My Neighborhood Smells

My Neighborhood smells so good! On a run last evening around dinner time while listening to Keith Green's music I began to pick up on a wide variety of culinary delights. It is amazing how the cool autumn air can augment those wonderful odors. Some must have been making some soups while others were grilling steaks. I ran for 35 minutes through streets I have been on for over a quarter of a century. Then I came upon the Peter Pan Diner and that was a mixture of grilling and sauteing and the like. It was wonderful.

I also ran early on by a yard which had just been raked of its leaves. The lawn gave that pleasant odor of grass as it does in late fall and early spring. Even the odor of leaves that had broken down and become part of the earth was there.

My neighborhood smells are wonderful to the olfactory senses. I love living here and running through the streets.

Memories and Memorials in the Yard

My yard holds some special memories. When I first moved to Bay Shore in 1984, one of the first persons I made a pastoral call to was Gretel Roth. She had MS. She was confined to a wheel chair and had no use of her arms or legs. She was a lady with a great deal of grace and dignity. Few people have handled a terminal disease so gracefully. A few days before she died some years later the doctor wrote on her chart, "Inappropriately cheerful". He was right. She knew where she was going. She is now in heaven.

On a visit to her home one day she asked me if I liked Sweet Pea which was in bloom in her garden. I told her it was lovely. The next time I went to see her there was an envelope with my name on it with sweet pea seeds in it. I followed her instructions and to this day I have never failed to have these beautiful blossoms adorning my garden each summer.

They bring back fond memories of a lady
now with Jesus who was a blessing to me.

In my front yard I have a little garden set up in memory of my brother, Mark.

It is lined with stones from the creek on my parent's property upstate. My Uncle John who is now with Mark in heaven helped me put it in. They were two peas in a pod- always making us laugh. I can't wait to see them again.

In the backyard is a beautiful azalea.

It has been a reminder of my grandmother, Rose Biggs. She loved them and I still have recollections of her coming to our yard in Bellmore in May 1959 on Mother's Day, seeing the azalea there in bloom and praising the LORD for the beauty of his creation. She is now praising her Savior in His Presence, in the land where the roses never fade. She left us a legacy of love.


Behind the azalea on the left is a childhood memory. It is Honeysuckle. I found out how to transplant it and did so a few years back. It has come in so well and give sthe yard such a beautiful fragrance. It reminds of the days of my youth in Bellmore when we would take time to do crazy things like pull the flowers off the honeysuckle for that single drop of nectar. I am glad I am still a kid at heart!

Emma Rose's Namesake

Here is the lady from whom Emma got her middle name, my Nana, Rose Biggs. She is Emma's great great Nana.

What a lady she was! She was loved by many. She had mastered the Life of Simplicity. She had the Master as the focal point of her life. She loved the LORD like no one I have ever met. She lived in His Presence continually.

Nana loved God's Handiwork. She loved gardening. She had a green thumb. She loved to get out and work in the dirt. One time she had me go to the end of our street in Bellmore (Martin Avenue) where there was a woods and creek and bring her back some of that rich dirt the earthworms had produced. She used it to fertilize some things in the yard.

I remember one of her first trips to our house in Bellmore. We had just moved out. It was Mother's Day 1959. In the back was a large azalea in full bloom. She walked out to it and just raised her hands to heaven , praising God for the beauty He created.

Nana lived in Queens until the late 60's when she and Poppa moved to Florida. She took a mimosa tree seed one time and grew one in a flower pot in a window sill there. After she had nursed it along she brought it out to Long Island. It ended up in our backyard in Bellmore. Back in 1989, when she went to be with the LORD, I took a seed from the neighbor's mimosa tree and repeated the process. Today that tree gives off the aroma when it is in bloom. It is a large tree. The aroma is a witness of a life lived for God.

I am so glad James and Tonya chose to give Emma her name as a middle name. It warmed my heart when I heard. It still does. My cup runneth over!

Come on over! Let yourself in!

If you would like to walk around the my backyard, go to www.larrymancini.photosite.com, click on "My Father's World" then click on Slideshow. Sit back and enjoy! I'd love to have you!

This all began as way back when I grew up in Bellmore. Our next door neighbors Helmut and Hildergard Weiss had one incredible yard. It also had a fish pond. From that time "seeds" began to be planted in my mind of having a yard similar to theirs. Around the same time I would visit my grandparents in Queens. They lived in an apartment in Laurelton. Their landlord's name was Schwartz. The Schwartzs had a beautiful garden in their yard off to the side of the house. It was gourgeous. More seeds were planted. It all began to come together as my oldest daughter and I watched the Karate Kid and saw the beautiful garden Mr. Miyagi had created. We put in our own water garden in the spring of 1995. Paul Limmer (http://www.lidaylily.org/MemberGardens/Limmer.htm) my coach from Mepham's cross country and track teams lives near me. He got me started growing day lilies back in the late 90's. There are plants from China outback. The seeds for those plants were harvested and given to me by our family there. My daughter's mother-in-law provided new additions of daffodils and primroses. There are others from folks from my church. One of them, the sweet pea, was given to me by Gretel Roth, who is now in heaven. She was confined to a wheel chair when she had a home health care aid go out and collect them for me over 20 years ago. Ilona and Margot have provided some unique flowers- so beautiful. Charlie and Diane, John and Edie and my youngest daughter given meaningful signs. The bird bath was a Father's Day gift years ago. I just filled this this morning. My lounge chair was a gift from my oldest daughter. One of the bird feeders were given on Father's Day one year as well. Even my gardening tools (from my oldest daughter) and my gardening cart (from my middle and youngest daughter) were gifts. My backyard is rich with treasures like this from dear people. You can see why I feel like the richest man on earth. Everything I have back there I have been given by people who love me.

Come on- take a walk through it!