This week Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer is doing a themed version - What Doesn't Work for Me (and others.)
I have to tell you, I have struggled with this. I have complaints about things, but I forget what they are until someone brings it up and then I say -- Oh ya - I forgot about that!
Last night I finally came up with something that does not work for me.
The sound of running, babbling, crashing, or otherwise noisy water. In our previous home we had pool with a little hot tub(ish) area off to the side and water spilled from the hot tub area into the pool. The sound drove me crazy. When I could get away with it, I would turn off the pool pump. My favorite time of day outside by the pool was after dark when the pool pump retired for the evening.
We spent a week in Vieques in a lovely lovely home on the "rough" side of the island. (My In-Laws invited us to stay with them - What a treat!!!) The ocean crashed against the cliffs. Day in and day out. Crash Crash. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I was never so happy to go home.
Last night I spent the night in a hotel room - the faucet dripped. All Night. (Hence the inspiration for this topic!) I finally figured out how to silence it and reported it to the front desk in the morning.
I love a good shower, a nice bath, doing dishes (honest - I love to do dishes) - but the noise of water drives me batty.
Please go to Shannon's blog and read what others have posted and leave me a message so I can come visit you!
Have a great day!
Kristin
Somehow I found your post and feel I need to respond, both on your side and mine.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I moved to Vieques after an exhausted (driving) 32 day search across the US looking for a place to grow old.
Mind you we are not that old, 65 and 50 respectivily. This may be long in the tooth to you but believe me when you get to be our age, you are in the prime of your life. Please remember this. At this age we still have many years to have fun and find new friends.
Our daughter is a producer in L.A. and as such I thought when I told her of her first upcoming visit to Vieques she would find peace and quite along the north coast beach where we live.
Low and behold she woke up on her visit 4 years ago to search for earplugs.
Of all things she found the singing of Coqui Frogs so disturbing, the sound of the waves on the beach and the 4 a.m. crowing of a rooster much more disturbing than L.A. noises.
Reality is one day she will own this place we call paradise. At this point in her life, Vieques is not where she would want to live.
Her life is L.A., Adult Kickball, Marathons and her friends. When one is young you may not understand why we choose to live here but one day with your husband you may come to love Vieques.
Who knows, you may be the next generation of gringos. You and our daughter can talk about who you knew when, when you met them.
Yeppers, I think we need your generation to find a love for Vieques. Although it may seem selfish that us parents move here, and yes it may be, we do think about you kids and grandchildren who will live here when we are gone.
For your childrens sake (or future children), please keep Vieques a option. I have no clue who your in-laws are but I grew up spending 2 months a year with my grandparents in West Virgina in the summers. I lived for those 2 months.
If children are not in your cards right now remember your in-laws love you and their son. If you have to put up with coqui frogs and the ocean, buck up and pretend you enjoy it.
Toodoloo.
Sorry, I did not mean to say you did not enjoy Vieques, I just want ed to say there is pleasure in the sounds we come to enjoy here.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, I certainly didn't mean to sound like I was ungrateful or that I disliked the vacation. I was indeed truly grateful to get away from the sound of the crashing water, but on the other side of the island where the waves lapped at the beach - that was nice. The oh so wonderful restaurants that we visited each night was incredible - Red Beach and Blue Beach, those were nice, too. There was a new little market that opened up just a few weeks before our arrival and we walked down there a few times and bought wonderful food.
ReplyDeleteI found Vieques to be quite lovely and had we been on the quieter side of the Island I may have gotten more sleep.
I'm glad you found my blog & I so appreciate that you left such an interesting comment. I love it. The perspective you gave is just lovely.
Have a great day,
Kristin
My mother is the same way. They have a 30 gallon fish tank that almost never runs because she can't stand the sound of the water moving. It drives her batty. She can't even think straight or talk in full sentences because it distracts her so much. Thank goodness there's only a couple of guppies and an algae eater in there. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny! When I HEAR it, I love it. So relaxing.
ReplyDeleteBut here's the thing. We have a 55 gallon fish tank in our family room and when it gets low on water it bubbles and makes this noise. It drives my husband CRAZY! He came home the other day looked at the bubbling fish tank and said, "How do you stand that noise?"
I started CRACKING up. My daughter had two friends over, so I had three little girls (ages 4, 5 and 7) giggling, screeching, singing . . . and my son was playing video basketball (with accompanying rap music) right next to the kitchen.
I raised my voice so he could hear my response: "If I don't hear all THIS . . . I'm not going to be bothered by a little bubbling noise."
I have a drain in my double sink that likes to drip - really it does - like it I mean - just to drive me completely batty! The sink can be full of dishes or completely empty and the drain will drip. No water has to be turned on either - it just does it. I am someone who loves silence. This drain is trying to kill me :)
ReplyDeleteOr I could just need a plummer...who knows.
This is funny -- great works not for me post. I love white noise. Can hardly sleep at all now without a fan going or something, but, like the commenter talking about not hearing the kids' noises, my white noise blocks out snoring, snurgling, mini-wakings, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also thought this was funny bec. just last night we were talking about the waterfalls that my parents' neighbors are all putting in their yards. Apparently you have to really "tune" a waterfall so that it sounds pretty and not like someone taking a tinkle.
Jane - How funny! Tuning a waterfall...I can completely understand not wanting to have a tinkling sound day and night -- Oh my.
ReplyDeleteWe sleep with out ceiling fan on all the time - I used to turn it off in the winter time but have found I do sleep better with the whirring sound.
This has been a fun conversation!
Kristin
Dang and the two things i had on my list for your for your birthday? A mini fountain, and a big ol' conch shell! Back to the drawing board!
ReplyDelete