
This huge black walnut is atop the slope across the street.
My neighbor, who became a good friend, lived under it for more than a decade. I listened to her worry about the possibility of this tree falling on her house, watched her pick up the fallen husked nuts, and was startled every autumn by the LOUD sound inside the house when they dropped onto her rooftop from high above.
Every fall her house would be surrounded by them...and I didn't care. Last summer, she moved (I won't go into my grief about that). And now I want those fallen treasures to dye with. There are new neighbors. I have only had a few encounters with them so far. During each of these meetings they have seemed very nice, and I, uh, well, I am not known for making good first impressions. Without going into the details, let's just say I've done nothing to change my reputation.
So, I would wait for them to go to work, then scurry across the street and search their sidewalk and easement for walnuts. After a couple of weeks of this, I finally realized the tree was also above another house. These neighbors are used to my dyeing experiments, fabric and wool draped around the yard and concoctions in jars or pots on the porch. They were happy to have me take their walnuts away, though they did ask if I was coming to "trick or treat" as I approached their house with a big bowl.
So I can stop looking like a mad woman walking slowly up and down in front of the new neighbors' house.
But, I'm sure they think I'm nuts.
