Once more

I find myself back in Larchmont, at the old family manse. It is a calm day, the winter sun glinting off the Long Island Sound, except for the inescapable sounds of suburbia: somewhere within earshot a big truck or other piece of equipment is grinding away and beeping as it works on something: pouring concrete, tearing up a street to put in new wires, something. It is the hidden and ongoing cost of maintaining old infrastructure, which is needed to support high population density: unless it is planned for in advance, which they didn't used to. (NB. Went outside to clarify noise. Apparently it is limb-trimming/grinding and custom cabinetry noises as the next door house is being filigreed for some new neighbors. Pretty sure this is at least the second major renovation since I started coming round these parts, but then again that has been a quarter century, so what do you expect?)

Being in the old house is odd. It is half full of familiar furniture, half full of the stuff brought in by the stager to sell the place, which we seem to have done. And let there be no doubt, at this point in time we are lucky to have been able to make a quick exit (knock wood) from the house, albeit at a lower price than we expected/hoped over the years, especially having listed in September. I recently had drinks in NC with a guy who wants to move down but can't sell his house in Milford, CT. He listed at $2.4 million maybe 2 years ago and can't find a buyer at $1.5.

Soon this house will be the source of noise to its neighbors as it is brought into the 21st century.

Kevin's mom's funeral in Yonkers last night was interesting. It was a lovely display of her art and pictures from her life, that was all good, and an interesting group of people. I talked to a few of them, but mostly I was the total outsider, the WASP from central casting, and everybody was talking to the people they knew, which is understandable. The open casket and people coming close and kneeling down and crossing themselves before paying their last respects, that was a new one.