Tales from the Backyard
Stories told at dinner
by
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The next morning we reluctantly left our campsite, flagged down the little Lake Chabot ferry and settled into our seats. The glassy water reflected the surrounding pines and a late-bird owl was still hooting by the shore. We were enjoying the pristine morning when a nerve-jangling helicopter appeared out of nowhere and headed to highest part of the eastern hill that overlooked both the lake on one side and the Contra Costa Valley on the other. The sound chopped through the quiet morning and Jim said, “great, now civilization has found us, what are they looking for criminals in that forest? The helicopter hovered over the highest trees for an age—what was it going to do? The wait piqued our curiosity, and we made guesses what would happen next, but nothing prepared us to see big, green bushy things about the size of Christmas trees being scattered onto the treetops. “No, wait, those can’t be what I think they are,” said Jim, they look like Christmas trees.” A check with the driver of the ferry confirmed that the Parks Department was recycling those trees—they were perfect for great blue heron roosts.
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About the Book
How do you measure a life? One story at a time can be used as a good yardstick; it encompasses great deeds of valor as well as little private moments. Who doesn’t like to be heard? Come to dinner and ‘listen in’ on tales told by guests who have past the mid century mark and are invited, one evening at a time, to savor a memory. The listener is as important as the storyteller because our host for the evening, though never saying a word, is a silent witness to the past.