Rules and Regulations
Orange houses? Not allowed. Nor are blue or yellow.
The rules of this subdivision call for hues more mellow.
Tan or brown or gray or beige, trim equally sedate
are the colors they allow and you’ll seal your fate
if you select tricolors or a hue too bright.
Original’s not sanctioned. Artistic’s just not right.
Your entire edifice must sport one desert hue
lest you be delinquent in your neighbor’s view.
The ratio of bright-to-dull? Exceptionally low.
Blending-in is favored. One’s not allowed to glow.
They simply prefer colors more tranquil and more restful.
And so they do not put up with house colors more zestful.
Everybody to their own–monochrome or bawdy.
As for me, the hues I choose tend to be more gaudy.
They do not want the likes of me in Phoenix or Calexico.
If I want such colors, they with ship me off to Mexico.
Writing prompts today are tricolor, edifice, delinquent, entire and ratio, First photo by Eric Brehm on Unsplash. Used with permission.
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And I thought only Germans had rules and regulations…
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Nah.. I think that type is spread throughout the world in different proportions. It is even creeping into Mexico.
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They are too strict!
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This is very creative. Great poem, awesome picture too!
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The colorful one is Guanajuato..the other one a development in Arizona.
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Amazing! thanks for letting me know.
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;o)
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Oh, so well said by someone who must have “been there, done that” (my own copyrighted cliche)…
When my mother, due to age, came to live with us in Houston our cute little bungalow home was just too small for a third adult to live in. So I searched and found a fine larger place where she would be happy living with us in “the city” with her own “mother in law” section.
The home we bought was out in a gated community in the Memorial area of town. It backed up to a bird sanctuary, and Buffalo Bayou, complete with several long walking paths and even a horse trail. We were very fortunate to be able to live in a place with nature and birds all around us in what was otherwise mostly a very large noisy city…. BUT it came with the dumb rules, which come with the territory.
While still a novice I was talked on joining the “community board” as treasurer and I also wrote a monthly news letter. It quickly became obvious to me that the purpose of that “news letter”, in addition to the usual neighborhood gossip, was mostly a method of dunning delinquent residents about paying their “dues” and reminding others who needed to trim bushes, fix things, or paint withing their yard area, the outer part being well kept with dues gathered. The “pillars” of the board making their own little self centered rules. I really did not like this, but to them “rules were rules”. Finally I quit the board, telling the board president that to stay there, and act as a dictator telling others to follow so many dumb rules, I would need to join the Nazi Party…..
No, your nice place there should not bring negative thoughts from your neighbors, unless they lived before in Memorial Glen where my home was. Actually the habanero color you have really appeals to me, fitting into the territory, and this is also the exact color of my little Volkswagen.
Shame on you and your little “addition land project”, it has influenced me to clear an area to about the same size to the South and add to my house spot, so I am in the process of moving the fence, cutting junipers and moving rocks in this heat~! That area is now where Tami gets most of the “beggar’s lice” that I must pick off her each evening before she can visit me in my bed and this may help get rid of some of them.
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Why shame on me??
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The first pic reminds me of Tucson, AZ!
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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My mother lived in Tucson for 30 years and my sister now lives in Phoenix for half of the year. I understand the esthetic of wanting the desert to be what you are seeing but if I lived there, I would miss the colors of Mexico.
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Really enjoyed this, Judy!
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Thanks…..so happy you enjoyed it.
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I can so relate to this piece, Judy. Aliso Viejo is a newer city, built with condos and houses that all look the same as each other — except our complex is more like a Cape Cod apartment complex than like the others, which are mostly stucco with brick roofs. Our rules are so strict that if we place a plant pot by the front walk it has to be the same blue or gray as the walls of our unit! On the one hand, I appreciate that, but on the other I’d rather be able to put a green plant into a red pot and have that be ok too 🙂 !
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I know. You see the reasons but on the other hand, you want to be you.
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Exactly! At least we can decorate to our heart’s content indoors!
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When we lived in a Boston condo they tried that with us. They didn’t know Garry. Or me. in the end, they let everyone do whatever he/she/they wanted and we were all ever so much happier 😀
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While I do tend to go for sedate, earthy colors in my decor, I do enjoy seeing pop-out colorful places. My colors tend to come from flowers in the warm months.
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