Monday, February 27, 2012
Mr. Wiegert my old Pittsford neighbor. I still drive by my childhood home (on Stone Road) and note it's changing shape, the almost unrecognizable street and no where to be found cornfields, but the neighbor's house the one on the corner remains the same; a cornerstone of my growing up. I know that I am in the right neighborhood even when nothing else is recognizable. With Mr. Wiegert is no longer there it is like losing my childhood home all over again.
Mr Wiegert's garden. It is there where I saw him most. I can recall talking with him about silly things some days while he tended his crops and trying not to bother him other days. He was kind of like Mr. McGregor ( and I of course naughty annoying Peter Rabbit). When my sister and I were playing in the yard we were firmly instructed by my mother not to disturb the neighbor while he was working in his garden. We'd be quiet as two girls could be when we noticed him in his garden. We'd keep looking towards Mr. Wiegert when we played to see if we were indeed being annoying like my mother claimed we were. He'd be all hunched over weeding or planting, concentrating on his neat rows and my sister and I'd try and behave as best as we could, however, it was inevitable that we'd disappoint my mother and make too much noise or our ball would roll into his yard (or frisbee, jart or other lawn toy) or our dog Marshmallow (or Bubba as she was also known to the neighborhood) would bark or have a mad dog attach in our yard causing a noisy explosion. He'd pop up from his labors and glance in our direction, never a cross look, but a look just the same. Some days he'd be buried so far into his garden that we'd not even know he was there and go about our play with no regard for quiet. Sometimes in fact I remember at least a half a dozen times, he'd be in his shed when we came over to retrieve our item(s). Of course we'd check first to see if he was in his garden as we'd make our way into his neatly mowed yard. He'd be be quiet and perhaps a little sneaky too, just waiting until the opportune moment to catch us... and then he'd scare us! I loved going into that shed and smelling the smells of a gardener.
I also think about the times when my sister and I'd would go over just to see the Wiegerts on Halloween (all dressed up) since they were the only ones worth going to in our neighborhood for candy. We'd also go over to the nice neighbors to sell him some girl scout cookies or other fundraiser things. We'd catch him napping on the porch and bother him with some sort of pitch to buy something. Usually he'd say to come back when Mrs. Wiegert was home or go in to get his wife (who would send us home with a cup of some sort of great snack just for stopping by).
I treasure a photo of my dog Gus, Mr. Wiegert and me (in a lovely pink 70's jacket). It was taken shortly after Gus escaped, after he ran all over the neighborhood making angry neighbors (present neighbor excluded). I think Mrs. Wiegert took it. It hung on the burlap bulletin board in our kitchen in Pittsford for as long as I can remember. I have it now in a scrapbook.
Mr. Wiegert was always grinning and happy around my sister Mary Lou and I.
I have never had a neighbor like this since, nor have my children who are about the same age as I was when my sister and I had to be quiet as not to disturb Mr. Wiegert's in his garden (and don't even think about stealing a grape from the vine that separated our property lawns... said my mother). In this day of fast everything, I am so glad that I had the privilege to be that annoying little girl to such a wonderful neighbor.
XO
