Neighborhood Watch

I always enjoy observing the happenings in my neighborhood, the people, etc. I wouldn't say I'm tight with my neighbors, but people are friendly and we generally smile and/or wave, even though we don't actually know each other. Let's see, the guy 2 doors down is an older gentleman, maybe 60-ish, and always washes his pick up truck. He also grills a lot and did grill out today, in the rain. He's a waver, we always smile and wave, although we never actually speak. I've never noticed if he's married or not, but he does take good care of his lawn and vehicles.

The people across from clean pick up guy moved in a few months ago. I've always liked that house, and had met the older couple that lived there previously. The old owners had a huge black dog, Bear, and we used to chat occasionally (dogs seem to be a common point to begin a conversation on). Their lawn was always immaculately kept, weed free, and lush... so jealous. Anyway, the new people have a little girl, maybe 2 years old, and I see them in the front yard a lot. This weekend while I was doing my front yard I noticed them pulling out all the pine bushes in front of the house (I loathe pine bushes). It gave me a little thrill to see them working to get rid of those things and I'm dying to see if they're going to put in flowers with the space. That was the one thing that yard always needed, some color, flowers, and less pine bushes (even if they were always immaculately trimmed). I wish I was a little more outgoing and would just go over and meet the neighbors, but that seems awkward somehow... but if they are flower people, maybe its an "in" :D My first impression was that they seemed cool (young couple with cute kid) and now they've moved up another notch getting rid of those bushes, maybe I'll introduce myself sometime soon.

The people next door have lived there for years, since before I moved in. Scott is a good dad and an intense guy who thinks I'm an idiot. I know he means well, but he gets under my skin when he offers advice or treats me like an idiot. I try to just smile and be polite. His wife is cool, but doesn't spend nearly as much time outside as Scott and the kids do. The kids and I smile and wave, but aren't overly chatty usually, although they always talk to the dogs. Friday night I mowed the yard and planned to edge by our mutual fence on Saturday. When I pulled in the driveway after garage saling in the morning, Scott was leaned over my fence with his edger... awesome. He hadn't edged yet either, but its kind of annoying that he had to hang over the fence to do my side... again, I'm sure he meant well, but probably didn't think I would do it. Grrr.

On the other side is my favorite, Marie. She was in her 90's when I moved in and she's even older now :) She is wonderful and so cute. Her husband died about 3 years ago, she always wears skirts and old lady leather tie shoes- adorable. I don't see much of her during the winter, but always chat with her regularly during yard season since my garden is right out her side door. Every year she asks me a couple of times "Did you grow up on a farm?" "No." "My husband and I used to have a wonderful garden here, we loved it." Anyway, she's awesome and inspires me. I want to be in my late 90's and still living on my own. Thankfully though, she now has a kid that comes to mow her lawn every week (she did it until about 2 years ago). It's nice that it is spring again and we chatted for a few minutes yesterday- and its always great to see her still out and about! Marie was the first neighbor I met and brought me homemade raspberry jam to welcome me to the neighborhood- that's the kind of neighbor I want to be, although I'm kind of chicken sometimes. She's my hero.