Neighbors

 Before we moved to this house we visited it a few times.  The lady renting here was a friend of a friend, she was running an English school and wanted someone to take over.  Perfect for us.  We visited at different times and liked what we saw here.  One thing that worried me was how quiet the neighborhood was.  At that time there were no families with young kids, everybody was either old couples or had kids that were in junior high or high school.  We are a noisy family, especially when we moved here, Christopher and Hannah were still in elementary school, David in junior high, and Mikey in high school.  Mikey and Hannah play piano, we all love music, classical, musicals, pop, and rock.  I blast Queen and Meatloaf at all hours of the day.  Then we have students coming and going, usually until 9pm.  

Once we moved in we found that this quiet neighborhood isn't that quiet. One lady had a dog who would bark and howl all night, her standard greeting was "Sorry about my dog".  The son of the family behind us has some mental health problems (I think the mother does too).  The first summer here we had to call the police as we could hear, over our air conditioner and TV, the son slapping the mother and her calling for help.  This happened a few times.  Then the son decided that 1am was the best time for a bath, which is okay, but not the screeching that he thought was singing.  

Over the years new houses have been built that has bought in younger families.  Somehow it's nice to hear babies cry or kids playing in the park.  The neighborhood has a new life and that is as it should be! I was happy with the new neighbors, until yesterday.

I got inspired by this one lonely flower that is growing in my garden,

My only flower.

I decided to go out and clear a little patch so I could buy some vegetables to plant.  The weather was nice, warm and cloudy but also very windy.  Just started when I noticed my new neighbors were outside.  They had friends over so I thought they were just showing off their new home.  Then I noticed the tables being bought out and the food set out.  Then they started up the BBQ.  I gave up then as the wind was so strong and the smoke from the BBQ was blowing toward me!  Who has a BBQ in February?  I know the weather is mild but that wind was really crazy yesterday, I  wondered how safe it would be.  I came in and read for a while but could hear the neighbors talking, that's okay, but every now and then one of the ladies would let out a high-pitched squeal. The kind that sends shivers down your spine. I don't begrudge them having a BBQ but they could have chosen a day when the wind wasn't so bad!

So I've found another good thing about moving to the other house, no neighbors that close!  The house behind has been demolished, it was empty for many years.  The house in front is an elderly couple and over the road is another elderly couple.  I'll miss not hearing kids play.  The only sound of people being around is when the cars and small trucks roar past!!