Look Through Any Window

This whole apartment building is shaped like an asterisk * except with a large central area (lobby, dining rooms, common areas) in between the southern three wings and the northern three wings. We live in the southern part of the asterisk, and ours is the middle wing of that triad. In the triangular areas between the wings, they have very nicely landscaped grounds with grass, trees and walkways for the apartments to look down on. Our apartment has a lovely view of one of these that has a little concrete patio with seating. The ground floor of our building houses the apartments designated as assisted living units, and some of the residents of those units like to sit out in these areas at various times of the day. They’re quiet, sheltered from the wind, shaded by trees, out in the fresh air, and quite lovely.

Saturday morning, I was pottering in the kitchen, glanced down out of the window and saw there were piles of cedar lumber on the grass, and several guys setting up equipment. There were power drill noises and nail-gun noises off and on in a rather low-key way all day — nothing obnoxious, just random sounds of construction activity. By the end of the day they had attached post-brackets to the concrete patio area, set up a ring of posts, and set a row of lintels atop them. As the sun set and the security lights came on, we were left with the titillating question: Pergola or gazebo? It could go either way.

Sunday, there was only one guy working by himself. (Evidently, it’s a weekend project because nobody came to work on it today.) But by Sunday evening, the indications were clear. Pergola.

What a perfect place for a blooming vine. (Why doesn’t “wisteria” have a “y”? -“wysteria” just looks so much more correct than “wisteria.”) (Don’t think it’s sunny enough there for a bougainvillea. Pity.) (Jasmine? Clematis?) Don’t think they’ll plant anything to trellis on it, though. They have enough of a slip hazard with dropped leaves from the trees, without more dropped leaves and flower petals from a vine. However, some of the residents on the ground floor (assisted living) have bird feeders strategically placed outside their windows. From time to time, I catch a flash of brilliant blue from a jay — a pleasant diversion from the ubiquitous dove buff and oily grackle black.

Speaking of windows, we’re not supposed to put anything in our windows that will detract from the appearance of the building from the outside. I put up some sun catchers. I’m the only one on my “wedge” with suncatchers in the windows, but the maintenance guy who hung my big pictures said he’s seen other people with sun catchers in their windows. Of course, if I’m told to take them down, I will. But, in the meantime, I’ll enjoy the light shining through colored glass. I’ll leave you with this thought from my River of Stones blog:

“Stained glass is a song of color written for a choir of light.” ~ WOL

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