We
live in an older neighborhood in town in Shawnee. The house was built in the
1920’s by a gentleman who wasn’t able to finish it. It was
purchased from him by the then city manager of Shawnee who finished its construction. One of his pet projects during his time in office
was the installation of a trolley system. The main elite residential
thoroughfare at the time was heading North from Main St. on Broadway.
The trolley system was installed along Broadway and since the City
Manager’s new house was only a block off Broadway towards the end of the
proposed route, he persuaded the city to continue the route past his
home so he could ride it to work every day. The current day result,
since the days of the trolley car are long gone, is a wider than usual
road through a residential area. It’s commonly used as a cut through to
one of the heavier traffic arteries through town and is typically
driven above the posted speed limit. When we purchased the house
the lot had minimal landscaping. Lots of pristine lawn with a couple of
strategically placed shrubs. Being a family that loves the beauty of
nature, we changed that. We put in wire fencing and a lavish garden that
not only provided a buffer from the high speed traffic, it offered some
minor seclusion in town life and beauty to the home. The beauty of the
garden also had a pleasant side effect, the traffic slowed considerably
due to people slowing to gaze at the multitude of plants and flowers as
they drove by. The neighbors are no longer seeking to petition for a
stop sign or speed bumps to be installed and the instances of people
running the stop signs that are there have slowed due to the decreased
sight lines. We have become a culture that spends most of our time shut
into our homes watching TV and tend to forget how much our homes can
affect the area and lives around us. It's remarkable what a few well
placed flowers can do to remind you of that fact.  |
| Gabriel enjoying the spring flowers |
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| Angel watching over the corner |
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