I really do. We've lived in this particular neighborhood for almost 11 years. We bought our first house, all 800 square feet of it, a month after we got married. When it was time for a larger house, we waited until we found one in the 'hood that we liked, which meant that we moved about half a mile south of our old house. At the time of the move, our current house, at 1550 square feet, seemed like a mansion. Of course, back then we only had one kid, not three, so there was plenty of room to spare.
But I digress.
Our neighborhood isn't one of the "glamorous" ones, and we don't have the most desirable zip code in town - that would be 78704, at least according to those who live in it - but it's got its own character and feel to it. Most of the houses were built in the late '40s and early '50s and most started life as 2 bedroom, 1 bath cottages. There are still some original residents, and it's interesting to hear about their experiences raising families in the little tiny houses. I think most parents today shudder at the thought of sharing a bathroom with their children, I know I do, but that's exactly what those families did. And they all lived to tell the tales.
Our house started as one of the two bedroom cottages, but someone who owned it previous to us added on a master bedroom and bathroom and ginormous closet, for which I am eminently grateful.
But all this isn't why I love our neighborhood.
I love it because of the people who live here. Everyone I meet and talk to loves living in this little section of Austin. They take pride in our area. We have two very committed neighborhood organizations that sponsor things like lighting luminarias along the main street through the 'hood at Christmas. If you've never seen a mile-long line of candles at night, I highly recommend it.
For the past five springs, the neighborhood associations for our area have sponsored a big day at the park called the Violet Crown Festival. There were bands and artisans and lots of food and kids' activities and a dunking booth and a silent auction. The proceeds all went to pay for what is called the Wall of Welcome.
I should add here that one of the cool things about our area is our neighborhood shopping center. It's got a little grocery store that's been owned by the same family since it opened, more than 50 years ago. It's got a family owned pharmacy run by a dad and his two sons. The dad has owned the store since it opened. It's also got a dry cleaner, barber shop and deli (which wins food awards). The shopping center really is the heart of our area - you can't go there and not run into someone you know. It's a real throwback to what Austin used to be like.
Back to the Wall of Welcome, which is really what this whole post is about.
For five years, an artist named Jean Graham has worked on this huge mosaic that covers the wall behind the shopping center. Neighborhood residents contributed tiles and turned out to help her put everything in place. It's a source of real pride for everyone here.
This Saturday was the official unveiling of the wall, and the neighborhood turned out in force to celebrate. I was amazed at how many people were there - several hundred, at least. And they all came out just to visit and enjoy the event. The kids had a grand time running around with friends from school and making violet crowns in the art tent. There was food and music and jugglers. I got all teary eyed at the sight of everyone there.
The event made me realized, again, that we have picked the right place to live and raise our family, even if we are outgrowing our house. I can't imagine living anywhere else in Austin.
Showing posts with label neighbors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighbors. Show all posts
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
hok, the fish killer
Our neighbors went out of town for Christmas, and I agreed to feed and water their cat and fish while they were gone. We do this sort of thing often when anyone goes out of town. But after this last stint as fish feeder, I may not get asked to pet sit again.
My parents and sister stayed at our neighbors' house for part of the holidays, and my sister came over one morning to announce that one of the fish was floating upside-down. I was horrified. The last time one of his fish died, the little boy next door was very traumatized; he cried for hours. After they flushed Hermione the fish, L told his mom that he though one of his tears had fallen in the potty and had brought Hermione back to life, which meant they had just flushed a live fish. Nothing his mom said changed his mind about that theory. L insisted on having a funeral service for Hermione the fish. His mom was at a loss on what to serve for a fish funeral. She asked if it would be tasteless to serve the mourners goldfish crackers.
After my sister's announcement, I went next door and scooped the fish out and popped it in a zip-lock bag, which I then put in the freezer. I called our neighbor and left a message on her cell alerting her to the situation. When she called back and I told her the fish was in the freezer, she just about died laughing.
But I had my reasons for freezing the fish. First, I didn't know if L would want to have an internment or funeral service or ceremonial flushing, so I figured I'd better preserve the corpse. Second, I wanted to have the fish on hand just in case we needed to go to the pet store to buy a replacement fish. That way I could hold the fish up and say, "I need one just like this, please."
My mom had the best suggestion on how to handle it. She said we should just buy four or five new fish and pop them in the tank. When L got home, we could just tell him that Santa brought him new fish. He'd be so excited about the new fish that he wouldn't notice the missing one. My neighbor nixed that idea.
In the end, no one did anything with the dead fish. L hasn't yet noticed that it is missing from the tank, which is a good thing. I really, really don't want to be known as the neighborhood fish killer.
My parents and sister stayed at our neighbors' house for part of the holidays, and my sister came over one morning to announce that one of the fish was floating upside-down. I was horrified. The last time one of his fish died, the little boy next door was very traumatized; he cried for hours. After they flushed Hermione the fish, L told his mom that he though one of his tears had fallen in the potty and had brought Hermione back to life, which meant they had just flushed a live fish. Nothing his mom said changed his mind about that theory. L insisted on having a funeral service for Hermione the fish. His mom was at a loss on what to serve for a fish funeral. She asked if it would be tasteless to serve the mourners goldfish crackers.
After my sister's announcement, I went next door and scooped the fish out and popped it in a zip-lock bag, which I then put in the freezer. I called our neighbor and left a message on her cell alerting her to the situation. When she called back and I told her the fish was in the freezer, she just about died laughing.
But I had my reasons for freezing the fish. First, I didn't know if L would want to have an internment or funeral service or ceremonial flushing, so I figured I'd better preserve the corpse. Second, I wanted to have the fish on hand just in case we needed to go to the pet store to buy a replacement fish. That way I could hold the fish up and say, "I need one just like this, please."
My mom had the best suggestion on how to handle it. She said we should just buy four or five new fish and pop them in the tank. When L got home, we could just tell him that Santa brought him new fish. He'd be so excited about the new fish that he wouldn't notice the missing one. My neighbor nixed that idea.
In the end, no one did anything with the dead fish. L hasn't yet noticed that it is missing from the tank, which is a good thing. I really, really don't want to be known as the neighborhood fish killer.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Listservs
So our wonderful, odd little neighborhood has a listserv for its residents. Most of the time it's limited to e-mails announcing lost and found pets, requests for recommendations for contractors or lawn guys or a/c repair. Pretty harmless and most of the time helpful stuff.
But once a year, everyone who posts loses their freaking minds, and those of us who subscribe but never post are treated to day after day of rantings and personal attacks. After the moderator receives enough complaints and/or unsubscribe requests, he brings down the hammer and reviews each post before it gets sent out. B's cousin Ty spent hours setting up a great forum where neighbors could have personal conversations about various issues without cluttering inboxes, but he took it down due to a lack of use.
Past issues that have cause people to go insane? One year it was helicopters buzzing the neighborhood. Some people on the list were convinced it was a plot by the police. Others thought maybe it was the Men In Black. Some bitched that it was nothing more than harassment and were sure that richer neighborhoods didn't have to put up with the same noise. Another year it was about a restaurant moving into the HEB shopping center applying for a permit to serve liquor late at night. It's a pretty common request for a restaurant or bar to make, but it sure got everyone around here up in arms. One particularly curmudgeonly neighbor got himself forever banned from the listserv by calling the employer of a man who had posted a message the crank didn't agree with. Sheesh.
I unsubscribed during these rounds of upheaval because I was tired of coming home from a morning of errands to find 25 e-mails in my box that were nothing more than people yelling at each other.
But it's happened again, and this time I decided to ride it out, mostly because I wanted to see how it all ended. It started when one resident posted a warning that she had caught a man dressed like a meter reader peering in her neighbor's window. She called the utility company and found out that no meter readers were scheduled for our hood that day and that what the guy was wearing didn't match their uniforms. So she posted a helpful message describing the man, including his clothes, hair color, and ethnicity, and warning people to keep an eye out. We've had a number of break-ins in the hood of late, and I felt her message was a good one. Someone else then posted about how she had confronted a man who turned out to really be a meter reader. Her point was that we shouldn't be afraid to go out and ask folks what they're up to, that we all need to look out for each other.
Well those two postings started the firestorm. One woman, who is a minority, blasted the entire neighborhood as racist, saying that of course everyone who is white and who lives in this area automatically believes that anyone who is black or Hispanic is up to no good or is a nanny or maid. All this because the original posting listed the man's race, just as it listed his hair color and clothing type and shoes. Things disintegrated from there, with lots of messages saying "We aren't racist, we're just cautious." And the same woman e-mailing back with, "Yes you are. Everyone in the neighborhood should be apologizing to the guy who really was a meter reader for assuming he was a crook." From there it just got more and more rude, to the point where there were e-mails telling people to just shut up and move if they didn't like being here.
In the end, I wish I had unsubscribed before it got to that point. I had been feeling really good about our little corner of Austin after the kids' lemonade stand this weekend. Without exception, all of the neighbors who stopped, friends and strangers alike, were so friendly and so supportive of the kids. Even the people who didn't stop at least slowed down, smiled, and waved. I was so proud of our little community. But then I went inside and read all of the hateful e-mails and felt miserable. I thought about posting a nice friendly message complimenting our neighborhood on its support, but then I figured I'd just get blasted by the woman who was accusing everyone of being racist for being, in her opinion, one of the rich, white folks who have moved in and ruined things.
Fortunately the moderator has gone back to vetting messages before they hit the listserv, so we'll go back to it just being postings about garage sales and lost pets. But it all left such a bad taste in my mouth that I may have to unsubscribe again.
But once a year, everyone who posts loses their freaking minds, and those of us who subscribe but never post are treated to day after day of rantings and personal attacks. After the moderator receives enough complaints and/or unsubscribe requests, he brings down the hammer and reviews each post before it gets sent out. B's cousin Ty spent hours setting up a great forum where neighbors could have personal conversations about various issues without cluttering inboxes, but he took it down due to a lack of use.
Past issues that have cause people to go insane? One year it was helicopters buzzing the neighborhood. Some people on the list were convinced it was a plot by the police. Others thought maybe it was the Men In Black. Some bitched that it was nothing more than harassment and were sure that richer neighborhoods didn't have to put up with the same noise. Another year it was about a restaurant moving into the HEB shopping center applying for a permit to serve liquor late at night. It's a pretty common request for a restaurant or bar to make, but it sure got everyone around here up in arms. One particularly curmudgeonly neighbor got himself forever banned from the listserv by calling the employer of a man who had posted a message the crank didn't agree with. Sheesh.
I unsubscribed during these rounds of upheaval because I was tired of coming home from a morning of errands to find 25 e-mails in my box that were nothing more than people yelling at each other.
But it's happened again, and this time I decided to ride it out, mostly because I wanted to see how it all ended. It started when one resident posted a warning that she had caught a man dressed like a meter reader peering in her neighbor's window. She called the utility company and found out that no meter readers were scheduled for our hood that day and that what the guy was wearing didn't match their uniforms. So she posted a helpful message describing the man, including his clothes, hair color, and ethnicity, and warning people to keep an eye out. We've had a number of break-ins in the hood of late, and I felt her message was a good one. Someone else then posted about how she had confronted a man who turned out to really be a meter reader. Her point was that we shouldn't be afraid to go out and ask folks what they're up to, that we all need to look out for each other.
Well those two postings started the firestorm. One woman, who is a minority, blasted the entire neighborhood as racist, saying that of course everyone who is white and who lives in this area automatically believes that anyone who is black or Hispanic is up to no good or is a nanny or maid. All this because the original posting listed the man's race, just as it listed his hair color and clothing type and shoes. Things disintegrated from there, with lots of messages saying "We aren't racist, we're just cautious." And the same woman e-mailing back with, "Yes you are. Everyone in the neighborhood should be apologizing to the guy who really was a meter reader for assuming he was a crook." From there it just got more and more rude, to the point where there were e-mails telling people to just shut up and move if they didn't like being here.
In the end, I wish I had unsubscribed before it got to that point. I had been feeling really good about our little corner of Austin after the kids' lemonade stand this weekend. Without exception, all of the neighbors who stopped, friends and strangers alike, were so friendly and so supportive of the kids. Even the people who didn't stop at least slowed down, smiled, and waved. I was so proud of our little community. But then I went inside and read all of the hateful e-mails and felt miserable. I thought about posting a nice friendly message complimenting our neighborhood on its support, but then I figured I'd just get blasted by the woman who was accusing everyone of being racist for being, in her opinion, one of the rich, white folks who have moved in and ruined things.
Fortunately the moderator has gone back to vetting messages before they hit the listserv, so we'll go back to it just being postings about garage sales and lost pets. But it all left such a bad taste in my mouth that I may have to unsubscribe again.
Friday, July 06, 2007
The Fourth
Well we survived the 4th of July. It wasn't my best one ever, but thanks to the Roes, it wasn't my worst, although it did come close.
The day started out well enough. I ran at 5:45 with Liz and Shelly. In all my months of not running, I forgot how much I really, really enjoy running with friends, especially those two. I started running regularly with Liz and Shelly back in 1999; I can't believe it's been that long. And even though I struggle a bit to keep up, I have so much fun running with them that the suffering is worth it.
But the day went downhill from there. Brandon woke up sick and promptly went back to bed. The weather was miserable, so the girls started climbing the walls shortly after the SpongeBob SquarePants marathon ended at 9:30 am. Campbell pulled his trick of pooping 45 minutes into his nap and refusing to go back to sleep. So I was left to quietly entertain three kids for several hours. I was ready to pull my hair out at about noontime.
After lunch I told Ella to put her skates on so she could do a lap around the block. Lily never made it out of the front yard. She melted down over whether to ride her bike or walk, so she got carried back in the house and put down for a nap. Ella, Campbell (who was in his stroller) and I made it to the far end of the block before it started raining. By the time we got turned around and back home, it was pouring. Campbell wasn't sure what to make of all the water.
We went in through the garage, and Ella forgot to shut the door to the house behind her when she came in. I walked out of my room just in time to see Campbell fall headfirst down the steps into the garage. Amazingly, there wasn't a scratch on him. The rug at the bottom of the steps must have softened the blow. After reassuring Ella that we weren't mad and that her brother was OK, I took Campbell back to my room to nurse him. I sat there in tears thinking about everything bad that could have happened as a result of the fall. I told Brandon later that it was our one free pass.
Just as I was really about to lose it, Lisa called and asked if the girls could come play with her kids. I pushed them out the door before Lisa had even finished speaking. While the girls were entertained next door, I went off in search of pyrotechnics. I bought $10 worth of stuff and headed home. Lisa had ordered pizza for everyone, so we ate dinner and watched a fun movie.
After dinner we headed outside and made lots of noise and smoke with our sparklers and worms and pinwheels. Ella and Luke had a minor freakout when I set off a couple of bottle rockets. Russell had pointed out that they were illegal in the city, so the kids were in the tree convinced the cops were going to come arrest me for setting them off. Once Luke got over that fear, he was very interested in the proceedings.
It ended up being a great evening. Brandon staggered out after a while, and we all hung out in the front yard until after 9:30. The kids were having so much fun running around and watching other neighbors' fireworks that we hated to make them go in, but eventually they just got too tired to go on.
So yet again, our outstanding neighbors saved the day! We can never move, even though we desperately need the space.
The day started out well enough. I ran at 5:45 with Liz and Shelly. In all my months of not running, I forgot how much I really, really enjoy running with friends, especially those two. I started running regularly with Liz and Shelly back in 1999; I can't believe it's been that long. And even though I struggle a bit to keep up, I have so much fun running with them that the suffering is worth it.
But the day went downhill from there. Brandon woke up sick and promptly went back to bed. The weather was miserable, so the girls started climbing the walls shortly after the SpongeBob SquarePants marathon ended at 9:30 am. Campbell pulled his trick of pooping 45 minutes into his nap and refusing to go back to sleep. So I was left to quietly entertain three kids for several hours. I was ready to pull my hair out at about noontime.
After lunch I told Ella to put her skates on so she could do a lap around the block. Lily never made it out of the front yard. She melted down over whether to ride her bike or walk, so she got carried back in the house and put down for a nap. Ella, Campbell (who was in his stroller) and I made it to the far end of the block before it started raining. By the time we got turned around and back home, it was pouring. Campbell wasn't sure what to make of all the water.
We went in through the garage, and Ella forgot to shut the door to the house behind her when she came in. I walked out of my room just in time to see Campbell fall headfirst down the steps into the garage. Amazingly, there wasn't a scratch on him. The rug at the bottom of the steps must have softened the blow. After reassuring Ella that we weren't mad and that her brother was OK, I took Campbell back to my room to nurse him. I sat there in tears thinking about everything bad that could have happened as a result of the fall. I told Brandon later that it was our one free pass.
Just as I was really about to lose it, Lisa called and asked if the girls could come play with her kids. I pushed them out the door before Lisa had even finished speaking. While the girls were entertained next door, I went off in search of pyrotechnics. I bought $10 worth of stuff and headed home. Lisa had ordered pizza for everyone, so we ate dinner and watched a fun movie.
After dinner we headed outside and made lots of noise and smoke with our sparklers and worms and pinwheels. Ella and Luke had a minor freakout when I set off a couple of bottle rockets. Russell had pointed out that they were illegal in the city, so the kids were in the tree convinced the cops were going to come arrest me for setting them off. Once Luke got over that fear, he was very interested in the proceedings.
It ended up being a great evening. Brandon staggered out after a while, and we all hung out in the front yard until after 9:30. The kids were having so much fun running around and watching other neighbors' fireworks that we hated to make them go in, but eventually they just got too tired to go on.
So yet again, our outstanding neighbors saved the day! We can never move, even though we desperately need the space.
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