Now that summer's here, many exit
the room to enjoy the great outdoors.
That's been a tad hard to do around
the Passion Pit given theres a legion
of workers with heavy equipment
digging about. Our new (restored)
front stoop is proceeding nicely. The
footings are in, our void is now full,
and the earth tamped down. Nothing
is left of our front lawn but a field of
dreams (dirt). Meanwhile another
crew jack hammers away at three
layers of sidewalk in the breezeway.
Given the dust and din, I've very little
motivation to venture beyond the edge
of our construction site. A homebody,
I prefer puttering inside versus outside
the house. Never a gardener, I do love
a house full of flowers. However I'd
rather pick them from the grocer's case
than pluck them out of a weedy patch.
Now that our interior renovations are
complete, I've had to shift my gears
from in to out. Yet while I consider
landscape architecture important, my
preference is to view it via a window.
Frank is my polar opposite. During the
summer months he spends much of his
day tending the garden. Located outside
of town on the family plot, it's a rather
sylvan spot. Much as I did before, he
now "commutes" on a daily basis to
water, weed, and fuss. Nothing seems
to give him greater pleasure and hence
I'm happy that he's happy. At the end
of each day he returns home exhausted
but in full after glow post his day in the
sun. Given soon we'll dine on the fruit
(veggies) of his labors, I can dig that!
I on the other hand really have no
desire to dig in any dirt beyond the
latest scoop from WWD (Women's
Wear Daily). I've got all I can do
here at home. And while I do enjoy
an occasional ride in the country,
I find the view from our Jaguar
preferable to rolling about in it. If
nothing else I'm living proof that
you can take the boy out of the city
but you can't take the city out of a
despot. Hence I'm perfectly happy
living behind closed doors.
Are you an "innie" or an "outie"?
Does fresh air thrill or threaten the
sheen of your perfectly polished
surfaces? Do you get buggy over
insects flying about or are rather
comfortable swatting at airborne
vermin? Is your idea of camping
a night at a Holiday Inn? If one
evaluates one's interior versus
exterior motives - you'll quickly
figure out which side you fall on.
Neither is right nor wrong. Both
are happy in their natural habitat.
My Mother adored being outside. Thus
she tortured me most of my childhood
with annual summer camping trips deep
in the sylvan White Mountains of New
Hampshire. Out amidst the pines Ethel
would happily sit and breathe it all in.
All while I broke out into hives nearby.
Little gave Mother more joy than her
screened porch. There she would revel
in 90% humidity while I cranked up the
air conditioning inside. For most of my
childhood I was perfectly miserable.
Oh and did I mention my hay fever?
The fact is many of us are ill suited
to external exposure. Try as I might
this "innie" was not meant to spend
more than a lovely evening dining
al fresco in Capri. If I must expose
myself to the elements, it has to be
poolside with enough concrete deck
to offset any/all natural phenomena.
While I have at times been told that
I can be rather camp, my preference
is to stay INSIDE our family cabin.
Apparently that's my natural habitat.
TO EACH HIS OWN! Are you in?!
