Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Bench Gang

The Bench Gang
Babusia Natalya, Baba Hala, Mykola, and Petro

These four are regulars on the bench downstairs. You can't go anywhere or do anything without them knowing about it. Edna and I usually just tell them where we are going or where we have been so they won't have to speculate or ask around. They are a wealth of information if we ever get curious about where someone in the building works or what kind of car they drive or what school their children go to. Nothing happens around our place without them knowing about it.

Babusia Natalya lives on the first floor with her cat, Astya, and Joshua sometimes helps her in her garden. Baba Hala also lives on the first floor with her German Shepherd, Jerry, and two Chows, as well as four generations of family including herself. Joshua often plays with her great-granddaughter on the playground. Mykola likes to talk about his health, which never seems to be good, and he keeps a close watch on the playground to make sure the children behave properly. Petro likes to take walks down to the river where he is an endless source of fishing advice and isn't shy about sharing it with us.

Someday I would like to replace the bench they sit on with a real one complete with a back. The one they currently use is just some scrap wood thrown together across some concrete blocks. It would be nice to show them how much they bring to our lives by helping make theirs a little more comfortable.

4 comments:

Little Viky said...

These people are precios! We have the similar bench gang near our place and those ladies are very nice to talk to and they often do us a favor of watching our doggie when we are too busy (or too lazy) to walk with her. The minus is they give the sunflower seeds to her (it is not good) and that causes us the trouble with walking with our dog during the whole night :) hee hee... Life is beautiful!

Greg and Edna Silva said...

Vika,
I think everyone must have a bench gang around their building. Your dog is lucky, no one ever feeds me sunflower seeds. (Conor says I eat to many sunflower seeds anyway.)I promise never to give your dog sunflower seeds though.

-Greg

Little Viky said...

Thank you!
By the way, such gangs keep en eye on our moralty the best way because the KNOW. And we do our bad deed in darkness thinking that nobody knows. They expose the sin.

Greg and Edna Silva said...

That's true. They know all of our bad spending habits too. ;)