I got us out, after a late start, in a break in the rain. The weather app, forever untrustworthy, made me think that we’d have an hour or so before the storms returned in force but by 30 minutes in, it was thundering and snapping lightening and spitting rain so we both speed-walked back home.
Keely, the leader of our expeditions on the weekends, took us straight down sixth avenue instead of veering south on Thomasville Rd. for reasons known only to her. Along the way I snapped this, which is a very dead tree whose bones still stand in front of a long empty house. It is now covered in jasmine vines and looks like a creature out of a fairy tale.
The house it guards has been empty for, I don’t know but possibly 15 years now. There are signs on it stating it has been “winterized” (basically, antifreeze dumped into the pipes and the electricity disconnected) to keep squatters out, and the yard is mowed regularly if nothing else. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone around the place. Such a strange situation for what is, after all, a prime piece of real estate in mid-town.
There are a few houses for sale, I noticed. More than usual? Hard to say. There is always at least one house on the market on 6th Ave. between Thomasville and Centerville, after all. Seeing a house for sale always kicks up my longing to own a house of my very own. I know maintenance is a bitch, and houses are by their very nature money pits, but I grew up believing that “adult = home ownership” and despite the few times I’ve tried to buy, it is still a hurdle I have not cleared and am not sure I ever will. Especially since I refuse to go into debt for either car nor property…which makes me an outlier, I know, but after suffering through credit card debt in my 30s and student loan debt in my 50s, I’m absolutely against debt from a moral, ethical, and practical perspective. It’s ruinous.