Is the 'hood quiet?

We have a small 'hood, but it's a nice 'hood.

It's made up of a decent mix of folks, and a pleasant amount of children of varying age ranges. This means my pre-schoolers have friends to hang with, my daughter has kids to be hooliganish with, and I have moms to chat with. We have lots of dogs, too. We have people who have no children, people who have no dogs, and people who have children, but no dogs, or dogs but no children. Don't even get me started on the cat owners.

On a weekend night, the common area out back becomes alive with the sounds of people grilling, making a fire, chatting and general life. Kids are out playing games, running around, doing hooliganish things, people are laughing, dogs are chasing dogs, or lolling about, the grass in the circle, and it's fun, lively and least of all, quiet.

Not to say it's noisy, it's not, not by any means.

But it's not quiet.

It's the sound of people living in the summer. Oh come round here in the fall and winter, and it's as dead as any other place where people hide out when dark hits at 4 and there are school events and shows to go to. But the summer and spring brings out the life in people.

So when I was talking to my neighbor about our new neighbor, she said the new neighbor asked if it was quiet 'round these here parts. When my neighbor explained about the weekend life, the new neighbor said 'Oh, I was hoping it was a really quiet place.'

Well, it's not noisy...