Honeysuckle

This morning my neighbor, I call him
Mr. B from the TV series 24 as we would always have deep conversations about what would happen next on the show. I call him Tony too, his real name, but mostly Mr. B. Kinda reminds me of the old TV show Hazel, she was a maid who always called her boss Mr. B.

Anywho...

Mr. B always has a project. When it snows he's out there even making a parking spot for me, he's a great neighbor. He's got all kinds of gadgets and I'll see him just studying his trees out front, they kinda look like big lollipops. Last spring he bought a new toy, a power saw with an extension and he can trim the trees from ground level. First he studies the trees, does his trimming and then studies them again. Perfection is Mr. B's middle name. So there's always something going on with Mr. B and his garden and landscape in front of the house. It's beautiful too. When I walk out my front door my first view is Mr. B's garden and the brick wall from his neighbor's side yard which also has shrubs and big trees. It's a nice view to walk out to every day.

Well this morning Mr. B is planting some fir trees and removed the honeysuckle vine that was there before. At first he couldn't remember the name of the plant he removed, said it was a stinky plant which made me think of something not nice as I couldn't remember what was there before myself. I was just going back home and he screamed across the street that it was honeysuckle. I turned back and said, "that's what you call a stinky plant? That's not a stinky plant!"

I love the smell of honeysuckle, grew on the back fence of our yard in Brooklyn and we would actually break the plant from the bottom and eat just a little juice/nectar that would come from the honeysuckle. We loved it. Sounds weird maybe but we did it all the time and would invite our friends to taste. Reluctant at first, there was always an "ah" followed by a smile on their faces when they tasted the sweet juice. And again I loved the smell, wouldn't call it stinky.

Made me remember my backyard too. For Brooklyn, even then when lots of people in the neighborhood had great big yards, it was a great yard. We had a brick walkway slopping down to a large yard. It was great in the winter for sleigh riding. Not only was there the slope going down the walkway, it got extra icy from the dryer vent blowing hot air on to the snow, making it slicker. And then there was another hill just as you got to the front of the yard and you would go flying up on that and into the rest of the yard. We would have contests who could get the furtherest into the yard. Of course that meant more weight to move faster, piling kids on top of kids and flying down that walkway. Then you would see multiple kids flying in the air after that first hill in the yard. So much fun, right in my own back yard.

We also had a huge tree, can't remember what kind of tree it was, I can't remember seeing anything fall to ground from it, but my godfather put up a tire swing for us the day we moved in and I know it lasted for years. I also know someone was on it when the rope finally snapped from rubbing against the tree limb so much. Wasn't me, but I kinda think I was there. At least whoever did was sitting on the tire, it offered a little protection from the fall to the ground!

We had a grapevine that served as our clubhouse in the winter, the dried vines giving it the privacy for our club. In the spring and summer you really couldn't go in there, it was filled with leafy vines and grapes. So yes, we did get grapes, but they weren't really tasty, the honeysuckle was much better.

On one side of our yard the neighbors had a big apple tree, which was right next to our fence so there were always apples falling into our yard and those we loved. They also had a huge weeping willow which I think are just beautiful trees.

Doesn't sound much like Brooklyn does it? But for a long time that's what it was like. My backyard was an adventurous place. They've torn down my house, and the houses that were on each side of mine. Built condos. They also ran out of money building those condos and where my house and my neighbor's house with the apple and willow trees stood is now just vacant and ugly. They didn't have to tear them down. Such a shame, both were really nice houses, built well and would have left a nice piece of the old Bay Ridge Brooklyn there today.

And I would never call honeysuckle stinky. It's an aroma, and if you get the chance, taste the the little drop of nectar you get from the bottom of the plant! You can actually look up on line for directions showing exactly how we did it, back in old Brooklyn days.

Thanks Mr. B. You sparked some nice memories this morning. I can almost smell the honeysuckle of my yesterdays.