We made it over to Detroit for a backyard dinner with whine this afternoon. I have visited this beach urchin numerous times and did not realize that THIS was the back yard.

Every time I go there, I look out her kitchen/dining room windows onto what I THINK is her back yard and I see a rusted out truck. Intellectually, I KNOW this truck belongs to the neighbor and it is HIS back yard, not hers but somehow my brain never processed where the REAL back yard was or even that there WAS one. Today we ate in the REAL back yard, which is a beautiful green space the size of some of The Planet Ann Arbor’s smaller parks. And yes, that is a shipping container. They’re using it as a shed.

She told us a funny story about the time one of the landlords (they are long-time friends) came across a couple with a dog trying to gain access to the “dog park” (surrounded by a chain link fence). Um, nope, it is private property, not a dog park. It’s a beautiful neighborhood in SW Detroit, one of the many that is in various stages of renovation if I can use that word. I guess I mean that although some of the homes/businesses there are in total disrepair, many others are in the process of renovation. It’s a busy area populated with folks of every description.

We had a lovely orzo salad, charcuterie, and some cherry BBQ potato chips, with beer and whine. Being a Chief Cook and Bottle Washer for most of my adult life, a part of me was wanting to ask what I could bring. And then. I stopped myself. We’re in a pandemic. I can’t just schlep over to the store for last-minute supplies. I have to plan ahead and I hadn’t. Plus I am in major plan-ahead mode for another trip to the moomincabin AND trying MADLY to finish up a lot of stuff at teleCubelandia before vacay. And anyway, the beach urchins are more creative cooks than I am, so I relaxed and let her do the work and it was fantastic.

Hugs? Yes, we braved them. With masks FIRMLY secured and faces away from each other. I even used her water closet, with a Clorox wipe firmly in hand for doorknobs (her suggestion to bring them) and birthday-style handwashing afterwards.

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