The Green Acres Neighborhood Yard Sale kicked off  on this quintessetnial summer morning. Four different households lined their driveways and lawns with books, clothes, furniture, art, and all the other quirky items to be found at a yard sale. Some neighbors even had co-operative garage sales, sharing driveway space to display their goods.

Ann, Mariella, Juakim, Asiri, Shadow, and I all walked over to neighbor Jen’s house to show our support. Along the way, Juakim and Asiri insisted on stopping by the children’s free library where they picked up a few books and promised to re-stock the selection soon. “It’s so nice that my kids will be able to say, ‘When I was young, we had this (free library) in my neighborhood,'” remarked Mariella. Involving children as part of our over-arching vision is very important; it ensures the longevity of a community and provides an example of alternatives to another generation.

After chit-chatting with Jen, we walked to another sale. Along the way, Rebecca passed by on her way tot he Farmer’s Market and waved at Mariella and I practicing our Qi-Gong moves on the sidewalk. Approaching the next house, Ann noticed a lovely crop of milkweed. We have quite a few plants growing in our yard as well and its encouraging to find some more native plants (Monarch butterfly habitat!) growing in the neighborhood. In an inter-connected and serendipitous, we learned the neighbor in the bottom right of this photo, is moving away from Bloomington soon. But not before Anne learned she has a connection with our friends at Oakwood Retreat Center!  “I was just there for three days and I loved it!” Hmm..a possible liaison for inter-community connection? The possibilities abound. Happy browsing!