First, a friend's new red barbecue grill, invited us to open the stove. Fresh lamb cut into diced meat, marinated in ingredients, hand-pierced skewers, on the stove turned grill, meat in the small flame caressing the nuisance, fell to the charcoal under the stove stirred up a larger flame, meat to the mouth and the temperature of hot charcoal.
Another thing is not far from the doorstep of a reservoir converted into a long wild lake. The two sides of the lake are open green space, and there are wooden stacks leisurely extended to the middle of the lake. When I went for a walk before, there were people fishing there sporadically, or walking and playing tai chi. On a recent visit, I saw that the grass on both sides of the lake was filled with tents in a variety of warm colors, like giant mushrooms growing out of the grass. There are also several tents connected together, looks like a row of two-bedroom, three-bedroom, the front of the mat in a row, the child curtains, blazing sun, suddenly big and small wind, layer after layer of beads of sweat, sunburned red face, are long-lost happiness.
I newly purchased two hammocks, although only a few tens of dollars, but wandering into the neighborhood of a small forest, as long as you find two trees at the right distance, the hammock hanging on the top, nagging gossip will be able to spend a very leisurely afternoon.
It's not just me and my friends who are looking for fun in the neighborhood from afar. Data from major sales platforms show that tents, outdoor bicycles, picnic mats, etc. are sold several times more than usual.
At one point, many people were tired of the daily life, want to go far away to see, want to poetry and distant places. But when the daily life has also become extravagant, people turn their heads and realize that the original daily life treasures such as many treasures.
"Disappearing neighborhood" is a concept put forward by Xiang Biao, a professor of anthropology at Oxford University. In the past, when people lived in a neighborhood, they would naturally know that there was a fruit and vegetable market a few streets away, that a few alleys would hide a delicious fly shop, and that grandpas and grandmothers would dance in the square at night. In this kind of exploration of the "neighborhood", human interaction is more frequent, close and deep.
Now, my childhood brings me very good memories - one of them comes from the games in the "neighborhood" within my reach. Jumping rope, playing Yuanbao, pumping gyro, hopscotch, flipping rope, rolling iron ring, picking up stones, playing slingshot, pouncing on dragonflies, hide and seek under the moon, popping beans on the kerosene lamps ..... In the era when cell phones and ipads were not yet prevalent, there were more "neighborhood experiences" living in the present.
The convenience of the network, so that life is convenient at the same time, but also let life float, the lack of depth of experience, the loss of live in the moment live in the neighborhood solid foundation.
Buddhist theory says that the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind six roots, that is, six nerve feeling function, to fully contact the six dust, such as the wind on the river, the mountains and the moon and so on. Then the ear becomes sound, and the eye becomes color. And then add the human analytical judgment memory into the six sense.
Prof. Kevin Xu said that many children nowadays suffer from "empty heart disease", because the six roots and six dusts have withered, and the vivid and interesting neighborhoods that can be touched have disappeared, so the six senses are empty.
With the epidemic's potentially long-lasting impact on our lives, reclaiming the neighborhoods that have disappeared can not only expand the breadth of our lives, but also increase the depth of our lives and our connectedness to the world around us.
Regarding neighborhoods, I've seen these interesting ones.
One of Wang Zengqi's neighborhoods is the vegetable market, which he found to be vibrant, "Look at the raw chickens and ducks, the fresh fish and watercress, the turquoise cucumbers, the red chili peppers, all bustling and crowded, making one feel a sense of joy in life."
One of Dostoevsky's neighborhoods was the people around him. He said, love the concrete, not the abstract, love life, not the meaning of life. Some people feel that fraternity can accommodate all mankind, but it is important to love abstract human beings, and it is also important to love the crying of children, the nagging of parents , the coming and going of neighbors, and it is not easy to do.
Nearby nature is also important in the neighborhood, bringing freshness and tranquility, the change of seasons, and the surprise of life. I remember when I was a child, every fall my mother would find a willow branch, rub the willow soft, the outer skin of the willow from the top to the end of the stroke, it became a willow made of a small ponytail, I took the tip of the small ponytail to wear up the golden leaves, and in the evening they can be turned into a flame under the stove. The cicadas in the woods at midday in the summer, the chickweed mushrooms emerging from the ground after a rain, the early morning meeting of the sparrows in the trees. This is an important and inexpensive source of inner peace and joy.
In The Grandmaster, Ms. Gong Er said, "I choose to stay in my own time." When you find your neighborhood, you find the era that belongs to you alone.
Han Mingli Wen / photo