Neighbors and a New Sweater

When we lived in another state, another time zone, we thought we had chosen the perfect neighborhood. It was our first home purchase, first time living so far from our families, our first opportunity to reach out and make life-long friends. We envisioned backyard BBQ's, sharing keys, etc. Well, it didn't happen. We knew the names of exactly three neighbors after 5 years. This was in an otherwise wonderful condo community with these great townhouses and wide open spaces. The level of "stay to yourself" was so strong that our fourth summer there I was outside with my daughter and a neighbor across the parking area asked if we were new there.

When we finally moved to our current location our goal was to find the perfect neighborhood again. Now we had two kids and a cat, and dreams of backyard BBQ's still clinging on after 5 long years. We wanted a place where our kids had playmates, where we could feel safe, where the schools were top notch. And....pssssst....we found it. With the weather getting warmer and households coming out of winter hibernation I am grateful, once again, for the amazing good fortune we've had.

This neighborhood is a complete throwback to the fifties (I think. Having nothing other than reruns of The Wonder Years to go on I'm going out on a limb, here.) Within an hour of our moving van arriving in the drive, we had THREE neighbors show up with freshly baked cookies, welcome to the neighborhood cards, and "if you ever need a thing, you call" kinds of sentiments. The first woman to show up at my brand new, bright white front door said to me "this is very much the 'borrow a cup of sugar' neighborhood." and man, was she right.

These people are my best friends. We watch each other's kids, we water each other's lawn, we organize meals for families with new babies (or the occasional family death) and we borrow/loan everything from tools to that cup of sugar.

We have monthly Ladies Luncheons, an annual BBQ, an annual camping trip, and during the summer months we have a series of parties (see cinco de mayo pics below). If I'm late getting to the school bus to get my daughter, I know without a doubt that someone will look after her until I come running up 5 minutes late.

Most of the families here have young kids and growing families. We know we'll all need room to grow, but we all say that we plan to stay here for good. We may move to the bigger houses in the 'hood as needed, but we'll never leave our little circle.

You know, in three years I've never had a backyard BBQ. We rarely use our backyard. We are always out front, beer or margarita in hand, chatting with neighbors while the kids play together. Eventually, someone drags their BBQ out front to the driveway, we all throw in whatever food we have in our fridge, and we have an impromptu BBQ.

I have found it...the perfect neighborhood. And I'm not telling a soul where it is.

CINCO DE MAYO
Usually, my next door neighbors have a big C de M bash. The hubby is in a fantastic band, so they play, we have huge amounts of the most amazing Mexican food, and we drink Corona and margaritas. This year, mamacita had a new baby so the party was cancelled. This didn't stop all of us. We still showed up in their driveway with lawnchairs and potlucked it so they didn't have to do a thing. No band, but a great evening all the same. FlyGuy was on a trip, so he missed this year's festivities.



Kiddos in a truck, Bec with a beer

Hubbies on Parade, Our superior cook

SWEATER
Mamacita mentioned above just had her third baby. I wanted to do something special, so I knitted up this little sweater:

Pattern: Silver Creek Classics, Pattern C-451
Materials: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino dk, color 18008 (light blue)
Size 6 Circ, Size 6 dpn, Size 4 straights
Peter Rabbit buttons
Changes: None

Really fast knit, fun pattern. Hope the baby likes it!



In other news,

Orangina is slow going. I hope to post a picture in the next few days.

I've started socks for my daughter. I figure if they are small I won't be so sad when I screw up and have to frog them. Haven't had much luck with socks so far.

I'm off to get ready for a wine deal. My shoes are nothing short of spectacular. I will have to post a pic of them, also :)