Relative Something

Our fence contractor called the other day and during our conversation he asked if we liked dill pickles. Of course we do! But do we like them a lot? That’s a hard thing for me to measure. How much is a lot? Next time he stopped by, he unveiled a gift of a gallon jar filled to the brim with fresh homemade dill pickles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a jar of pickles that big. It looked like A LOT!

After Cyndie and I unsealed the jar, we quickly decided that it probably wouldn’t be enough pickles to last us very long. There is something about them being homemade, produced locally, by someone we know, presented to us as a gift, that enhances the essence of a food beyond anything a commercial product could ever achieve.

I think there is a feature related to the fact that there are so many pickles, we are subconsciously moved to grab two every time the jar is opened… because there are plenty! We happily oblige the urge.

By the way, the fence around the front field was completed yesterday. That’s a milestone I was wondering if we would ever see. We’ll take a breath and then start plotting our next phase. We are contemplating whether we have it in us to take on doing some of the next fence work ourselves. The main disadvantage I see in such a plan is that we’d lose the opportunity to be the beneficiaries of some pretty spectacular homemade foods.

Tom and Sue Sherry of Best Built Fence Company have been very, very generous about sharing produce and custom concoctions from their personal kitchen. It is a wonderful gesture, and has produced some very precious presents for us over the past 10 months.

We are hoping that we have made a connection with them that will last well beyond our initial client/contractor relationship. Looks like we are off to a good start, as we have been invited to their “booya” at the end of this month.