I love our neighbors. Hardly a day goes by that I don't find myself marveling at how lucky we are to live where we do. Just down the road from us there's Tracy, who runs a kennel and the local animal control. After stopping by to see our workshop a few weeks ago, she gushingly told us how happy she was that we were here, saving the area from another second-home McMansion. She went so far as to say we were "doing right by Vermont," which means a lot to us considering she's been living here longer than we've been alive!

Then there's Jeremy and Hercilia. Last week, after a particularly difficult day of working on our rafters, Jeremy showed up unannounced for a chat, three beers in hand, one for each of us. His cheerful banter never fails to lift our spirits. And then there was the evening Hercilia heard us pounding away well into suppertime, and texted us to see if we wanted to drop by for lasagna and ice cream! A lighting-fast resounding YES was our answer.

Now, there's Charlie, who we recently met at our local yoga class. As new to the neighborhood as we are, he and his wife Becky moved back to their home state of Vermont this spring, after forty years in San Francisco. Becky is as obsessed with cooking as I am, and I lust after her ample cookbook collection. Charlie, meanwhile, is a retired builder, who happens to think that helping his eccentric neighbors with their Viking timber frame is a grand old time. The hilarious, whip-smart couple is a perfect addition to our Maple Hill Hood.

How did we luck out with such great neighbors!?