Friday 18 May 2007

N is for Neighbourhood

I'm very lucky to live in a quiet older Neighbourhood. A place where faces are familiar. My house is on the left. Red brick, built around 1895.

People take care of their houses and gardens here. And say Good Morning to you and smile when you meet them on the street or in the grocery store.

The streets are transformed into avenues of green once the leaves are out.

The gazebo by the stream....

... and a view along Main Street.

Unfortunately, our small town is changing, and not everyone thinks it's a good thing. In the next 15 years, our population will double. Farmland is being bulldozed and new houses are springing up in the thousands. I wonder where all the people will come from to fill them.
And worst of all......

......we're becoming a WAL-MART town!

30 comments:

  1. Gorgeous tree lined street.

    Valley of the Dolls - HAHAHA!! Things we learned from reading trashy novels.

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  2. Hard to see things change. You live on a gorgeous street and i love your red brick house. it looks like the stuff that novels are made of.

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  3. Lovely house! Are those ELM trees in front? I love elms but the elm trees in the midwest all died when I was a young girl.

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  4. Your neighbourhood looks lovely, as does your red brick house. Picture perfect ;o)

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  5. Thanks for visiting my blog and welcome back at any time!

    Your house and the immediate surroundings really look fantastic!!!

    Hope you can avoid the center and Wal-Mart as much as possible, but it may be tough; not too many shops, bars and restaurants in the immediate surrounding, I guess?

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  6. Yuck to all big box development, especially Wal-Mart. We just got one at the bottom of our mountain, whether we wanted it or not. I for one have not set foot in it, and never will!

    Rant over.

    I'd move into your neighborhood!

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  7. Lovely house,and a tree in the front garden too, same as us!

    Nice to have things in common!
    Dx

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  8. *eeeeeek!* Walmart.... yuck. Though I suppose there's not much stopping that. On the other hand you have a gorgeous neighborhood and house. Makes me antsy to get out of Los Angeles!! :)

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  9. Thanks for coming by my blog again. What a delight to the eyes to read your post about your neighborhood.

    Boo on Wal-Mart. In our county here in Florida, there are four of them (at last count) I may have missed one. I will not shop there.

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  10. Absolutely lovely house, little town and gazebo....it is sad when "progress" finds a small town.....we are there in Sandpoint and believe me when I tell you folks come out of the woodwork. Gee, Wallie World....aren't you lucky...we have a supercenter....neener, neener...I am so being facetious.

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  11. Oh no, take it from this Arkansas girl, please continue to shop your local shops for once WalMart is open, they are threatened with extinction.

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  12. Honestly speaking, I share your views here. Around five years back Calcutta was also expanding rapidly with a uncountable number of housing & residential complexes and we were wondering from where will so many people come from, and today it is amazing to see not a single flat is available now...some very well captured shots!

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  13. looks like a lovely town, i love redbrick.

    btw, mouse poo - despite being smaller - is MUCH smellier.

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  14. What a beautiful house you have and all those lovely mature trees!

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  15. Hi everyone:
    - Ming: Trashy? I thought they depicted REAL LIFE!! :-)
    - Photo: Yes, change is inevitable, but it seems to be happening so fast here.
    - Peggy: Not Elm trees, the one on the left is Horse Chestnut (Yay, conkers!) and the other one is Maple. Not many Elm trees left here, all were destroyed by Dutch Elm Disease in the 70s and 80s.
    - Belinda: Thanks for the nice compliment.
    - Peter: WalMart is all by itself right now in what used to be a farmer's field but where WalMart goes, others quickly follow.
    - Tut: I've been to the WalMart a couple of times, but only if I can't get what I want in the stores in town.
    - Mrs N: The trees are great, except when we have to clean the leaves out of the eavestroughs (gutters) in the autumn.
    - Chandler: Anything's better than LA, right?
    - Beverley: Do you think WalMart will take over the world? I'm beginning to suspect it will.
    - Rosie: I don't know what our Town Council were thinking when they approved the addition of WalMart. Must have been smokin' somethin'.
    - Annie: I agree, I'll shop locally for as long as I can.... but going on past experience, WalMart will eventually put the smaller stores out of business.
    - Kalyan: As soon as the houses are finished, people move in.... it's amazing!
    - Lettuce: About the mousey poo... I don't want to find out thanks!
    - Libby: Thanks for the compliment, it's a nice neighbourhood to live in.

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  16. I love your neighborhood, so clean. Yes the days of small towns are getting harder to find, We moved here 14 yrs ago, the town was 27,000 population, now it is over 75,000
    And not stopping.Sad as all things start to change when you get big.

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  17. We became a wal mart town 10 years back. At least they have cheap bras! Otherwise I don't set foot in the place.
    I loved the red brick, it is a feature you never see in BC. (earthquake preparedness?) I remember seeing the red brick houses on a trip to Toronto when I was young.

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  18. Your photographs are very nice and show me what your neighborhood really looks like. I like them and your narrative.

    I also saw the new WalMart going up. I don't know how you feel about them but here where I live they have been a blessing to so many people. Not only are the prices a lot cheaper the merchandise is name brand in grocery items and also in clothing and shoes. For some people it is a blessing and for others who lost their jobs when the places they worked at were forced to close, of course, they are a kind of curse.

    However, that is what happened to the blacksmiths of my early years. They were and had been king of the coal pile for generations and did their thing on horses, oxen and cows and then one day the horses were gone and the cows and oxen disappeared from the fields and they were out of work.

    I guess it must be progress.

    Thanks for visiting my blog. And yes you can clone most flowers and all succulents.

    Thanks again.

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  19. What a gorgeous house and neighbourhood!

    It's funny to hear that the same things that we worry about here are exactly the same for you over there - our Walmart demon is called is "Tescos", everywhere they appear the small, local shops disappear. Gradually our high streets begin to look identical and lose their individuality.

    But changes are afoot, over here the farmers markets are becoming really popular and helping the local communties at the same time, so it's not all bad!

    Julia
    ps. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  20. Ah, what a dreamy home. And real neighbors. Where we used to live, we got the house, but not the neighbors. Where we now live; we get the neighbors....the house... not so much.

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  21. I love your street and neighbourhood. So leafy and pleasant. There seems to be mixed feelings about Walmart. Hope it doesn't cause too much of a disruption to the town. It was nice to meet you over at 'my place'!

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  22. Love your all-brick house, a real classic!
    We fought Walmart off and were partially successful - they've downsized to a regular store from the proposed Super Center...

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  23. Pretty and then frightening!

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  24. It really is fun to see where our fellow bloggers live and to actually see the pics of the neighborhoods. Thank you. I love that little sunroom/balcony upstairs at your house! :)

    Don't you wonder how Wal-Mart "happened?" It's a real puzzlement!

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  25. What a lovely place and I share your concerns about big supermarkets moving into small towns. It happens here too. I think it's important to support small businesses.
    Angela

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  26. your area sounds wonderful from the description on the post.... and then Walmart moves in. I wonder how many jobs will dissapear to be replaced by low paying jobs at Walmart and other box stores... the only good point... walmart photos are only 19 cents

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  27. Both your house and neighbourhood look lovely. I live in a small village where people smile and say hi to you too. I can understand that you are worried about all this new development going on. You live in a wonderfully nice place and want it to stay that way.

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  28. What beautiful houses. I think many people will be running out of the big city to get more quality of life in the smaller surrounding towns.

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  29. OH NO!!! I was scrolling along, enjoying the views of your cute neighborhood then saw that monster. How dare they infiltrate your community like that. Curses on them!

    But I totally love your historic neighborhood. How awesome it must be to live in a house built in 1895. Wouldn't it be funny if I was one of the people who caused your population to double? Doubtful because in reality, we'd never leave the west coast or Bay Area, but we seriously considered moving to Canada after our trip in 1996. Then again in 2004...hum...wonder why? I digress. :)
    But have you ever read the comic strip "For Better or Worse"? The artist is Canadian and lives in Toronto and this is the exact neighborhood I picture the characters in the comic strip live in. Complete with the stream and everything.

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  30. LOVE the photos of your wonderful red brick house and neighborhood. looks heavenly. but ye gods...a WALMART??? quel dommage!!

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