Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Prolonging the Magic

It's Thanksgiving Eve and the trees and shrubs in our yard still have half of their leaves on them. Some of the leaves are still green. I'm almost too freaked out to enjoy it.

Who knows how long it will keep up? In all the previous years we have lived here the leaves on the shrubbery between our house and our neighbors behind are gone right after Halloween, leaving us with no protective shield between us and them. Almost the entire back of our house is huge picture windows. Theirs is the same.

In the winter time we are all up in each others business, visually.

We are clinging to our privacy for all it's worth by walking around in our underwear a little more often than we normally would do.

I can't help but wonder if our neighbors are doing the same.

My vote? Probably not.

They don't strike me as the kind of people who give a shit what the neighbors are up to as long as it doesn't involve property lines and barking dogs in the middle of the night. Certainly they are not the kind of people who create imaginary underwear wearing contests with their hermit neighbors.

They are a couple who appear to be about our same age or younger with no children and a very old black Chow-Chow that doesn't bark. We have seen the man-husband practicing his putt while sporting a jacket with a logo for a competing soft drink company than the one that MDH works for. That by itself is enough to make us avoid them.

They do seem really nice and sometimes I hear them in the warmer months in their backyard when they have parties and barbecues. Based on their 1992 Top Forty type of musical selections at these parties MDH and I have decided that other than not having children, we have nothing in common with these people and we will do everything in our power to avoid meeting them. Forever.

I think that we are just not nice people.

Enjoy the picture above of me back about 35 years ago when I was a little more neighborly. That's me (squinting and dressed for a snowstorm) and and my next door neighbor Mrs. French who I thought was the most beautiful old lady ever.

She smelled like pineapples and Ben Gay and showed me how to grow my own avocado by sticking toothpicks in the pit and suspending it in a glass of water in the kitchen window. I wasn't really sure what an avocado was, but I liked the idea of turning garbage into a fruit you could eat.

10 comments:

Quiet one said...

I love that picture of you! So cute. Expecting the first snow tonight so maybe the trees will get the hint around here! Happy Thanksgiving!

Family Adventure said...

You were stylin' even back then, my Lady.

And the neighbours...we do the same thing. Make killer decisions based on a few clues.

Just catching up with your earlier posts...can't believe the lasagna didn't do it for ya. The nerve of some people!

Anonymous said...

Being an apartment dweller for years now, I have had some really awful neighbors and some really good ones.

I have run the gambit from a neighbor with a meth lab in his bathroom, to a large pack of Hindus who liked to cook Indian dishes in the middle of the night. My best friend was my next door neighbor and I had a pair of really good looking girls as neighbors. It is a crap shoot.

I look forward to the day when I finally buy a home and get to either love or hate the same person for many years.

paperback reader said...

God bless you for continuing on the Cola Wars. Too many good men and women fell prey to New Coke for us to ever forget their struggles and sacrifices.

Anonymous said...

You rocked even back then. Some neighbors are only good for watching out that no one robs your house. My neighbor across the street just stares at everyone walking by. I avoid her at all costs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Boldly Serving Up Wheat Grass said...

Was top 40 that bad in '92? I can't remember. But, I am a HUGE fan of the band Cake, btw. And, your post's title is the name of probably my favorite album by them. Any chance you're a Cake fan, too?

Churlita said...

Cute pic. Was she married to Mr French and did Buffy and Jody ever stop by?

Anonymous said...

hahaha, what a gorgeous post! great writing...

happy thanksgiving you bad neighbour you! :)

Unknown said...

Good neighboring is relative. Yesterday, the cul-de-sac neighbors were playing football, and my daughter says look, The Whales are playing football and my husband turns to me and asks how she knows these people who are never home, and I say she doesn't and he says but she just said The Whales and I said, Oh that's what I call them because they are all so big and move so slow and you never see them-- all in the nicest way, of course and never stoppping to think what they might be calling me, and constantly wondering why I never brought them brownies and introduced myself when they moved in 3 years ago.
Linda

The Lady Who Doesn't Lunch: said...

Hi Michelle - thanks! I'm less squinty now but still never dressed correctly for the weather.

Heidi - more stylin' now that my mother doesn't dress me anymore.

Evil - owning a home has it's drawbacks and you should certainly know your limits regarding home improvment projects. Our next house will be a condo.

Pistols - it runs in my family - my father retired from one of the big cola companies after 35 years and now my husband is in the soda biz too.

Suze - We always lived in a city where it was OK to ignore people but in the burbs we are ugly lawned, non leaf raking freaks.

BSUWG - I'm a huge Cake fan from way back. My favorite song is Comfort Eagle and I always like their covers.

Churlita - I'll be posting a picture soon of me wearing my "Mrs. Beasley" dress.

Betty - you are too kind!

AGT - we've got nicknames for 'em all, but no kids to pass our bad manners onto :)