For the third year in a row, Nancy Herring of Redmond has won a Dreyer’s Ice Cream party by submitting an essay or poem in praise of her neighborhood.
“Some might argue that I am a fairly decent writer, but I’d argue that my neighborhood here in the Rivertrail development is pretty darn special and the essays and poems about its uniqueness practically write themselves,” Herring said.
She’s opening her ice cream social to everyone in Redmond, from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, as a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk. A minimum donation of $3 per sundae is requested. The event takes place in the cul-de-sac beside 15664 NE 93rd Way.
The cause is close to Herring’s heart because her two sisters, Pammy Gail Adilman and Anna Joy Adilman, lost their lives to leukemia.
For more information, call (425) 861-9977 or visit http://www.active.com/donate/ltnWA-AK/2302_herringbones.
Here’s Herring’s winning poem about her neighborhood:
Sit back and relax and I’ll tell you a tale
About our community that’s called “Rivertrail”:
A lovely small complex of cozy townhouses
Filled with nice children and ladies and spouses
Or young single people, just starting out
All attracted to our special place here, no doubt!
My home is beside a wee cul-de-sac
Where kids often play and us adults kick back.
We all help each other if someone falls ill.
We support others’ causes; there’s so much good will!
When I need ingredients for a recipe
My neighbours insisted on giving them, free!
Whenever we need help with our kids or our pets,
We readily do so, without pause or regrets,
Or we’re there with some medicine in the mid of the night,
If e’er there’s a party, us all we’ll invite!
We go to each other’s kids’ musical plays
And sporting events, on the rainiest days,
We order their Scout cookies and their magazines
And have the older kids babysit when they get to be teens!
We watch all our houses if someone’s away
On vacation or business, for a month or a day
We’ll bring in the mail and all packages, too,
There’s not much for each other that we really won’t do!
We host holiday parties each mid-December
And luaus in August or early September
And baby showers for neighbours expecting,
Surprise birthday parties for those unsuspecting!
To each other, we’re not merely neighbours. We’re FRIENDS.
Beyond mere geography, our friendship transcends
For if one moves away, there’ll be no resistance:
We’ll visit each other, no matter the distance!
To Switzerland, Vancouver or a few miles nearby,
We’ll ALWAYS be “neighbours,” one cannot deny!
And when, once awhile, new people move in
We hope a new friendship will also begin
And we bring over cookies or candles or ale
To welcome them here, to our home, Rivertrail!
