Sunday, August 05, 2007
Neighbors & Neighborhood
I think I'm embarrassed with my last post. (Actually I'm usually embarrassed by previous posts, but decide to leave them anyway.)
With the day gearing up to be a swamp-bath, I was on the front porch early, putting together a cheap (the cheapest!) arbor bought a couple of weeks ago on sale at Big Lots. It was easy to do: Rods locked together with bolts holding flimsy scrollpieces in place. It looks like a whimsical Victorian piece and I bought it to help make the front look more "homey".
As I pushed the stake-ends into the grass bounding the walk to the entry (the metal bending from the effort), my next door neighbor and the neighbor across the street came out of their houses, both talking on their phone and I realized they were talking to each other. They hung up and met in the middle of the street, looking up.
It had been raining while I was working, a misty muggy rain with flashes of heat-lightning. Apparently I had missed a bolt of lightning hitting the tree across the street and that is what we all focused on as I joined them.
But no great harm done - only a slight cluster of branches dangled compared to the rest of the tree, and the talk turned to the neighborhood. We all agreed we lived in a great neighborhood and soon I had a tour of the backyard - incredibly gargantuan Hibiscus plants and ivy run rampant. We all say: We love how the neighbors to one side have put in a tiny pond bordered by river rock and stocked with Koi and lilly pads; the neighbors to the other side need to put on a new roof.
Later, I took a long walk - three hours or more - walking around entire neighborhoods on my end of Dayton. I went down streets I'd never seen before, walking through two or three different plats. It was comforting to see the number of streets with well-kept homes. Smaller by today's McMansion standards, but on lots with nice yards. There were some for sale, and the prices on the flier were at prices that would justify what I would want to ask for my place.
So maybe I'm not living on the edge of chaos after all.
Former Tenant Neighbor says: "I will let you know if August is still a good time to plant trailing vines. They would look good on that arbor."
With the day gearing up to be a swamp-bath, I was on the front porch early, putting together a cheap (the cheapest!) arbor bought a couple of weeks ago on sale at Big Lots. It was easy to do: Rods locked together with bolts holding flimsy scrollpieces in place. It looks like a whimsical Victorian piece and I bought it to help make the front look more "homey".
As I pushed the stake-ends into the grass bounding the walk to the entry (the metal bending from the effort), my next door neighbor and the neighbor across the street came out of their houses, both talking on their phone and I realized they were talking to each other. They hung up and met in the middle of the street, looking up.
It had been raining while I was working, a misty muggy rain with flashes of heat-lightning. Apparently I had missed a bolt of lightning hitting the tree across the street and that is what we all focused on as I joined them.
But no great harm done - only a slight cluster of branches dangled compared to the rest of the tree, and the talk turned to the neighborhood. We all agreed we lived in a great neighborhood and soon I had a tour of the backyard - incredibly gargantuan Hibiscus plants and ivy run rampant. We all say: We love how the neighbors to one side have put in a tiny pond bordered by river rock and stocked with Koi and lilly pads; the neighbors to the other side need to put on a new roof.
Later, I took a long walk - three hours or more - walking around entire neighborhoods on my end of Dayton. I went down streets I'd never seen before, walking through two or three different plats. It was comforting to see the number of streets with well-kept homes. Smaller by today's McMansion standards, but on lots with nice yards. There were some for sale, and the prices on the flier were at prices that would justify what I would want to ask for my place.
So maybe I'm not living on the edge of chaos after all.
Former Tenant Neighbor says: "I will let you know if August is still a good time to plant trailing vines. They would look good on that arbor."