The Things We Keep...

...or throw in the garage.

Tired of combing stickers out of Rudy's velcro-like fur, we went for a walk in the nearby neighborhood. There were a lot of people out and about doing suburban things... kids on skateboards, women (almost, but not always, women) walking dogs, men (always men) mowing lawns and washing cars. I enjoy our walks here. It all seems so timeless and somehow peaceful. Surprising for a week-day morning, but it's summer...

My attention was caught by the fact that most driveways had one or two cars in them, and lots of garage doors were open. In the garages there was furniture, bikes (lots of bikes), sports equipment (lots of that too) tools, workbenches, ping pong tables, gardening gear and plastic toys, but no cars. There were boxes full of more stuff, or empty ones for electronic equipment, saved with all the packaging, in case they had to be returned.

We have never had a garage, or at least not one you could fit a car in. There weren't many cars around in 1907 when the house was built. A shedlike structure was added later but designed to accommodate a Model T Ford. In the intervening years, tree roots grew through the floor and the roof threatened to collapse. The door didn't fit and the driveway stopped twenty feet short of it. It was the domain of rats, spiders, dark shadows and OilMan. I hated going in it.

Here, our garage is clean, organized and even has a light, a window and remote controlled door openers.. Both of our cars are in it. I wonder how long it will stay this way?

Today's picture is of pistachio nuts growing in the neighborhood. The nuts mature as the leaves of the tree die back,