Honey do

Howie Hahn made a careful U-turn on his trusty bike and swung over to visit us as we sat in the cool shade of our front porch a few days ago.

At 80-years old, he bikes for amusement more than sport, though he said he does enjoy the exercise.

Howie also still occupies himself as a fix-it man, though most of his clientele list has atrophied due to moves out of the neighborhood for one reason or another.

At one time, Howie took care of several houses on Alice and Drew streets, mowing lawns, cleaning gutters and repairing just about anything, including, recently, a central air conditioning system.

“I’m small enough that I could fit into the crawl space where the unit was,” he said cheerfully.

Beloved both for his skill set and the generous way he shares it, Howie began his life as handyman-about-town somewhat inauspiciously.

“When we first got married, my wife gave me a honey do list,” he said. “I told her she should write it on toilet paper so it would get used…That didn’t go well.”

Joking aside, Howie has mastered both the honey and the do components of an admirable life. He and his wife Rosemary, who taught piano lessons out of their house, have been married more than four decades.

I enjoyed our spontaneous (and socially distant) chat and admired his radiant joy as he gave us a wave and rode off.