signing babies, oak trees, and classic cars: a neighborly chat

This morning I took Stella out for our daily morning walk. We loop around a street that goes through a neighborhood by Twin Lake and then we pass by a nice park where Stella enjoys swinging in the baby swing for a few minutes. After that, we continue down the street before turning back into our neighborhood.

Today I got into a conversation with a very chatty lady and two men who were in their mid-to-late 60s. The lady had some leaf particles in her white hair and some rather long upper lip hair which I found particularly challenging not to look at. Stella was waving at all three of them, which delighted them. The first thing she said was: "BOY OR GIRL?!!!" Stella was wearing a bright pink shirt and socks and had a pink and brown stroller blanket, so I thought that was pretty obvious, but anyway...The lady commented that there are so many babies in the neighborhood now and she reported to me just how many babies they had seen that morning alone. She went on to tell me about the two-year-old Stella that lives kitty corner from them who knows sign language. When I told her that my baby was named Stella, too, all three of them just about passed out upon learning this. The lady went on to talk about the other Stella as if she was her own grandchild: "Her mom is a nurse and she taught Stella SIGN LANGUAGE!" She added, "Stella uses more sign language than she speaks ENGLISH!" And, "Sometimes she signs instead of talking to me so I have to ask her mom what she's saying!" The other two men would interject here and there to reassure me, "well, she is older than your Stella" when the lady said that the other Stella had a mop of hair compared to my Stella and knew more sign language than my Stella. One of the men contributed to the dialogue: "How does that saying go? That kids learn more in their first year than any other year?" (I had to bite my tongue here). The lady chimed in: "It's because they're not afraid of ANYTHING!" She went on to say that there are swimming lessons for babies and lots of other things...I think that may have been what started the sign language thread.

I told them that I always admire their beautiful oak trees to which they responded, dismissing my compliment: "They're SO MUCH WORK!" (She had a handful of little sticks she had been gathering off the lawn). The man added, "It costs $1000 to remove one of these. " Lady: "We've had two removed so far!" He also informed me that oak is worth a lot: "go to Menards and check the lumber section and you'll see just how much red oak is worth!"

I felt a few raindrops and they said asked if I had a long way to walk back home. I told them what street I lived on and this got them excited. "Have you seen the red '57 Chevy that belongs to the guy who lives over there?" (Her husband corrected her: "it's a '55"...as if this two-year correction would suddenly clarify things for me). I answered, "I don't think so, but I'm sure my husband has noticed since he's a car guy." The men apparently thought this was hilarious because they laughed super hard. Perhaps in the event I would pass this along to my car-loving husband, one of the guys informed me that there's some classic car night at Wagner's (they told me this as if I knew exactly what the heck Wagner's was) every Monday night from 5-7. "Get there at 4:30, though. It fills up fast," the lady advised.

The lady also asked me if I went to the park every day. I said yes, and she proceeded to tell me that when she was a kid she used to go to that park, but it used to be metal and there was also a wading pool. As she was telling me this, she pointed to a guy further down the street and said to her husband, "There's that man who walks that dog twice a day!!" Everything she said was so exclamatory. It was hilarious.

Well, I'm signing off. I need to check some lumber prices at Menards.