Birthday lunch on the porch.

We surprised our handyman W today with a birthday lunch... fresh steamed shrimp and zucchini pie, with homemade brownies for dessert. It was the perfect day for an outside lunch... just a little breeze, very warm but not too hot, and it was as quiet as a church out there today. (The mowers have already cut, raked and baled all the hay in the fields-- ours and the others around us.)

Every morning, W gives my husband his lunch to put into the fridge so it won't get cooked out in his truck. When W came up on the porch to ask for his lunch bag today, we walked him around to the side porch where I had the table all set up for his birthday.... tablecloth, Halloween decorations, and small pumpkins by each plate, stuck with little Halloween flags with our names on them. My husband knew that one of W's favorite foods is shrimp, so he brought some home from the Clear Lake waterfront markets last week and I froze them till this morning.

W was more than surprised when he saw the table all decked out, and his surprise went over the top when he saw the big bowl of steamed shrimp I carried out there. I also made a zucchini pie, since W has been here working on the outside of the house from time to time when I've had that pie baking in the oven. So now he knows "what smells so good in there..."

I wrapped up some of the brownies so W can take them home with him when he leaves this afternoon. He has already put his personalized pumpkin into his truck and it's sitting on his dashboard like a hood ornament. It isn't broiling hot today, so the pumpkin will be just fine out there, and won't turn into pumpkin pie by the time he's ready to leave for the day.

While we were outside having lunch, another handyman that we know drove by in his truck. He lives just down the road, has known W for years, and also does home repairs in the area. That particular handyman had been in this house last year, giving me an estimate on some small jobs that we needed done. He didn't seem to be happy about those little jobs, and he kept giving me excuses why they shouldn't be done, didn't need to be done, or could wait to be done. The last thing he said to me when he left that day was "Now I won't be taking offence if you find someone else to do those jobs for you."

And, of course, we certainly did. W has been here two or three days a week, every week, since May. He's reliable, dependable, always on time, works well, follows directions, and seems happy to be doing the small jobs as well as the big jobs. He has worked on this property as carefully as if it were his own. So as that other handyman drove down our road at noon-time today, I have to wonder what he was thinking as he saw the three of us having lunch out on the porch and enjoying the festive table and the beautiful day.