“My neighbor has a circular driveway… he can’t get out. “
The back of my shirt is already soaked from sweat. I was working on the deck sweeping it, washing away evidence of birds dropping small gifts, watering the plants, cleaning the fountain and wiping the table. I’ve stopped to dry off a bit and write then I need to go fill the bird feeders and bring up the projector table and the popcorn machine. Tonight is movie night. The main feature is Casablanca, one of my all time favorite films. We’ll start our viewing with a cliffhanger, Gene Autry and The Phantom Empire.
The day is already far too humid to be comfortable. Once I’ve finished my pre-hosting chores, I’ll shower then sit on the deck and read. I’ll languidly turn the pages, sip my lemonade and eat bon bons.
My neighborhood is quiet this morning. I don’t hear a single lawn mower, unusual for a Saturday. Maybe the whole neighborhood is on their decks turning pages and eating bon bons.
Nobody had decks when I was a kid. The older houses had front porches. A few houses had brick patios, and I always thought they were the rich people. We had a small backyard which we shared with the neighbors so we spent our time on the side lawn where we used to run through the sprinkler then lie on our towels to dry. Two trees sat side by side on that lawn. They were fir trees and not very big. Once, when I went back to see the house, I was surprised to see how tall those trees had grown. They dwarfed the yard.
We knew our neighbors better back then. I knew the names of all the families up and down my street and the streets around. Their kids and I played together, and our parents socialized. They’d sit in the backyard on lawn chairs, have a few drinks and talk and laugh. Nobody needed an invitation. It was bring a chair and sit down. That doesn’t happen anymore.
I love my deck, but it insulates me. I sit on it in the back of my house oblivious to who goes by pushing a carriage or walking a dog. Nobody drops by to visit. Nobody joins me except by invitation. It’s the way of the world now.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: decks, isolation, neighborhoods
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
July 17, 2010 at 11:12 am
Hi, Kat
I have an old house with an enclosed front porch and no deck or patio. I like to sit out there in the evening with the dog and watch the neighborhood. Winter time sitting is best because the porch faces south and gets toasty warm during the day.
My neighborhood is composed of a few post Spanish American War houses and a dozen or so post WWII ranch houses. The fashion has been to expand the ranch houses up a floor and add a farmer’s porch upon which no one ever sits. One of my neighbors who had done this suggested that I should open up my porch. No. It’s much nicer to sit out there in winter in 80F heat provided free by the sun.
July 18, 2010 at 12:11 am
Caryn,
I would love a house with a front porch. They had stopped adding them by the time I bought my house, cost cutting I think.
If I built my own house, I’d have a front porch and a pantry.
My street is the oldest in the neighborhood. The house are all 33 or 34 years old. Many of the houses look similar having had the same builder. Mine is a full cape, and there are none like it in the neighborhood.
July 18, 2010 at 8:46 am
I have a pantry and a back door mud room. Unfortunately the back door is located so far from the street and the driveway that no one ever uses it so all the mud goes onto the front porch. 🙂
July 17, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Casablanca! That´s a great movie! If there´s nothing I like on tv tonight I´ll be watching Planet 51. It´s an animated film about a human landing on a planet he thinks is inhabitated. I´ve heard it´s real fun 🙂
The weatherforecast almost made it sound as if Armageddon would come today with heavy thunderstorms and mighty rainfalls. Well if this was armageddon I´m a bit dissapointed to be honest 🙂 🙂 Lots of rain for a coouple of hours and I could hear some thunder from great distance, that´s all.
Yes back then we knew all neighbours and what they did and didn´t do, even things they thought we didn´t know 🙂 Here in the village I know the names of the closest neighbours and perhaps what they have for jobs. Not so much more to be honest. But unlike big city neighbours we watch out for each other. If my neighbours doesn´t see me for a couple of days they´ll phone or knock on the door so they know I´m alive 🙂 We also take care of each others places if anyone goes away for a trip or so.
It´s been unusually noicy here today. One neighbour is replaceing the facade on the west side of the house and another is building a new garage for his old tractors. Cars has come and gone a lot too. I don´t think I´ve heard this much from my neighbours since I moved here 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
July 18, 2010 at 12:14 am
Christer,
It was a great evening. I am loving sitting outside in the night breeze watching a movie.
No rain here either. It is really dry except for all that humidity. The least movement makes me sweat.
My neighbors keep an eye on each other. We know to watch houses when people go away, and when I was sick, neighbors brought food.
I think we were the nosiest people in the area tonight.
July 17, 2010 at 2:34 pm
We have a brick and stone patio that looks out on to open gardens. The patio is marked by a low rise hedge and rock which sort of keeps Maggie within range…however…having returned from my required saturday morning drive with Maggie I opened the car door and she made a bee-line for the home of the two Spaniel puppies next door. (they were sleeping)
One of the strange thing is that we rarely see people outside, guess that is ok
July 18, 2010 at 12:16 am
My Dear Hedley,
Maggie wants a few new friends, proteges maybe.
It sounds like a lovely place for coffee and the paper or a book in the afternoon. I know of few patios here, most have decks. My neighbors did add a brick patio in their backyard, but they tell me they seldom use it. Too bad.
July 18, 2010 at 6:44 am
It was a more healthy environment growing up on a tree lined street with neighbors sitting on the porch with their kids in the front yard playing hide and seek. Back then phones were just being populated for the homes that could afford a party line. It was safe, a nice place to raise kids, and kids played out their dreams and fantasies. I think hi tech has done as much damage to our young as good. We’ll see how they make it in the real world. Everything kids do today is centered on their iPod, even the little 17 year old we hired to pull weeds. Can’t work without music. It’s amazing how times have changed.
July 18, 2010 at 11:05 am
Z&Me,
My niece and nephew eat with one hand and hold their phones with the other. They text all the time and miss so much like the laughs at dinner or just conversation between family members. They communicate in monosyllabic words and grunts. I’m sorry for this generation in many ways, not the least of which is their electronic self-imposed isolation.
July 19, 2010 at 10:26 am
i understand so well how you feel on your deck…lovely but isolated from the neighborhood. How true that no one drops by any longer. When I was growing up in central Massachusetts, it was not unusual for people to drop by on weekends. Old friends of my uncles visiting and wishing to pay respect to my grandparents with whom we lived, friends of my parents, neighbors just popping in. I remember the first time in the late 70’s that my best friend told me it was “best” that I call first before I came over to his apt. I was crushed as I still held those ideas that dear friends were always welcome. Now, its seems our lives are so tied up, so busy, that even making “appointments” and dates is more scarce. So, I, too, go out on my deck, my Ipod as my companion, the Sunday paper, and a drink and remember a time when a surprise visitor made Sunday something so special.
July 19, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Sotzume,
It was such a fun surprise to see a familiar face at the door, to have an unexpected visitor, someone who happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to drop in. Too bad that’s no longer the custom.
My deck is like a refuge. The bird feeders are off the sides of the deck, and I get to watch the different birds going in and out of the feeders. I don’t have to look good. I can wear my grubbies, my most comfortable clothes because, sadly, I know no one will be dropping in to visit.