Secret Gardens

Today we saw the neighbors' gardens, or yards as most Americans call them. Little did we know what wonders were hidden behind the non-descript homes on our street.

It turns out that this year's local garden tour featured homes exclusively on our street. Luckilly, we learned about this two-day fest from someone where I work. Our neighbor across the street (Rodeo) was not so lucky and was out in all his shirtless, drunken glory from 8AM until about 2PM providing the masses with some unexpected entertainment (ever watch a completely toasted man hack away at a small tree with an 6 foot electric trimmer from an 8 foot ladder? Well, lots of unsuspecting folks witnessed the spectacle today).

It was really eye-opening for us to see what secret worlds our neighbors were hiding beside and behind their homes.   There were colonies of hostas, trickling waterfalls and fountains,  fragrant gardens of basil and verbena, lush hydrangeas, benches nestled in shaded hillside nooks, large swaths of wooded areas providing privacy, built-in professional-grade out-door grills, and all sorts of gorgeous flowering beauties that I cannot name.  

One home was actually showing off its kitchen (we were a bit baffled until we went inside).  It turns out the owner is a builder and built the house and now has added a cabinet business.  We had complete and total home envy.  The home was like a luxury lodge inside, with refined yet hearty woods (the hardwood floors were the most gorgeous I have ever seen), stucco walls, a pretty amazing kitchen, and all sorts of built-in wooden cabinets.   We had no idea walking by that house on our evening walks.....It was pretty amazing.

So, we walked home to our "power sub-station"-looking house slightly dejected.  :-)  We look forward to the day when we have some at least semi-permanent, a place that we feel like investing in.  Somewhere I can plant herbs and flowers and we can build our own private paradise.