I always love hearing from people who read this blog. For a long time, it was only my mom and husband commenting (and I thought, reading my blog), and it’s still such a great surprise to get a comment from someone new! Last week, I got more than a comment… I got an e-mail from Mr. Richard Fassler, an active resident of Manoa (and the proud father of Kim Fassler, who writes for the Advertiser and whose writing I’m such a fan of!) who coordinates the Lower Manoa Neighborhood Watch Program and maintains a beautiful garden on McKinley Street for the neighborhood just five (walking) minutes away from where I grew up. Here are excerpts from his e-mail:

Thank you for commenting in the past on our Lower Manoa Neighborhood Watch garden on McKinley Street. As you may know, the garden was started years ago as a Neighborhood Watch effort after a group of students rampaged through the ‘hood, throwing eggs at people and houses. Well, I called the police and they were apprehended. As penance, they agreed to some “community service”: assisting in putting in the garden…taking out the heaviest weeds and bushes…that sort of thing.

Before, it was a place where people parked their cars at the base of an enormous lava rock wall. It was scruffy, dirty and unsightly. Today, the garden serves as a source of pride for neighbors, and also a meeting place for persons who would like a quiet chat, or dog-walkers who come by the dozens every evening. At Christmas, the garden is a focal point for our “Light Up McKinley Street” activity, which is now approaching a decade. Accompanying the lighting up of almost every home on the street is a block party, which brings neighbors together in the spirit of the holidays.

So, what’s happening at the garden now? Well, I have roughly 100 stalks of corn growing, for those who have never seen corn in anything but the picked or canned state; a bunch of apple bananas setting; some papayas; kale, which I don’t know what to do with; various special hibiscus; and a low-water cactus garden. What’s not to like?

When I am out-of-town, the neighbors pitch in to water or cut the grass. It’s very much a community effort, although not a “community garden” in the City-and-County sense, where everyone has a piece of the plot. Nope, I call the shots and try to keep some uniformity. Folks around here have told me the garden has never looked so good as June 23, 2008.

I invite all of your readers to come by for a visit, with or without canine. I’m usually up there watering (a hose is stretched 100 yards from my house), and I would be happy to show Manoa Valley residents around. Maybe they would like to start a garden in their neighborhood, too!

I decided to take Mr. Fassler up on his offer to show me around the garden, and I arranged to meet with him on Tuesday evening. Although I have passed by and appreciated the garden thousands of times, its beauty seemed particularly special to me on Tuesday night. Perhaps it was that I took the time to notice the details of every plant, or maybe it was that I was with the person who took great care to make sure that those details were beautiful. But there in the garden, I saw more than the plants- I saw the dedication and pride of neighbors, and the welcome embrace and peacefulness of our neighborhood. The photos below do not do it justice, but I hope that in some small way they’ll help bring you those feelings, too. And may it help bring you to the garden!

This sign hangs in the garden

Here’s Mr. Fassler with the sweet corn he grew (check out all of the stalks!)

Can you see the big bunch of apple bananas growing?

Love the color of these plants!

These bright, colorful flowers were planted to welcome people to the neighborhood

Aren’t these beautiful?

The very first blog I wrote back in March of 2007 was about the people in Manoa, and how proud I was to be their neighbor. I thought of this as Mr. Fassler said something to me that really moved me- “Being a neighbor is one of the joys of being a human being.”

Mr. Fassler, thank you for reminding us that being a neighbor is more than simply living next to someone- it’s welcoming each other into our homes and watching out for one another, and it’s nurturing the place where we live and the relationships we form. See you in the garden!