My neighbor with the backhoe LOVES pie. In the past, I’ve sent over a cherry pie (ok 2/3 of a cherry pie as I kept 1/3 for me!) as a thank you. They and now mostly Mike, since he retired and is home – have helped me many, many times with things that needed a 2nd pair of hands, tools and of course, the backhoe! Mike sent me an email after the last pie that said “will work for pie!”

Last weekend, I called for help again as the end of my driveway was in a mess after the road crews worked on snow. It is unavoidable – the road needs clearing and when the plows pass an open drive, the snow and in this case, ice – fly off the blade at the end of the drive and around the mailbox. It tends to compact as it lands and even my dream machine of a snow thrower cannot clear it.

Backhoe to the rescue!

When I emailed requesting help, I wrote that I didn’t have cherries, but I had huckleberries and would a huckleberry pie be acceptable “payment”.

I received a “YES!!!”

When I went to make a pie, I was out of the foil pie pans I use for sending pies. In our neighborly exchange of food, we’ve found that returning dishes is just a pain, hence the disposables. But, I did have some “chicken pot pie” sized foil pans…

Mini-pies it was…

Three…perfect!

In the evening, I noticed the light looked almost light purple with the snow and a clearing sky.

The soft light and the snow called us all outside for a final walk before it got dark.

That last walk, I am usually close to being done with work so am winding down. At the moment, it is after the school bus and parents have retrieved kids, but before the after work crowd comes home so all is quiet and still. Bear and Auggie and I putz around and enjoy the quiet and the ever changing and different light … this evening, the light was mauve-ish.