY well. And that includes everyone from the country director down to our language trainer. I have a feeling like they are checking on us (or maybe ranking us like they do at West Point) almost every day. I don’t mean this negatively. Site selection is THE CRITICAL first decision. If there is not a good match, then the volunteer’s effectiveness may be hampered. Or worse – the volunteer may terminate early (ET) and return to the states. And if this happens, then all of the year-long preparation to get good sites with Bulgaria will have been wasted. So it is important for the volunteers, and for the staff.

The site selection decision was made on June 12. That meeting is with most of the staff, and I believe everyone can have some input on each of the volunteer’s site selection. I have assumed that it is very similar to the annual performance reviews that are done in corporate America. But there are some key differences. At work, management is just trying to rank employees and decide if they are going to get a 2%, 2.5% or 3% raise. Maybe there is some discussion about possible promotions for a few folks. Here in Bulgaria, the PC staff is trying to put a large matrix of critical items together to make a life-changing decision. They have selected “counterparts” (the partners we will work with for the next two years), sorted through the requests from towns in Bulgaria asking for help, worked hard to get to know all the volunteers, and now need to make the decisions.

With all my six sigma background, I have imagined massive spread sheets, projected on the walls with all of the critical factors ranked and sorted. I’m sure it is just a matter of ranking items, and the answer will just “spit” out the end of the excel file. -JUST KIDDING- – In Fact I am SURE that is probably NOT the way Peace Corps does it. Maybe some day I will find out just how one of these site selection meetings are run.

In the meantime, all I know is where Lynn and I are going are going one of the largest cities in Bulgaria (but I’m not sure if I can tell you exactly where in this blog – yet). Much more about all that, and our site visit in future blog entries.

Mike

Time of Plenty

When asked to describe themselves, Bulgarians will say they are close to nature. For those living in all but the biggest cities this is certainly true. Those in the cities, do what they can with whatever land or pot of soil they have to stay connected, but it cannot replicate life in a small town. As I walk through our town of about 10,000 people, most with their own homes, I love and admire their gardens. It is rare to see a yard with grass, as all available space is planted either with flowers or fruits and

vegetables. Even the trees are producers of fruits, nuts, and blossoms for tea or honey. Backyard chicken coops are a mainstay of the landscape. Many families have land outside the town proper where they will have a second larger garden, and grazing goats or sheep. At this time of year they are always busy working at any number of things to prepare for the winter. The cycle is old and repetitive. We missed the preparation of the land and the planting of the gardens, but that work is beginning to come to fruition.

It seems like something new and different is being harvested and preserved everyday. The strawberries that did not make it past the mouth of those harvesting them or onto the table have been boiled into a sweet drink called compote or preserved as jam and put into cold storage. Before that the cooks in the house got creative with the abundance of wild mushrooms harvested from the woods at just the right time. Fresh peas made a brief appearance, and the vines are growing heavy with the mainstays of the Bulgarian diet, cucumbers, tomatoes, and green peppers.

For the past few evenings my family has been busy making their own cheese from the sheep milk collected by dayado (grandfather) . He disappears often on his motorcycle and I’m never sure what he will return with. Today it was the first raspberries. Foods just seem to appear. Earlier this month there was a Christian holiday for which special foods were prepared. One of them was a desert made with barley, nuts, honey, lemon, sugar etc. From some secret hiding place appeared walnuts harvested last fall. We did not use all of the cache, and they disappeared with the same stealth as when they appeared. The cherry trees and another that bears a fruit somewhat like a dewberry have been littering the walkways. The fruits of the apple, pear, apricot and plum trees have taken shape and are growing.

The grape vine that somehow produces a leafy ceiling for the entire terrace grows forth from the most unlikely of places. It hugs the foundation of the house, its roots topped by the cement blocks of the sidewalk. The vino made in the fall will be added to the cold storage room, which I’ve yet to see, but know sustains life throughout the winter.

Stacks of wood are also appearing on sidewalks, along foundation walls, under cover of an overhang or tucked into protected crevices. All of this work is long and hard, as there is very little in the way of technology to make it easier. There are no log splitters, roto-tillers, or electric milkers to lighten the work. Most often I see elderly people bent in half preparing and working the garden with an old hoe. I am anxious to watch this cycle of plenty come full circle, and am saddened knowing I will be a city dweller forced to rely on others for my sustenance.

Lynn