Thursday, June 05, 2008

Fences & neighbors

I think I must be really fortunate. Lately, I've been hearing about relatives and friends having bad neighbors. I even heard a story on This American Life about it. I've had some, oh how shall I put it, little incidents, but nothing really terrible. For instance, on the east, the neighbor took down my fence thinking it was her's. It was old, wabi-sabi, wooden boards that I liked. She put up a lattice fence, which was unfinished on our side. My husband said she had to do a nice job on our side since the original fence was ours and she did it. Another time, she was having a damp problem in her basement which she thought was caused by my watering plants in our yard that were by the side of her house. Her workers tore up my plantings to check the foundation and it wasn't my watering SO that was a nuisance. But all in all, not big problems. On the west, we have a social relationship with our neighbor. He built a dance floor in his yard and we've made a section of our joint fence removable so we can have big parties together. We had one fine dance party so far. Our neighbors across the alley are friendly and nice. He fixed up my old bicycle so it's ridable among other things. We have really nice conversations and social times together. At the end of the alley, two little girls provide us with lots of moments of joy, watching them play, splash in puddles, make chalk drawings, and visit with us.

Tell me about your neighbors, good and bad. Share your stories with me and others.

1 comment:

Wastedpapiers said...

Hi Mim, thanks for the great stickers for my wheelie bin gallery. I have added them to the blog.

As for neighbours we have just got new neighbours either side of us which is a little strange after months of quiet on one side after the landlord forced out our neighbour Katie and her son. Thankfully they have found a flat in another part of town and seem happier. A procession of various workmen from painters to carpenters arrived and took 6 months to refurbish the place to a very low standard! Now a young couple and baby have moved in and seem very nice. Only spoken to them once or twice to wish them well and good day, lovely weather etc.
The other side was inhabited by a mad woman and her cats but she moved ( and lost a cat ) and now two goth types have moved in. Dyed black hair and tattoos of spiders etc. They seem nice though despite an outward appearance of menace! We apolygied for our teenage sons guitar practice and hope it didn't annoy them and they just said - "oh we love guitars- turn it up so we can hear!"
They might be sorry they said that!

Most of our neighbours are nice and keep themselves to themselves. I suspect we are the NOISY ones!

Yours sound great.

How did I get into this?

I was asked when I started doing Mailart. Good question. Like many artists, I was making and mailing art without even knowing it had a name ...