“Ice to meet you”

So last night, I was going through another session of “midnight snow removal from my driveway.” I don’t know what it is, maybe the warm orange glow, quite bustle of the branches, but there’s something calming about shoveling snow late at night – aside from the back breaking labor that is. But what’s really cool is having a bunch of your neighbors do it along with you. These are the times I get to meet and greet. I began conversing with my neighbor that way. Her name’s Asha. She’s brown but from Trinidad (“Trini in da house!”) and works in a bakery. She’s so nice; she hooks me up with some lovely cinnamon rolls! And my neighbor on the other side? They’re Italianos. The grandfather’s nice. He doesn’t speak a word of English, but we still say ‘hi.’ This winter they got a new snow blower and grandpa Gepetto was using it not only to clear their drive, but ours too! So I say to him: “Is that what Santa left you for Christmas?” “Si, si, si” was his reply with a sort of dismissive wave. Oh yeah, forgot he doesn’t speaka-the-a-language, so I just break out the “Gracie, gracie!” “Prego, prego.” And as Shaun and I would say: “Sir, you’ve got a hot grand daughter!”