Posted in architecture, my life, neighborhood on May 6, 2022| 13 Comments »
This new house was originally going to be 12,000 sq. ft. It looks like the main house is more like 20,000 sq. ft. There’s also a guest house which is not pictured.
Developers have started on two other houses in the neighborhood but neither will be this big as they are on much smaller lots.
Posted in neighborhood on January 14, 2022| 7 Comments »
There’s another round of scraping and building about to start. All of these houses are being torn down in the next 2 months. Buyers are spending unbelievable amounts of cash to get the land. They only care about the size of the lot and the location. They don’t care about the house. When a house sells it’s not a matter of if it will get torn down, but rather, how soon in will be scrapped.
Posted in neighborhood on December 23, 2021| 6 Comments »
The service entrance to my neighbor’s property is decorated better than most of the houses in the neighborhood. It is stunningly beautiful.
Posted in neighborhood on November 18, 2021| 6 Comments »
The holiday lights on this house were installed that day after Halloween. It seems a bit early to me. Can’t we get through Thanksgiving before the holiday lights are turned on?
Posted in architecture, neighborhood on November 15, 2021| 4 Comments »
This two-bedroom house was built in 1952:
Two years and $5m later this 5-bedroom house has been built on the lot:
The picture doesn’t do the house justice. It’s a stunning example of mid-century inspired architecture.
Posted in neighborhood, politics on August 23, 2021| 12 Comments »
One of my neighbors has been nominated to be the next ambassador to two European countries. I’m sure the private fundraiser held at their house in 2019 had nothing to do with the nomination.
Posted in neighborhood on July 20, 2021| 7 Comments »
My neighbor texted to let me know three police cars were at the home of the troubled woman who lives with her parents around the corner. A second text advised she was taken away unrestrained in the back of one of the police cars. I can’t help but wonder if she would have been shot or handcuffed if she were black.
Posted in friends, my life, neighborhood on July 13, 2021| 7 Comments »
I hit that galleries by myself on Friday night. I needed a break from Bart and his negativity. I often wonder how he has a desire to keep living given his bleak look on life, society, his job and the future of our planet.
I was asked two times where my boyfriend was during my gallery tour. Both times I explained that Bart was just a friend and we were not involved. It seems people assumed Bart and I are a couple given we attend so many gallery openings together. I guess there could be worse things people could assume about me.
Saturday morning I ran into Mrs. N at the grocery store. We hadn’t seen much of each other even though we live on the same street. Pandemics can have that effect on neighborly relationships. We had a nice conversation in dairy aisle. Mrs. N told me she heard I had a new boyfriend who has a Lamborghini. I told Mrs. N that Bruce was not by boyfriend and, in fact, I’m still single. At least she didn’t remark on the age difference. Mrs. N did extend one of those vague invitations to come over for cocktails sometime.
Two very handsome men in my life but neither one is right for me. The search continues.
Posted in friends, my life, neighborhood on June 26, 2021| 13 Comments »
I seem to have been in a pandemic funk. Nothing seemed to be important. No motivation to post. Who could possibly want to read about my life, which, I suspect is not relatable to most people? A life of extreme white privilege but still seems to be lacking. A career nearing an end. An aging gay man who may be single the rest of his life. An insignificant life.
And then on Memorial Day, one of my neighbors hung himself in the garage of his $4m house. The forty-year-old man left behind a wife and two children who were in the house at the time. Two weeks later the wife had a double mastectomy.
Learning this tragic news catapulted me out of my funk. I can’t explain why learning of someone else’s tragedy made me feel better about my life. It just did.
While I didn’t know the family, they depicted a version of the American dream. A stunningly beautiful mid-century inspired home which is one of the new architectural gems in the neighborhood. Very expensive cars in the driveway with kids playing in the yard, which, always seems to be manicured to perfection. It looked like a perfect life, yet, something was terribly wrong. Now the dream has turned into a nightmare.
Surely, this man knew about his wife’s illness. If the wife doesn’t survive cancer the children will be orphaned. How could he kill himself knowing that his children could eventually be orphaned? I know my questions don’t make sense as I don’t know the catalyst for the suicide.
Last Sunday, Bruce showed up at my house with a Lamborghini Huracan he had rented for the weekend. We got coffee at nearby locally-owned coffee shop before driving around the neighborhood looking at houses. We stopped at a birthday party being thrown for three 10-year-old boys a few houses down the street from my house. The young boys went crazy over the car. The moms swooned over Bruce. Bruce gave each of the birthday boys a ride in the Lambo. The boys were so excited to ride in the car.
The next day, my neighbor who hosted the party, stopped by to thank me. She told me the Lambo rides made the day special. It was especially memorable for one of the boys who is the son of the man who killed himself. She told me the boy can’t stop talking about the car and how much fun he had because, “Bruce drove really fact and made the car roar”. She said the boy has been so sad but snapped out of it because of the ride in the Lambo. Knowing this warmed my heart.
So an ostentatious display of wealth helped a young boy snap out of sadness for a while. Perhaps my life isn’t as insignificant as I thought.
Posted in art, friends, my life, neighborhood on March 29, 2021| 10 Comments »
I hit the galleries by myself last Friday. I needed a break from Bart. I get tired of hearing his misogynistic opinions and insulting comments about rich people. I saw some great art in the two hours I was out of the house.
I worked in the yard most of Saturday afternoon. My neighbor, Mrs. D., stopped to chat with acceptable social distance since I was not wearing a mask. She invited me for cocktails at 5. Being a psychiatric nurse, she managed to work the high rate of suicide by single men into the conversation. I assured her I was fine and would see her, and her husband, at 5 for socially-distanced cocktails.
I came into the house around 3. I had a notification on my iPhone advising I may have been exposed to Covid on March 19, which was two weeks after my first vaccine shot. I called Mrs. D. to cancel cocktails due to my possible exposure. Just before 5, my doorbell rang. Mrs. D. was at my side door holding a silver tray of hors d’oeuvres and a gin and tonic. Since I couldn’t come for cocktails, she brought the party to me. Such a nice gesture! She set the tray on the side porch and scurried across the street to greet arriving guests who have been fully vaccinated.
I sat on the porch enjoying a very refreshing gin and tonic and hors d’oeuvres while googling quarantine protocol for exposure after the first vaccine shot. Google can be a blessing and a curse. Search results supported 7, 10 and 14 day quarantines. I was already on day 8 so I decided to go with 12 days since I have no symptoms.
While I’m grateful for the notification, it seems odd that it came 8 days after the exposure. I guess it depends upon when the person self-reports the Covid diagnosis. I’m also grateful I’m not sick. I only left the house on the 19th to attend two socially-distanced gallery openings with a handful of other patrons. I’m guessing that’s when it happened.
Quarantine has allowed me to skip the gym without feeling guilty. Just a few more days and I’ll be back at it. In the meantime, I have plenty of yard work to keep me busy.
The Corporate Slave 