|
Post by casimira on Jul 2, 2021 15:06:10 GMT
I finally found out the cause of all the sirens yesterday. It was the celebration of EMS Day. Did you salute my dear husband? The place where we are staying has the most dedicated, enthusiastic, anal "groundskeeper". He starts at around 9:00 a.m. and goes at it until about midday. There is not one blade of grass that goes untouched by one of the many blades on his collection of lawn mowing, trimming, edging and yes, blowing. Since I have no control over this I have had to just bear with it but I shudder when I see his red truck pull up with the trailer attached. He's a really nice man and I have to admire his work ethic but, my lord, he goes on forever!!!!
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 2, 2021 15:20:27 GMT
People who do their jobs 300% are to be admired and feared.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 2, 2021 15:30:57 GMT
My sort of man.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 2, 2021 16:02:40 GMT
Did you salute my dear husband? But of course!
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Jul 5, 2021 20:00:16 GMT
Sat in the garden earlier and I heard the church bells . Should be nothing remarkable really as the bell ringers normally practice x2 per week and of course ring out for the hatched, matched and despatched regularly. But ... the bells have been silent since March 2020 due to Covid . Is life getting back to normal / a semblance of normality ?
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Jul 5, 2021 20:49:19 GMT
I sure hope it is! Bells, what a wonderful way to signal normalcy!
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Jul 10, 2021 18:48:05 GMT
Sat in the garden earlier and I heard the church bells . Should be nothing remarkable really as the bell ringers normally practice x2 per week and of course ring out for the hatched, matched and despatched regularly. But ... the bells have been silent since March 2020 due to Covid . Is life getting back to normal / a semblance of normality ? The place where we are living right now we can't hear the church bells that we could hear at our other place. That along with the absence of the frogs and toads in the evening makes me longing to be back there (among other things). I suppose one just takes for granted these sounds until one is somewhere else. I am grateful that the neighborhood where we are is quiet. Although, there is an ice cream truck that passes by in the early evening. It plays music, not the type one would associate with an ice cream truck. Last evening it was playing "Jingle Bells" and then "Auld Lang Syne". WTF??? Right now, I can hear thunder in the distance. Fine by me.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Jul 12, 2021 19:25:29 GMT
The place where we are living right now we can't hear the church bells that we could hear at our other place. I had picked up from other posts that you had moved Casimira but not why . Anyway I hope you are happy in new home despite the lack of familiar sounds .
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Jul 12, 2021 21:41:46 GMT
Lugg, after house hunting for a few weeks we couldn't find a home suitable to our needs and wants. Either too much repair work that needed to be done or too big for our needs etc. The main factor being our wish to stay in the same neighborhood where have been for 30 plus years. So, we are living in a small apartment, a "shoebox" compared to our other home. Logistics with the pets etc. have been challenging but here we plan to stay until we can rebuild a home of our liking on the same property we were living. Because I am more of a "wildlife" gardener than many of the homes surrounding us I miss the hummingbirds, bees, frogs, butterflies and birds we are accustomed to hearing. Church bells included.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 14, 2021 21:17:19 GMT
I hear the fireworks in the suburbs booming in the distance but there is no way to see them from my apartment. The Paris fireworks are about to start, but they are too far for me to hear although I can see them on television.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Jul 17, 2021 15:46:28 GMT
I had the most pleasant experience last evening. For several weeks now while I have been out for an evening stroll I would often hear the strains of someone playing an English horn. Many times I would pause and linger to listen more. While strolling home last p.m. I saw a younger woman putting out her trash and I stopped to ask her if she was the person playing the English horn and she said "yes, I am. I hope it's not disturbing you". I went on too say indeed no and quite the opposite. She plays with the New Orleans Philharmonic and told me that some evenings she hosts some of her colleagues to come and play. With that, she asked for my phone number and said she would alert me when they were going to get together. After more chit chat it turns out that many years ago she had lost her house to an electrical fire and rebuilt her home. (the same house where she is now).
|
|
|
Post by mich64 on Jul 17, 2021 15:55:04 GMT
After more chit chat it turns out that many years ago she had lost her house to an electrical fire and rebuilt her home. (the same house where she is now). What a beautiful encounter Casimira and invitation!
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 17, 2021 19:42:17 GMT
Oh, Casimira! That almost gave me goosebumps in the sense of how perfect that encounter was to keep you from feeling stuck and glum in your interim home. Lovely!
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 18, 2021 3:43:34 GMT
It almost sounds like a ghost encounter and you have met your spirit guide.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Aug 22, 2021 16:13:22 GMT
Just a little while ago a steam locomotive train passed through our little enclave. No other sound can compare with the loud whistle of a locomotive train. I had been alerted earlier that this would be happening so I got myself in gear to go and watch/listen as it passed through the intersection just blocks away from where we are. T. was still not quite awake so he missed out on the viewing but did hear the whistle. I put two pennies on the track and indeed they were flattened to being almost paper like thin
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 22, 2021 16:43:17 GMT
Too nifty -- like going back in time, including making the flat pennies!
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2021 17:11:41 GMT
Since my biological father was a locomotive engineer, once or twice he took me in the cab of the locomotive for a short run going north, probably from Gulfport to Lyman (what on earth was in Lyman?) -- he mostly just pushed freight cars of bananas around at the port of Gulfport (Chiquita bananas). Anyway, he seemed to think that I would be thrilled to blow the whistle as the train went by. I pulled the whistle cable when he told me to, but I wasn't thrilled at all because I didn't want to bother the poor people living along the tracks. Now that he has been dead for more than 40 years, I am wondering if he noticed that I didn't really want to do it or if he remained proud to have shown a "fun" time to his younger son. (And now I am wondering where my brother was when I was doing this.)
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 22, 2021 18:26:04 GMT
I had one small wind chime my sister gave me ages ago. It is small, but with a nice tone I've always enjoyed. For my birthday this year I bought myself two more. They're from Woodstock Chimes, "the original musically tuned windchime". There is a breeze outside right now & my little collection of three chimes is putting on the loveliest concert.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2021 18:44:38 GMT
I have always wanted to like wind chimes, but I don't like most of them. I think that wind chimes with metal elements are much better than the ones with pieces of glass.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Sept 2, 2021 15:10:48 GMT
Today I spent 3 hours in a street which also has an elementary school. Today was the first day of class in France. I can only assume 1) that the schools are injecting all of the children with amphetamines or 2) all of rest of the time, the parents are sedating their children. Even though there was a high wall between where I was and the school, the sounds of recess and lunch were absoluteely bloodcurdling -- you know, those little girl shrieks that can break glass and also the boys who make it sound like a riot even though you can also hear a ball bouncing around.
I have no recollection of this from my childhood, but it is probably my faulty memory.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Sept 3, 2021 9:05:28 GMT
Our local schools aren't back yet, but I suppose I'd better practise my throwing skills for when the footballs come flying over the (already high) fence on to the main road and any passer-by is entreated to chuck it back. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Sept 7, 2021 17:19:22 GMT
Chainsaws everywhere I go. I went for a walk hoping to escape them from my immediate neighborhood but, no matter where I walked someone was running one so, I abandon all hope of escaping them. I realize that it's necessary but, after awhile they really do irritate.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Sept 7, 2021 18:15:16 GMT
Hoping you escape them eventually Casimira ; I am with you hate the noise they make
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Sept 7, 2021 18:34:32 GMT
I think we all hate the noise of chainsaws, but I am quite sure that they are necessary right now.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 18, 2021 19:28:57 GMT
Lots of car horns in the streets of Paris tonight because Algeria beat Tunisia 2-0 for the final of Arab football cup.
It takes place every 4 years (supposedly), and Iraq is the country that has won the most often (4 times), followed by Saudi Arabia (2 times). However, this year's cup was the first one since 2012.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Dec 31, 2021 13:14:45 GMT
Alexa playing quiet guitar music. Very pleasant.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 31, 2021 19:09:49 GMT
1:09 p.m here and blissfully quiet. Wonder how it's going to be 11 hours from now.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Jan 1, 2022 2:01:02 GMT
F'n fireworks and fire crackers all around us. Worse than ever. We have to medicate our dog and the cat is holed up in a closet. Maddening!!!!
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jan 1, 2022 3:08:15 GMT
9 pm and it's oddly silent here. The police made a sweep through the abastos market the other day and scooped up all the fireworks. I'm guessing people are hoarding the ones they have until midnight.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jan 1, 2022 3:09:35 GMT
Ha ~ posted that & then immediately heard a big boom.
|
|