This is the view from the front steps of my house. People wave and say "hello" as they walk by, in couples, with dogs. Sometimes they'll stop and chat for a second, ask your name, introduce themselves, point out which house is theirs, mention they knew and were fond of the previous residents of the house.
Our neighbors to the right always have random objects laying about in their yard. They seem to be constantly starting landscape projects, which are never finished and wouldn't look good if they were. The lady of the house parks her black Cadillac in the front yard. The man of the house parks his white GMC work truck and his camouflaged Chevy Suburban on the street. There's a covered car, an old Corvette judging by the shape, parked in the grass on the side of the house. None of their vehicles are ever parked on the driveway. They keep two very large dogs locked in a makeshift corral built in the backyard. It smells of dog shit. I've never seen them taken out.
Our neighbor to the left just moved in, she is young, blonde, in her early 20's, has a small dog, and drives a red Audi. She smokes cigarettes while standing in her screened in front porch. I have never seen her face but Heather says she is cute.
On weekends young boys and girls sporadically run through the backyard. They play made up games with rules beyond adult comprehension, battling imaginary cyborgs and the like. Their friendships with each other begin and end countless times every hour, accusations of "cheating" and cries of "I hate you" being shortly followed with the game resuming, the quarrel forgotten.
Our street, our house, is only a couple of blocks north of the Fountain of Youth, or at least what Ponce De Leon believed was the Fountain of Youth, and is now a national archaeological park. Open daily from 9AM to 5PM (closed Christmas Day), the Fountain is actually a natural spring coming up from the Anastasia aquifer, which also supplies us with out tap water. This is my favourite feature of the house. Every morning I wake up, shower, brush my teeth, make coffee with water coming from an aquifer, which supplies a spring, that 500 years ago a Spaniard believed gave those who drank from it eternal youth.
I've gotten in the habit of taking short walks around the block, mostly when my stomach feels upset. At night you can hear an owl somewhere up in the trees. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of front doors in the neighborhood were left unlocked. We've signed a year lease, but if the owner would sell the house to us, if we had the money she was asking for, we would buy it.