deck the hills

Do any of you buy into the concept that we choose our destinies before we were born? That we draft some sort of karmic contract? That we "sign up" for the stuff life deals us?

If you do, then you believe that I have pre-arranged to have wacked out neighbors....and I just cannot believe I would ever draft that.

Let's see. First, I had this lovely view of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.



Which my neighbor installed a tent in front of.



And he was totally pleased about the fact that it pissed me off. Which it did. Especially when the damn thing proved to be wind and rain proof....

....and even more so when he fixed the tent with duct tape. That was lovely.

So then I move to my new home, and find that I have a neighbor on the hill above me, and he has a trampoline overlooking my yard.


Not as bad as the tent, and I feel ripped off having never seen anyone jumping on it. Unfortunately when it comes to wind and rain, the trampoline doesn't fare as well as the tent, though.

But the owner puts it back up after it blows down, and I do not believe with duct tape, and besides...he doesn't seem to care about my existence, so at least he's not intentionally trying to piss me off with his yard ecoutrement.

I'd say it's an improvement.


Last night I discovered that I now have another new decorative neighbor!! Well, I kind of had a hunch they'd pull something. Let me show you why. Here's the wide angle:



This is my street, and these are my neighbors. Only a sliver of my house is showing. I am that little bit of blue down at the very end of the street, on the right there. Next to the yellow house with the street lamp. Up above my house, you can see TrampolineGuy's crib. Now, I ask you to sort of look at the (sadly) cookie cutter-ness of the hood. It's not my favorite way to live, but as you can see, we do have sort of a theme going on. Now look back up on the hill at the house that is two houses to the left of TrampolineGuy's.

Here. Let me help.
I mean, I think the southern plantation theme is okay I guess. A little odd, but I actually am tickled for them that they're breaking the mold. Even if every time I look at it, it seems a wee bit out of place to me. They host lots of parties and light all of those terraces up, and I can hear people talking and laughing, and I sit out back in my own yard with a glass of wine imagining who's up there. Y'all.

But guess what. The PlantationTerracePartyPeople added a new feature last night! Can you see it??

What about now??



Yes. That would be a four-friggin'-story high Christmas tree-ish light display thing. The windows of the house next to it? That is their 2nd floor.

Again, an improvement. I agree. I'm not bitching. Really. I'll take a festive holiday display over a soggy tent ANY day.

But in my own sick and twisted way, I can't wait to see what the wind and rain are going to do to THIS one ;-)