Life: Idiotropic

At first glance, this is just an average photo taken through my kitchen window of the view from my kitchen window.

But look closely at the house. Then look at the new awning that is being built there. You will see a man. Not a young burly man, but Kirt, the sweet, old, widower who lives there now with Bonzai, his miniature pony. Kirt is in his 80's. I'm not saying that 80 is old and one should stop living, but building an awning and walking around on it standing straight up and holding on to nothing (which is what I saw him do), is dangerous. So is standing on a tall ladder cutting hedges with a lawn mower - another feat I've seen Kirk do from my window. I'm not spying, but I think that one of these days he's going to do something crazy and hurt himself, so I stay and watch and worry and will at least be ready to call 112 if something happens.'

Of course, the people here are blessed with rugged paths and farm roads on which you could bike the entire country without ever getting on a main road, so they are used to biking everywhere and just act a bit younger. Yesterday we were walking back from Rodebach and ran into our landlord's husband who, wearing nice slacks, a button shirt, and tie, had biked from Geilenkirchen to Hatterat to Birgden, to Gangelt, a few others I've forgotten, and was returning. He had errands to run and used his bike like we'd use a car. It's a beautiful thing.