So. I've not really told you about our new neighborhood.
Hmm... Have you ever read an old-fashioned book which described a house (or a neighborhood) as being nondescript? Well, that pretty much describes where we live. Nondescript. Kinda Plain Jane meets Hobo Joe.
Oh, some houses stand-out as being lovely. Memorable. Kinda upscale. But mostly? Mostly we're surrounded by simple houses, some gone shoddy-bordering-on-scary, constructed after both World Wars, ones after WWII being quite tiny. Yet I like to drive by and think about how young couples back then were thrilled to get even those.
We're surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of these houses from the 20's, 30's and the 40's, yet Tom and I often remark how quiet it is here, sometimes even eerily-so. And of course, we love the quiet. But technically, the car noises of Friday nights make up for the weekday silences. :)
But what I love most? It's that so many people in our area still take old-fashioned walks. I often pass our windows and oh! There goes a young mother wheeling a stroller. Then from the opposite direction come two nice-looking middle-aged men or two elderly women, chatting and laughing. Then maybe two young boys on bikes whizz past just as a man and his dog walk by.
Oh, it's not constantly like that, but on weekend afternoons it can be. Weekday mornings, too, especially before school started up again. But it does my heart good to see all these old-fashioned walkers getting such good exercise and enjoying one another's company, as well.
Yesterday I swept our front porch in my 'house-skirt' (as I call it), listening to my old-fashioned music from inside and a young woman walked past on the other side of our hedges. I smiled and got that lovely "it's the 1930's all over again" feeling and wished I'd been wearing my apron out there. But I was so happy for the return of that 1930's-in-the-suburbs-can't-you-just-hear-Glenn-Miller's-Band? feeling. I'd missed it these past three years. Hoped I'd find it again after our move.
And I have.
Ah, Life is good when you're exactly where God puts you.
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Someday soon I'll share some photos of the ol' neighborhood with you.
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This sounds so friendly, Debra! I love all the "green" aspects of where I live, between the suburbs and real country, but I sometimes miss sidewalks for people to walk on, though people do walk on the side of the road, as Paul and I did for years...There is a cozy feeling about what you are describing as your new neighborhood, and I know you and Tom appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteSo, is your new neighborhood called The Shire by any chance?
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