Neighborhood Spies

Well, not really.  But sort of. 

You see, Liam loves to look out the window, so we spend quite a bit of time observing the neighborhood happenings.  As it turns out, this summer was a particularly great time to people watch on our street, as new neighbors moved in—and before they moved in, the house was completely renovated, so there was a ton of activity.  I actually saw some pretty interesting things at 3 am back when I was nursing Liam in the middle of the night.  I’m pretty sure that the construction workers lived in the house at one point…which is totally weird and kind of creepy, but their comings and goings did keep me awake during many an early morning hour.

Our neighbors actually do intrigue me.  To our left is a very sweet lady, but I secretly trim things around her yard, as she isn’t the greatest at keeping up her yard.  For the record, she’s admitted this to us on several occasions—just in case you were worried that I might be exposing some deep secret.  Her yippy dogs drive me bananas, but she used to be an English teacher and librarian, so we connect over good books and that eases the ringing sound in my ears…

The neighbor to our right turned 90 years old this fall.  She is a staunch one, I tell ya.  When we moved in a few years ago, she was up on her roof cleaning out her gutters—no lie.  Every time we chat, she tells me to come over more often, so we’ve been making more of an effort to do so.  Sometimes it’s nice having a baby, because they become the focal point.  Two funny stories about this particular neighbor… When we first moved in, she came over one day and told me that since Matt slept during the day (not sure where she got that, because she also seemed to think he worked nights), he could always hold up a sign in the window saying “SLEEPING” and she would quit making so much noise.  This struck us a super funny, because 1.) Matt doesn’t sleep during the day or work nights and 2.) what in the world would she be doing that would cause so much noise that it would wake Matt up (if he, in fact, did happen to be sleeping).  Too funny.  Another time she mentioned in passing that if we ever saw her stripped down (as in, no clothes), it’s because she sunbathes in a little greenhouse-like structure that’s connected to her garage.  Hmmm…can’t remember how I responded to that one.  She definitely keeps us on our toes and I can only hope I have even half the energy she exudes at age 90. 

Then we have the neighbor across the street and slightly to the left.  She works at the Olympic Training Center, which is only a few blocks from our house—we need to go on a tour!  Should have done it before the 2012 Summer Olympics…drat!  Apparently the men’s gymnastics team was there!  Anyway, she throws lots of weekend parties and I think some of the partiers are actual Olympians.  Cool, huh? 

Directly across the street are two older guys—don’t  know much about them since they are the ones who moved in right when Liam was born.  Apparently one of them had a house that burned down in the horrific Waldo Canyon Fire this summer.  So sad!  The best part is that one of them plays piano beautifully.  When it’s a warm day and everyone has their windows and doors open, I can hear the music drifting over.  I keep wondering if they give piano lessons…you know, so Liam can become the talented pianist I never became…nothing like living out your dreams through your children, right? 

And of course, then there’s our favorite neighbors, across the street to the right.  They are a snarky older couple who I really like.  They tell it like it is, no bones about it, but they are so caring and helpful.  When Matt was literally buried in leaves last fall, they came over with their grandson and helped rake.  Then they informed us that next fall (which just so happens to be this fall now), we should use their leaf mulcher, as it will save us loads of time.  Let’s hope the offer still stands, as the leaves are a-fallin’.  They also brought over a hand-made quilt for Liam after he was born, and we’ve spent many hours lounging on it in the backyard.  Love that quilt.  Overall, they are the people who seem to know everything that’s going on in the neighborhood, so if I ever have a question, I go straight to them and know they’ll have a good answer.  I still remember them saying that this particular street used to be the “buy and die on” street.  Isn’t that such a neat thought?  Oh, and even though I’m sure they’re in their 60s or 70s, she is a black belt in some sort of martial arts—hard core! 

So these are the folks who surround us.  They have their quirks, but they are a huge part of the reason we love calling this place home.  Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled spy session.