"Ah, Neighbours"

"My apple trees will never get across / And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. / He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbours'."  -- Robert Frost

Today my landscaper stopped by to go over the work and estimates for part of the overall job intended.

As part of landscaping my front yard, and fixing the terrible, terrible grade, he will be building a new fence, a sturdier fence, between myself and my neighbour. My neighbour that is an apartment building, a neighbour that has no face, but many random ones, a neighbour who needs to pay for half this new fence.

The old fence was a shoddy, shoddy job. It's leaning into my property so much, that there is barely room to move between the fence and my garage. Barely room for me...me; aka LJ, aka 'Lil Jess, aka small fry, aka 29 year old woman who is mistaken for a junior high student.

This could have something to do with the many times I have found furniture, shelves, mattresses, etc. all at once piled up in the back alley near the dumpster, leaning on my fence. Might I add, there is no recycling bin, a huge pet peeve as the majority of the "garbage" is recyclable packaging. But that's a rant for another time. I am kind of proud of the one tenant who leaves her recycling in blue bags, on my side for pick up so that it's actually recycled, though it is still on my property, but good on her ( I assume 'her') for trying.

So came the time tonight to contact the owner of the next door building, asking ever so gingerly if he could pay for half. An email is better than a call at this hour, and for documentation. We shall see...

I am excited though. Plans for an arbor to have trellised plants crawling on, a curved detail on gate, lattice detail on top 2 ft of 6 ft fence, and made strong to not lean like the current one has.

My inspirations from a lunch hour spent with headphones in, googling...

Work to begin as early as next week, including new sidewalk of paving stones from front entrance all along side of house, with edging detail using roman wedges shaped stones in "Rustic"and lighter roman square and rectangular stones in "Desert Buff" to make a somewhat randomized yet controlled pattern. A yellow brick road of sorts leading to my Oz. Like in the movie, a journey and an Oz that gives Dorothy the realization...

..."you don't need to travel over a rainbow to find your heart's desire, you can find it in your own backyard" -- Wayne Purdin, 'The Theosophical Foundations of L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz'