Jill & Wally

Down the street live Jill and Wally. On Sunday Jill came over with a huge basket of oranges and an electric juicer. We made and drank fresh-squeezed orange juice all afternoon. I even made citrus chicken for dinner.

There is just something about this duo: they're interesting, thoughtful people with a zest for life. They travel often and, when I mentioned my upcoming girls' trip to Jill, she disappeared to her office and returned with a business card from an antiques shop in the teeny tiny town I am going to, and with a picture book of the same town. Jill and Wally got married at the French Laundry. In their dining room are framed menus from places they have eaten. It's very charming.

They seem to like the young kids in the neighborhood. I'm sure their grandson and nephew get the same treatment. The Pinks have been over there to bake, make gift tags, and garden. Tori once came home with pots of what she called Sarcastics. When they finally bloomed we realized that they were narcissus. They've learned about composting because Jill and Wally have a composter nearly the size of a Smart Car. Last fall, Tori went with Jill to her mom's and raked leaves. Fortunately Jill told her she was too young to use the leaf blower. They brought five large garbage bags back to our house, dumped them on the front lawn, and the kids played in the leaves for a few days until we hauled them down to Jill's for their garden.

Wally and Dave bike downtown and have lunch from time to time. This took Dave some getting used to as Dave sees biking as exercise and was not used to stopping halfway through his workout to eat.

If you look at my Facebook profile you'll see that my favorite restaurant is not a restaurant at all: it's Jill and Wally's house. Sometimes we have dinner there. I often borrow from their library -- travel and cooking. I think they had four Christmas trees this year, the one in the kitchen was decked out with cookware-themed ornaments. It must take them days to decorate for the holidays. Dead serious.

Liberty took these pictures. We walked down to Jill and Wally's and noticed the tulips pictured above. I sent her back with a camera to capture the rest.