This morning I woke up, put on a pair of shorts, and on my walk to pick up breakfast from down the street, I noticed what a ridiculously beautiful day it was. It was one of those days in which you are thoroughly convinced that trees are green because green looks best against the vivid blue sky above. On days like this, I miss Alan’s (non-hospital) company most because days like this are perfect for walking.
Most find that walking is not all that sexy and I would bet that it would lose against other activity options of a) going to a bar to grab a Bloody Mary b) going to a movie c) going to the mall d) going surfing e) riding bikes f) going to a BBQ g) cleaning the bathroom… it would pretty much lose to anything. People often despise walking from the back of the Target parking lot to the store entrance and heck, some even despise the effort of walking while in the store. Once I was talking to my friend Sue who asked what I was up to. I told her Alan and I had just gotten back from a walk. I didn’t realize how weird that sounded, how much it conjured up images of moms pushing their tri-wheel strollers or senior citizens after dinner, until I said it. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with moms and tri-wheel strollers or senior citizens getting their cardio in, but I am neither, so it struck a funny image in our heads.)
But see, Alan and I do a whole different kind of walking. Sometimes we will walk with the purpose of getting somewhere, but more often than not, we will walk just to feel the sun on our necks and to ogle houses. The ogling houses bit is a favorite past time of ours. We will walk through our favorite neighborhoods, admiring strangers’ landscaping, windows, hedges, paint colors, door styles and overall maintenance. In our heads, we are picking and choosing our favorite parts so that someday we can compile them all into a custom home for ourselves. So far, it will be a completely wacky house, with “beach trees, the tall eucalyptus type things” (as Alan calls them), a red front door, a blue front door (I suppose we could paint each side a different color), a medieval-looking front door, white-paned windows, a green lawn, beach-town fauna, a big rock on the side of the yard. OK, so we aren’t very methodical in our selections. Right now, we are just really good at ogling, but we do have the ogling down to a science. For example, we figured out that ogling is best done while walking. Bike ogling presents a challenge in that you’re often speeding by too fast to really get a good look at a house.
It’s hard to find anyone interested in going on a walk with me, and harder still to explain all this, to ask if she wants to walk around looking at houses with me. Because then I’d have to explain that I’m not looking to buy, I’m just looking. Because… Because… So far my house only has beach fauna, a rock and a multi-personality front door and I need some more ideas, dangit!
But anyway, luckily, it looks like my house ogling partner will be back in action soon. Alan has been eating successfully since Thursday night and will probably be released early next week. As happy as I am that he’s eating again, all I can think about is how I cannot wait to show him that house I saw today that is really two very large houses connected by a bridge. Their very own bridge! (We so need one of those.)
I like walks too! Though mine are normally solo affairs. And I think house ogling is as justified as people watching (one of my favorite past times). So far, I have found several libraries that I want in my own house, a couple kitchens, and many bedrooms. Bathrooms, however, do not catch my attention, and so I will probably have very annoyed guests in this imaginary house.
Walking is all I do as I can't find the money for a car, and public transport is supposedly swine flu central and ridiculously expensive now.
I love walking, it's the best way of having an amazing conversation with someone, or alone time for personal feelings.
I drive to the "nice" neighborhood down a ways & park so I can walk for an hour. The reason I love it there? Ogling big houses, baby.
I used to love the different letter boxes when I was a kid doing my leaflet round….I used to plan what kind of letter box I'd buy for my house (the winner mostly being a faux log type thing that had supposedly random holes for various sizes of insertions). I have noticed that letter boxes nowadays are so much less imaginative than they were in the eighties!
You're making the walking thing sound pretty good. Maybe second to surfing with a Bloody Mary ranking at #3.
are you tired ?
You will have feeling more comfortable when you use car after you walk always.
My family and I are oglers! Haha. I went for a walk with my mom the other night, and she said she likes going at this time because then she can see INTO the houses too to see how people decorate the interior. Now we ogle the beautiful landscaping and into the privacy of others' homes. 🙂
Glad to hear that Alan is doing so much better . House ogling is much more fun with an accomplice ! Every time I go somewhere new , I have to find my ideal house and wonder what life would be like if I moved in . I must admit I haven't yet put a bigrockinthegarden on my list .
I love to walk. I am doing it all over Asia! I hope Alan feels better – I think that the bridge will help….:)
Sobrina~
That is so funny, how you like to house oogle with Alan as you walk! Several years ago my husband & I started running, which eventually slowed to walking. We loved our walking time, just because we checked out all the houses in the neighborhood. We got many ideas. My husband, Randy, often took me down side roads to show me a house he wanted to check out. It was so much fun! We eventually remodeled our house & used the ideas we got from the other people's houses from our walks. That was one of my favorite times of my life, now that I think back on it… Thanks for bringing back the memories… And I'm so glad Alan is doing better!
~Lynn
I'm glad to hear that Alan is on the mend!
I love walking. We walk our neighborhood constantly. Although I always get the feeling that we are the only people walking children instead of dogs.
I'm so glad to hear that Alan is doing better! *sending happy thoughts your way for his swift recovery*.
I miss walking. My back doesn't really like it much anymore, and complains loudly when I do to much of it. So I try to save up my walking for necessary things, like buying food at the store. :S
Thanks for the story…and good luck with that front door!
Me and the hubs love house ogling! We want to buy, but after being unemployed for a year put that on hold, now that I have a job again though the olging is in full effect!
So glad Alan is coming home soon! I have a house we need to walk to from my parents' place in toga. It basically looks like a castle and Preet and I have been drooling over it since age 16. We call it the castle house, they MIGHT have even put in a moat by now.
It might have been sour grapes, but when we lived in an apartment I didn't really house ogle very much – sometimes something would catch my eye, but usually I would just pass by without looking. Now we're renting a small house & I spend a LOT of time looking at the landscaping of the houses in our neighborhoods. I like to walk around the block & imagine the different things I'd do in our yard.
walking.. is good idea…
So true…Walking is fast becoming a lost art of sorts. It's one of the greatest social activities that's not entirely transformed by fast-paced technology yet (although iPods are doing their work there as well).
So glad that Alan gets to come home soon, that is such good news…especially for you.
I, too, love walking. Unfortunately, finding a walking partner isn't easy. My obvious first choice is my husband…His answer is always, "Why, I have a car…"
You are so lovely, Sobrina.
I'm compiling a list of my own…I want a fireplace, a dishwasher, a big deep tub, and main floor laundry. A medieval front door would be great, too. =) He's going to love the bridge!
I'm glad Alan is eating again! I dunno if I ever told you, but I love house ogling too. I've decided that any future girlfriend of mine must enjoy walking and house ogling.
I house ogle from my dreams. The houses in my dreams are so creative and beautiful. I have got my own little haven cut and pasted from the houses in my dreams. It's a cabin with lots of plants and a really interesting bedroom.
so happy he is eating! you two are so lovely!! I want a bridge…to seperate my boys rooms…they can be tricky little buggers sometimes…
Haha, Jana, wouldn't that be awesome if we could just stick bridges here and there in our lives?
I'd be happy to go on a walk with you! :.) I love going on walks with my boyfriend or with my parents and sister, or any mix of the two. In fact, my boyfriend and I kind of bonded over enjoying walks when we first met. And house ogling is in no way strange. Well, maybe it is but we do it too! My house will either be pale yellow with white trim or olive green with black trim. But it will definitely have a wraparound porch, complete with a porch swing, as well as a statue of some animal–probably a lion :.)
My fiance and I do this all the time Sobrina so do not feel alone in your walk. We this type of walk almost everyday of the week and everytime I pass the same homes I see something more to my liking then the first time I passed it. In fact, I just took photos of my dream house, which I never thought would be right around the corner from where we live now! I always thought I'd have to move to another city to find it, but nope! It's been there all alone and vacant for 9 mos now. Unfortunately, the orginal owners lost it due to foreclosure and the bank now owns it. The owners paid a pretty penny for it, but now are only selling it for $84,000 dollars which is a steal. The thing I love most about my dream house is the 1 acre yard and a small lake w/the colorful fountains right behind it. Ahhh it's breath taking. But when reality hits me in the face I know since Fredo has been out of work for 9 mos and my disability is going very slowly still, we won't ever be in this home unless we win the lottery even at this very cheap price. So we keep on walking until we forget about the dream house until the next walk.