A tour around the neighborhood

It's been a while since we revisited my stomping grounds, and in the interim a couple of things have changed. So as twilight falls, let's take a look around, shall we?

The tree that was barely a sapling when we moved in has grown a bit.

(A little reminder of what it looked like back then. Aww, lookit the teeny Miss V!)

One of several lavender bushes in our neighbors' side yard, just starting to get little buds on it.

Hey, do you remember the mysterious property I called Sleeping Beauty's bower?

Well, it's still covered in brambles...

...all of which should produce some delicious blackberries later this summer. mmm blackberries.

But let's just say...

... a few things have changed.

Some company that buys land (as you might have surmised) bought the property and promptly tore the little house down.

I'm not sure what they plan on building there -- the sign says they're putting up three single-family dwellings, but our landlord says they're building a water storage vault. Maybe it's both. Either way it makes me feel a little sad, in that the mystery has dissipated into nothing.

Speaking of our landlord, he's been keeping pretty busy himself. Remember the duck pond?

Well, here's what it looks like now. Our landlord has been working on this new house off and on for the last several years, and it's nearly done.

Whoever our new neighbors end up being, they're going to be very close. They'll be sharing a driveway with us.

This should give you a bit of an idea how insane land prices are and how close they cram houses together around here. In this photo, taken from our front lawn, you can see four different houses cheek by jowl with each other.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: in the future nothing will say "old money" quite like a modest house on a half-acre of land. McMansions on postage-stamp lots will be a dime a dozen, but resisting the temptation to sell off sections of your property to developers will indicate not only your relative wealth, but your adherence to principle.

Oh yeah, and because there should always be a little mystery...

...another oddity of our neighborhood.

This is the inexplicable brick obelisk across the street from Sleeping Beauty's (former) bower. What's it for? Haven't the foggiest. There isn't a twin obelisk across the street, so I don't think it was ever meant to be the grand entrance to a new housing development. It has a hole up top that suggests a really overbuilt mailbox, but it's way off the ground and full of disintegrating wood splinters, suggesting that at one time a wooden pole ran through it. It could have been a chimney once, except there's no place for a firebox and no indication that it's hollow inside.

I just don't know what this thing is, frankly.

And you know, sometimes that's the way I like it.

Good evening, all!