Tell us A Bit About Where You're From

[Tom62]

I --LOVE-- cemeteries!  In fact, when I went to Paris, one of the first things I wanted to do was walk through Père Lachaise Cemetery.

I used to live at Place de la Réunion. Père Lachaise cemetery was just a few blocks away from my apartment.  It is like a city of the death.
Truly fascinating place. What I remember most were handwritten signs like "Jim is not over here, but there".

[Firebird]

Wow, I really need to check out the Brooklyn Museum. My brother lives right by there, but I haven't gone yet. Should fix that next time I'm visiting family

[TheWalkingContradiction]

Don't know if there is a more appropriate thread for this, so...

Since I have shown you where I am from, let me also show you where my cat and I live in Brooklyn.  This small apartment is considered large by New York City standards.  

First two photos: living room

Second photo: junction of the four rooms: living room, bathroom, kitchen and bedroom

Third photo: bedroom

I have lived here since 2002 and did the color coordinating (walls, rugs, carpets...)  Right now I am sitting on the living room couch as I type and will soon use my exercise bike.  Roscoe was on my lap before, but now she is snoozing in her cat bed across from me.

I should add that my parents, sister, aunt, and uncle are living it up in Hawaii for two weeks for my parents' 50th anniversary (a trip I subsidized).  My closest friend is in the Middle East for the summer, and the other friend I hang with is in California for the summer.  I'm teaching here in New York all summer and have not been out of New York in many years.  So, yes, I admit I am looking for attention right now...  

[xSilverPhinx]

Your place looks nice and clean. I could never have a carpet like that with my dog and niece running around.  

Edited to add: And my brother. He's the type that puts his dirty feet on the sofa.

[TheWalkingContradiction]

Your place looks nice and clean. I could never have a carpet like that with my dog and niece running around.  

Edited to add: And my brother. He's the type that puts his dirty feet on the sofa.

Dirty feet on the sofa?  AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!   (Actually, my guests take off their shoes before entering, and we do put our feet on the sofa--but not our shoes.)

Thank you for the kind words.  I am a notorious neat freak, so the word "clean" is the best compliment you can give me.  How much of a neat freak?  Here, for example, is my bedroom closet.  (I have to keep books in boxes in it since the bookshelves in my living room and bedroom aren't big enough.)

[The Black Jester]

Very tightly and efficiently organized.  I think I have closet-envy...

[xSilverPhinx]

The hangers are organised by colour? 

I sort of...just throw my clothes in mine. Mess out of sight, mess out of mind.

[TheWalkingContradiction]

The hangers are organised by colour?  

I sort of...just throw my clothes in mine. Mess out of sight, mess out of mind.

I would love to lie and say that I organize my hangers and clothes by color, but anal as I am even I am not that anal.  Still, when I am hanging up clean clothes, I do tend to put hangers of the same color together naturally out of sheer anal thinking...  

Organizing Roscoe has proven more difficult, as a cat cannot be organized.  And this cat sheds like you would not believe.  It just means I spend more time cleaning, but I always listen to music or podcasts while I do and have been known to sing along.  Roscoe runs and hides when I sing...

Love my Roscoe!  (She's on the same bed as in the previous bedroom picture, but the blanket is out.)

[Sandra Craft]

Organizing Roscoe has proven more difficult, as a cat cannot be organized.  And this cat sheds like you would not believe.  It just means I spend more time cleaning, but I always listen to music or podcasts while I do and have been known to sing along.  Roscoe runs and hides when I sing...

Love my Roscoe!  (She's on the same bed as in the previous bedroom picture, but the blanket is out.)

I swear to Asmo (which is who we swear by around here), Roscoe reminds me of an old Hollywood actress but I can't put my finger on who.  Audrey Hepburn, maybe?  It's definitely something to do with the head tilt.

But on to keeping a place clean and organized around a cat -- I can vacuum the carpet every day and come up with the same amount of cat hair (how does a short-haired cat do that?), put away all her toy mice only to find them all over the floor 5 minutes later.

[The Black Jester]

The weather in Juneau, Alaska is dreadful.  No, not the kind of dreadful of which you're likely thinking, the kind that will pass in a minute, and we'll all get on with our lives.  No, the weather in Juneau is of an altogether more miserable order, the moreso because it's...well, there's no other way to put this...it's permanent.  It's not merely that it's always 42 degrees (Fahrenheit) and drizzling, it's that it's the kind of 42 degrees that seeps into each crevice of your skeletal structure, promising that you will never, ever be warm again.  The best comparison is perhaps with the mood of a sullen teenager.  It doesn't storm in Juneau, nor squall, nor fitfully shower...the weather settles in for a good brood.  Suicides are high, as is teenage pregancy and alcoholism, each of which has been alternately proposed as the local official pasttime.  

Given this fact of my background, it is little wonder that I now live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I could easily expostulate on the virtues of the sunsets, or indeed of the sunrises.  And it is truly, stupifyingly, mind-bendingly, and I'm very nearly certain, illegally beautiful here.  I can do no better than to quote the late Douglas Adams, who once wrote of the place:

If you've never visited or spent time in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then let me say this: you're a complete idiot.

But what I can myself most readily, most joyfully report, is that it is, to my continued and deep satisfaction, dry.  And dry in a way that seeps into every crevice of your skeletal structure, promising that you will never, ever be damp again.

[DeterminedJuliet]

I'm tempted to post a picture of my closet, just for hilarity's sake. Also, with a toddler and two cats running around, my apartment stays clean for approximately .5 seconds after we clean it. 

[Buddy]

Woah, we're posting pictures of our houses now? Better get some pictures of the barn since I practically live there now. 

[Tom62]

Guess why I'm not sending pictures of our house. Our house is one of the most disorganized places in the world. My wife loves to collect stuff (shoes, clothing, scrapbook and photo stuff) for which simply we don't have enough room. Whole house is full of cartons that still need to be unpacked after our move, so i made her an ultimatum. You'll have to unpack and use that stuff within a year, otherwise we'll get rid of it.

[The Black Jester]

Whole house is full of cartons that still need to be unpacked after our move, so i made her an ultimatum. You'll have to unpack and use that stuff within a year, otherwise we'll get rid of it.

A useful rule, but ultimatums have the nasty tendency to backfire...I'm just sayin'...

[Tom62]

Whole house is full of cartons that still need to be unpacked after our move, so i made her an ultimatum. You'll have to unpack and use that stuff within a year, otherwise we'll get rid of it.

A useful rule, but ultimatums have the nasty tendency to backfire...I'm just sayin'...

Looks like that you know my wife