Vegetable shopping

Our pastor's wife, Lisa, is an avid gardener and has a huge spread with three separate vegetable gardens on it. She takes the produce and puts it on a little cart beside their house (which sits right on the main highway) and has an honor-system vegetable stand. I like to take a detour down there sometimes and buy some fresh veggies from their garden.

Today the kids and I were stir-crazy, so we got in the van and drove to Norwalk and then south on the highway toward the Jones' house. I pulled up alongside the stand and bought a nice big cantaloupe, some cucumbers and some tomatoes. Then the kids spotted Anna, the pastor's daughter, and everyone had to get out and run around and play for a while. It was nice to stand and talk to Lisa; they have such a nice place out there with so much room to run. Isaac kicked off his flipflops and ran like a madman all around the yard, chasing the kittycats and chatting with Aaron, their teenage son.

Aaron is quite a fellow, himself. He showed me his water garden pond, resplendent with waterlilies and other interesting vegetation.



He also raises chickens and sells the eggs. Here's a picture of him pushing Isaac in their tree swing.



It's amazing to see a teenage boy that's so industrious and friendly, not at all sullen and bad-tempered and withdrawn. He's not a weird geeky kid, either. He's an excellent athlete and plays video games... in other words, he's normal. Just not in a bad way.

Refreshing. That's how I always feel after I've been to their house. Nice, nice people.