The Street - A Composite Sketch (7)

Not a very long street, just off a major arterial, it is shaped like a question mark. At the conclusion of the bulge it meanders into another street. One half of the street backs onto a heavily wooded ravine, a neighbourhood treasure, though few of the street's residents quite recognize its value, nor make use of its propinquity. It cleanses the air everyone breathes, it hosts birds and wildlife and presents a treasury of wildflowers throughout the seasons. At one time the street, part of a larger suburban community, shared a small-town address. It has long since been subsumed into the greater national capital of the country, through a wide-ranging amalgamation of communities and even farms. The street and the houses on it were built two and a half decades ago. The domiciles are comprised mostly of single-family, detached dwellings, with a handful of semis verging on the main thoroughfare. Many of the residents are the original home purchasers. They would comprise roughly 50% of the residents of the street. The semis appear to have changed hands far more often than the detached homes. And those homes that have been re-sold have often enjoyed a succession of owners. The original home owners who moved into their houses when their children were small have mostly bid farewell to now-grown children. The street represents an amalgam of family types, and there is a significant percentage at this time, of retired people, singly and in couples who, though their houses are meant for family occupation, still opt to remain in their too-large, but comfortable and familiar and valued homes. It is a very quiet street, with little traffic other than those who live there. The house fronts are diverse, and attractive. Most residents take care of their homes, seeing them as their primary investments. Furnaces have been replaced, and air conditioners, and also windows. Kitchens and bathrooms have been remodelled, and people have added decks and occasionally airy 'summer houses' to the backs of their homes. One-third of the homes boast swimming pools, in-ground and above-ground. Most people take pride in their properties, and feel they must achieve lawns that are weedless and smoothly green. Some painstakingly remove weeds by hand in the spring, others hire lawn-care companies to spread chemicals on their lawns. Invariably, the people who look after their own gardens and lawns have superior gardens and lawns. Each house has a large tree planted in front; maples, ash,crabapples, spruce or pine, fully mature. This is a community that is truly mixed, representing people from around the world, come to Canada as immigrants, settled and making the most of opportunities open to all its citizens in a free and open society noted for its pluralism and dedication to fair representation. There are the extroverts and the introverts, those who prefer not to mingle, others who do. They are herewith loosely sketched:

This is the seventh part of the anatomy of The Street.

Crossing the street again, another first-ownership family. A quiet, conservative, but extremely personably-friendly family originally from Hong Kong. And like so many Chinese from the island their given names oddly British. They're Canadian to the core, however, an integral part of the country's mixed-heritage pluralism. Two children in the family, both girls. Their parents conscientious, hard-working people, house-proud and content with their lives. Both parents employed by the federal government, he as a scientist, she as a bookkeeper.

Highly intelligent, cosmopolitan, they've raised their girls to reflect their values, work ethic, and consuming interest in bettering themselves. Highly educated, but not the least bit intellectual; a bit of a conundrum there, but perhaps not. They're more motivated by materialism. They like to travel, and occasionally do, as a family. Or did, before the girls became fully mature and independent. Now the parents travel to visit with their girls, one living in Florida as a public affairs type, the other travelling the world on vacation passenger liners, part of the 'entertainment' crew.

When the girls were young and attending area schools, elementary and secondary, they walked to and from school, later taking area buses. Their parents still use the public transit system to arrive at their government offices, leaving their vehicle in the garage. When other neighbourhood children went out for Hallowe'en, the girls never joined them. They did not, in fact, make friends with other girls close to their age in the immediate neighbourhood. The older the girls became, the prettier they were; polite and well spoken. A pleasure to greet them and speak with them.

Both parents are short of stature, attractive people. Careful about their weight, as behooves responsible middle-aged people. They aren't interested in any leisure activities. They're either at work, or at home, quietly doing things in their large and open interior, closed to the outside world. They're not readers, watch a fair amount of television. Don't appear to go out much, either to dine or to attend theatres or cultural events of any kind. Their daughters were more more involved in their quiet way. One imagined them engaged in extracurricular events, but perhaps not.

In public the family is outgoing and eager to express interest on the affairs of their neighbours, and the neighbourhood. They will stand about for lengthy periods of time good-naturedly sharing stories, opinions, generally consolidating their status in the neighbourhood. They do miss the more immediate presence of their daughters. Happy, however, to embark on winter vacations to visit them, one in Florida, the other wherever she happens to settle down temporarily between seasons. They're content because their girls are satisfied with their lives.

Neither girl yet attached, both still single, and comfortable that way. Their mother too has a strong personality, independent, yet half of a domestic duo. Both parents hold strong opinions that they don't at all mind sharing with anyone who asks. And they've taken advantage of the current downturn in the U.S. housing market to avail themselves of a purchase of a condominium unit in Miami, at a really amazing price. It's rented out, but any time they decide they'd like to retain it for their own use, it could be arranged. They're proud to be property owners.

Although they live directly opposite the ravine, just a tad down from the entry point, neither has ever ventured into its cool green interior. It's just not their ambiance. He has, however, taken lately to gardening. He built a low 'stone' retaining wall in an oval pattern on the front lawn, and planted some perennials, put in some spring bulbs; both immensely pleased with the result. They had a mature Sunburst Honeylocust on the front lawn, but hired an arborist two years ago to cut it down. Affording them more sun for the little garden in front.

They're meticulous people, mindful of the state of their home, their property. They're Christian, though not overtly so. It's a private matter. During the Christmas season they're one of a handful of families who don't bother putting up colourful lights or other decorations to mark the season. They're discreet about such things. One doesn't imagine a cross word passing their lips, nor recrimination spoken one against the other. Nothing very exciting about them. But nice people to have as neighbours.