The teal chimney

I live in a newish subdivision (first homes built in 1997) in a smallish town in the middle of Texas. The houses are studies in shades of brown, grey, red and white. Even though no two houses are exactly the same, they all bear striking similarities to one another. You have the brick exterior, the sidewalk to the front door, the brick enclosed mailbox, the attached garage on the side of the house and the steeply pitched roofs. No wild colors beyond the flowers planted in the flower beds. The lawns are all reasonably well-maintained.

Unlike my previous neighborhood. There were so many retirees there that all the lawns (with the notable exception of ours) were excruciatingly tidy with nary a weed and never a wayward blade of grass.

Most of the trees in my neighborhood are about the same age and thus about the same size. It is basically a non-threatening study in uniformity. White chimneys dot the roof tops every where we look with one notable exception.

From our back porch, we can see a teal chimney. It belongs to the house back and catty-corner to ours. We have not met these neighbors, but I kind of would like to get to know the people who had the, I don't know, impishness? to paint their chimney teal when everybody else stuck with the oh-so-safe white. I imagine that they are fun-loving people with a quirky sense of humor. Probably great to have around for parties.

On the other hand, they could have just bought the house that way and haven't gotten around to re-painting. It's still fun to sit on our back porch, look at the teal chimney and wonder.

M.W.