Mar 5, 2009
Bossy’s Favorite Things.
This house.
It sits directly across the street from Bossy’s house. It’s owned by Mrs. P, an elderly woman who doesn’t have the energy for fastidious landscaping. At first blush this house doesn’t have a lot going for it. In fact, this house serves as a constant reminder of why Bossy painted her own exterior bricks white before the moving truck had finished backing out of the driveway, because there’s something so dirty-denture about glazed brick.
But what there is to love about this house rests in the tangle of evergreens and overgrown bushes to the right and left of the doorway.
Birds. Hundreds of birds, chirping and singing, fill these branches. It truly sounds like a tropical jungle whenever Bossy pokes her head out her front door — some people live near aviaries and don’t enjoy this magnitude of fluttery life — and for this, Bossy will always be grateful to sweet Mrs. P and her stingy pruning.
Dear Bossy,
Maybe across the street woman would appreciate her neighbor doing the pruning for her? Just sayin’…
Oh, I miss the constant sound of birds. We have ‘em in Seattle, but they seem to be always on their way North or South. When we lived in sunny, warm California, they had time to stay a while and sing their lovely songs.
I’ve linked some of their sweet tweets to singing lullabies to my youngest as i sat nursing by my open upstairs window right next to a glorious two story ash, two feet from the window. There was always a twitters of drama in that tree as well as beautiful arias, and cooing.
We even had a pair of love doves that cooed and nuzzled and decided my hanging planter was their nest.
Now here in Seattle? Crows. Blackbirds. Ravens.Pidgeons. Grrr…some of the most annoying birds on earth. so much so that my redneck, but love him nonetheless neighbors gets out his pellet gun and shoots them down.
Oh, wait, there is one redeeming bird. We have Bald Eagles. Two blocks away on the lake. spiraling above us at the pool at which my kids practice. They spiral above us as pairs. They make the strangest sounds, but they are so majestic and remind me of when we lived in Fairbanks, Alaska.
that picture makes me fill with a longing feeling.
Oh, yes, I second the pruning help of Sherry. Sometimes, the elderly are too proud. I’m glad she’s still in her house rather than a home. That’s how my 97 year old grandmother went out. Of course, she being a widow and a strong lady was still pulling weeds and climbing on her roof to remove moss at 93 year. I am crossing my fingers I’ll be pruning my own yard at that age, but if not, a little help from neighbors always is a shining beam of sunshine in a lonely winter’s day. Another thought is to call a local church and see if they can send out some strong backs to help. I’m not religious now, but I have fond memories of my church group going around to elderly neighbors and doing a massive clean up kind of like landscaping make-overs. Many hands make light work. Lots of work for one frail set of elderly hands…
Don’t go pruning without asking. My husband once shoveled an elderly neighbor’s driveway (at my insistance) and the guy came out and yelled at him.
I bet Mrs. P loves the birds, also.
I “third” the maybe Mrs. P needs some help with her landscaping. Could Bossy’s son could talk her into accepting help from the neighbors?
Perhaps Mrs. P needs help in many ways, and it would be kind to offer. But I think your appreciation of the birds amongst the tangles is a wonderful way of looking at what others might perceive as an eyesore.
I think Mrs. P is really Mrs. H, as in Havisham! I too love the fact that what most neighbors would see as an eyesore, you see the beauty. My parents next door neighbor-lady’s house is almost identical to this one. She has a grandson come and help every now and then…but I think she likes the entrenched feeling. I know I do!
We (and by “we” I mean the gardener, heh) cut back some overgrown bougainvillea in the very back of our yard many years ago. A poor little opossum was displaced. He (I’m sure it was a he because he didn’t ask for directions) walked up and down and back and forth along the back fence for hours and hours, with a forlorn and confused look on his furry little face. I felt so bad for him. He was there first, after all.
When we moved into our little house the bushes were as high as the roof.
First thing we did was to remove the old overgrown bushes and the first thing I noticed was the loss of birdsong!
I replanted with lovely foundation shrubs, but it’s the extra height and density of the overgrown shrubs that attract the birds in large enough numbers to make a presence felt. What a loss it was!
Please consider mentioning the beautiful birds to Mrs. P .. and let no one start cutting or trimming that haven!
cute little place
I’ve never been a fan of the pruned bush. For example a wild forsythia bush is much prettier than one that has been trimmed into a round shape.
Scout’s Honor, I’m just across the Puget Sound from you. When we first moved to our home in the woods, we were amazed at the dearth of bird sounds. We put up a sunflower seed feeder and slowly, slowly, the birds found it. A year later and ever since, all manner of chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, finches, and other little birds had found their way to our neighborhood. They twitter and sing aplenty, most loudly in May as they’re setting territories. (Turns out June, when we moved in, is the quiet nesting month.) I’m so sorry that you have crappy city birds. I love the soothing sound of mourning doves too. Miss them, and mockingbirds. And bluejays, believe it or not.
I bet Mrs P would like to keep some shrubs but have somebody help clear some a bit.
PS. Agree with Sharon/13 about frothy untrimmed forsythias! Our neighbor would try to force everything into tight heartsick balls.
Would Mrs. P like to share her home with a single mom and two wonderful bird watching girls??
I thinks its a damned cute place
Our yard is about this messy, though it stays further away from our house. And we get tons of birds, too. My dad is a little peeved about it, in fact, because he actively solicits the company of birds but gets ALMOST NONE in his carefully-kept, carefully-pruned, carefully-squirrel-resistant, carefully-bird-friendly, carefully-birdfeeder-stocked yard.