I didn't get around to taking any pictures until later in the day when the sunlight was harsh and the photos aren't quite what I thought they'd be. I may replace them later. Or (perfection--get thee hence!) I may not. I decided to start with what's closest to home, and maybe I'll get to my neighborhood at another time.
This is my flowering plum tree. I got it because I like to see signs of spring as soon as possible, and these trees usually blossom early. I adore the pink blossoms that cover it in the spring and the dark reddish purple foliage the rest of the summer. This spring, however, we maybe got 15 blossoms. I don't know if it's the strange weather we're having or if it is the fact that I have trouble growing things. Either way, I missed them.
The other strange thing about this tree is the way it grows. It has lots of branches growing on its north and south sides, but very few growing east and west. So if you look at it right, it looks a bit like it's been smashed in between two giant hands. My dad taught me how to prune it and encourage growth in the directions it needs, and I hope that with time it will look like a normal tree.
These are my rose bushes. They bring me happiness and pain. Emotional pain and physical pain. I have a thorn in my finger that has been there for at least a week, which I got while pruning just a few branches. I pressed on it a little to firmly when I took this picture, and it still hurts. (It's still hurting, Charlie!)
I love the roses when they are fully in bloom. They are just past their prime now, but I did find one pretty one and took a close up. They smell wonderful and they are a great barrier between me and my neighbors. And believe me, I need that barrier. The problem is they grow like crazy and every year should really be pruned back by at least half. But getting them pruned is a disaster because we don't have anything to cut them with that works very well without getting scratched to death during the process. I can't decide what to do with them.
This is my flowering pear tree. I got this for the same reason I got the flowering plum. And this year it didn't blossom AT ALL. So much for springtime. This was the first tree I bought for my yard. I got it at Costco because it seemed like a really good price for a tree, and it was really tall. We actually got two at the time. We braced them and worried about them as we get quite a bit of wind. One summer I walked outside and saw my tree broken in half. What I didn't realize was that while the trees were tall, the trunks were quite small in diameter. The top of the tree broke off entirely, leaving a stick in the ground. I decided to leave it. The next spring it grew a few shoots off the top. The next spring it grew a few more. Now, the trunk is stronger and thicker and it's almost as tall as me. There's a testimony for sticking it out through the tough times. Never mind that the other tree broke in half too, grew a little bit and then died and got tossed out with the trash.
These are the stupid arborvitae. Maybe if I would quit calling them stupid they'd grow better. Maybe if they'd grow better I'd quit calling them stupid. We've planted several and ripped them out and tried again. You can see the middle two are quite dead and the outside three might have a chance. There's actually another row of five and they all look bad.
The story of the arborvitae goes back to an unpleasant story about my neighbors, which I won't go into here. Suffice it to say that in trying to keep the peace I decided to rip out half the rose bushes, which apparently grow through the fence onto their side. I wanted an evergreen hedge that would grow tall enough to completely block their house and that would be alive all year. Someone suggested arborvitae. I have been struggling with them ever since. I killed the first batch with too much fertilizer. Apparently I haven't learned the lesson about too much of a good thing.... Anyway, the others we didn't fertilize very much at all and they are dying also. I have tried different kinds of soil and different amounts of water. Nothing seems to work. I'm almost ready to give up, but I'm working on a home addition this year so the landscaping will have to wait until next year. My advice: do NOT plant arborvitae, even if you have seen beautiful ones that are 20 feet tall.
This is our playground. About four years ago, we decided to spend money on this instead of a trip to Disneyland. (Actually, that's what we told the kids because a trip to Disneyland would have cost WAY more, but it was a way to try and appease them for another year.) We got it at Costco in a bunch of boxes for about $1000. Mel put it together. Mel is amazing. He can do anything. Anyway, I think the kids played on it for a few weeks that summer and then not so much since. The most use it gets is during preschool or when the kids have friends over because its something new to them. I occasionally see my 12 year old and his friend sitting on the swings talking, but I'm sure they'd never actually use it for what it is intended. A few nights ago my 4 year old asked if I would go outside with her and push her on the swing. Usually I'm too busy and say "not right now," but that night I was amazed that I actually had time and was able to spend a few minutes with her outside. It was a beautiful moment. The heat of the day was gone, I enjoyed the semi-quiet privacy that we now have because of a fence that protects us from the noise and onlookers from the busy road, and I was happy that the playground was getting some use. It reminded me of Shel Silverstein's story, The Giving Tree, and I wondered what the playground might say about having someone finally paying it some attention.
Why am I putting in pictures of garbage cans? Because I like to complain. See how the lid is not on the can? That's because it's broken. All the cans are broken, some worse than others. This one is broken to the point that you can't put the lid back on. Why is it broken? Because I live on a busy road and sometimes the garbage cans tip over and roll around on the ground and occasionally get hit by cars.
Sometimes they tip over because the garbage collectors don't do a very good job putting them back down. Sometimes they tip over because we have a big windstorm. Sometimes they tip over because my teenager doesn't like to bring the cans in (which is his job) so they sit out there all week. I could bring them in, and often I do. Especially now since they are all broken. But I'd rather leave them out there to prove a point, until he actually goes out and does his job.
You'd think I'd have learned by this time that leaving them out proves nothing other than the fact that my boy doesn't care, but every once in a while I have a masochistic urge to try again. So I let them sit out for a few days until I give up again.
This is my bistro set. I know I don't live in a fancy enough house to use the word bistro, but that's what it was called. I'm not sure I actually know what that word means. I got it at Costco, like just about everything else. My favorite thing about this set is that it can stay out in all kinds of weather and only have to be wiped off once in a while. My other favorite thing about this set is that the tags are still on the chairs. They've been there since I brought them home, which has been at least a year. 
This is a Chinese Elm Tree, or so I'm told. I have several on my property. This is one of the least offensive ones. Every spring my neighbor comes over and politely recognizes our need for shade and respectfully asks if he can cut a few branches off that are reaching over into his yard. I like this neighbor. I like the shade. I do not like Chinese Elm trees. For one thing, I think I'm allergic to them. I'd never heard of one before I moved in here, and I'd also never had seasonal allergies before either. Now they try to kill me several times a year. For another thing, they drop billions of seeds onto the ground every year and make a huge mess to clean up. Many of the seeds try to become trees in any random pile of dirt I may have lying around. I quickly put that to an end each year. And for another thing, every time we have a windstorm we have hundreds of little sticks and often several large sticks and branches to clean up.
I have another neighbor who hates the trees more than I do. She told my mother-in-law that she heard that Chinese Elm get diseased rather easily, and she is praying for the day that ours get sick and die so we have to chop them all down. Then she wouldn't have to clean up after them. If you saw her perfectly manicured lawn you would understand why I developed a tad bit more affection for the trees after hearing this story.
This is the "shop." It's called the shop because my husband's grandfather was an auto mechanic and used to work out of this shop during the war. Inside the shop is a bunch of junk. If I had my way I'd knock it down. However, it does not belong to me and I don't own anything in it--including the memories that some of the family members have attached to it. So it stays.You can't see it very well here because it is hiding behind some teenage Chinese Elm. These are the only trees I like, because I prefer looking at them than the shop that is in quite a state of disrepair. Every year my husband and mother-in-law decide against my will that it is time to chop the trees down. They argue that if you let the trees get too big the roots will destroy the foundation of the shop. I haven't admitted that I would find no little happiness in that outcome. I argue that the green of the trees is nice and softens the look at the run down building. I lose every year. It's only June yet--we'll see how long they last this year.
This is my mailbox. Well, although I have mail delivered to it, I don't actually think it is my mailbox. It's my husband's grandfather's mailbox. It still has his name on it. He built the house we live in, and this mailbox is attached to a wobbly post in the ground at the bottom of the hill. At one time my husband said he liked having it there because it was like a reminder of his grandpa. I haven't asked him about it recently, and I wonder if he would even remember saying that now. When the home addition is complete, I will see to it that there will be a new mailbox. And it won't say Howard Gardner on it either.
This is my gravel driveway. I do not like gravel driveways because they ruin my shoes. But I do like them more than muddy driveways, and I've had that too. In fact, at the end of the driveway is a bunch of dirt that is mud in the winter and spring. That dirt used to be grass. But we had a lovely neighbor who used to run the paper route decide that he could enter our driveway the right way and then just drive over the grass to leave. After enough times of doing this, and having other neighbors follow his lead, this created a c-shaped driveway that lets you come in one direction and out the other. I think the families that come to my house for piano lessons and preschool like the shape of it. I do not think they care for the muddy mess when it's wet out. I hated it for a long time, and resented that it had been created against my will. But I admit that I do use it now. I'm just smart enough to back up and go the other way when it's muddy. Not all my neighbors are that smart. Sometimes I feel bad about that, and sometimes I have to smile. Depends on the neighbor.
We changed providers because we bought a new TV and we got a good deal on it plus a $250 cash card to Costco (yes, we bought the TV at Costco like everything else) if we switched. As soon as my 2 year contract is up I'm switching back to the nice, non-offensive Dish Network satellite with a TV menu I can actually read. I hope that the two companies are not playing "keep up with the Jones's" and that when I switch back to Dish Network I'll have an even more annoying satellite somewhere else. At least next time I'll know to supervise the installation.
Well, there you have it. A little bit about what I like and what I don't like about where I live. I can't wait to have my home addition done so I can have a lot more stuff I like to talk about. And maybe post pictures about. And maybe develop a few more things to complain about. That's life, isn't it? Now come on, it's your turn...
No comments:
Post a Comment