Mid-January, Rain - January 13, 2012 |
June 08, 2009 Early Morning, Birds What a different experience now, hearing the loud car stereos late at night (nothing but a shattering bass), or a car honking at 6:30 in the morning down the block. I no longer have to make excuses for my neighborhood. I can admit it's crappy. It's also youthful. I remember the odd ways I dressed as a young teenager. What was I thinking? I just wanted to be like my friends, I guess. The kids walk down the street here in their pajamas. Not just the pajama bottoms that are now popular; I saw a girl in actual, bright pink pajamas, top and bottom, walking with her friends down the east end of Main Street. And what's with the fad of big kids riding little kids' bikes, with their knees up to their shoulders? And how do they stay on with the low-crotch pants? (What's with kids today?) There are several properties on the block north of here, the seedy end of the street, that have been for sale for a while now. I wonder if they've all foreclosed or if they just want to get out of what has ceased to be up-and-coming (or maybe never was). I drive around the other way now, because that street is so sad. The basement of the apartment building on the corner has been condemned, though people are still living in the apartments upstairs. The dumpster was removed. I wonder why; maybe some moved away. It was always overflowing. Where are the remaining tenants putting their garbage? The house across the street from that one, the one that burned in the Spring, is still there, a wreck. There is a pretty, pink vacuum cleaner on the front porch, and the yellow "caution" tape across the tiny back yard has long since come down. Burned and twisted detritus still litters what used to be a grassy patch. The windows are boarded up and the roof is mostly gone. It's not showing any signs of being taken down. There are fewer kids hanging out on that street corner now. Yesterday as I was packing I noticed that a little part of my pretty kitchen wall is buckling. This has happened since I painted, which would have been some 2 years ago. The house settles. My downstairs neighbor's balcony had to be shored up about that time, and a big oil tank was dug out from behind the house too. Things move and shift. Slowly, in a house; something is flat for a long time and then you look and there's a bump, a third dimension in the wall. The earth is moving under us. ******** My good friend Joan, with whom I lived in NH some years ago when I was working in the theatre there, emailed yesterday and said she and her boyfriend are splitting up. I never even got to meet him. They live in upstate New York, and we just never made the trip to visit. She's been with him a few years. This seemed like a good one, a really good relationship for her. It's very saddening, but I did open the door to possibly rooming together at the house in the Fall, if her plans lead her back this way. We were good roommates, and there would be something fitting about my being able to offer her a house, as once she offered hers to me. ******** I woke up very dizzy. This happens sometimes; it's sinus congestion. Sudafed helps within half an hour, usually; I'm functional now and can go to work. (More car honking now, same car. They must be waiting for someone. Why don't they get out and knock? This is when I get judgmental.) ******** I got the bathroom as packed as it can be for now, and made a big start on the kitchen last night. Curtains and pictures down, Christmas lights coiled and tied. So many boxes! Lovingly wrapping everything, wiping off dust from the tops of picture frames. This is the last time I'll relocate these things, I think to myself. Make it good. Make it grateful. |
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