Day: June 18, 2009

The back of our garden shares a wall with commercial property. It is the parking lot of a lawn and landscaping service. Occasionally this is annoying, as when large diesel trucks are revving or idling in the early pre-dawn hours. Several years ago some employee stacked some long metal pipes against the wall so that they extended a good five feet above the wall. That was ugly. But then they neglected to remove the pipes and our wisteria plant has been happily winding around them. It creates a beautiful screen so that we see even less of the lot than we could before. This was the point of planting wisteria, to obscure the wall and the lot behind it. For the most part we just ignore the commercial property.

It has come to my attention again recently when I began hearing music in the evenings. It has been happening pretty much every night for weeks. At first I’ll hear only a couple of instruments doing scales and playing fragments of songs. Usually the horns sound off first, followed by tympani. Within an hour or two a full complement of instruments is playing. Sometimes there are voices singing in Spanish. The music continues for hours. It sounds like a Mexican fiesta. I listen to the music and I picture beautiful dark women dancing with brightly colored skirts. Men with white shirts and mustaches play traditional instruments and sing. Children run through the crowd happily. It sounds like a whole Mexican village over there. They are having a celebration. I know that there can’t really be a village in the midst of a paved parking lot, but it makes me happy to picture it while I listen to the cheerful music. When I am slightly less imaginative, I picture the Mexican landscaping employees gathering after a hard day’s work to enjoy good company and live music. The music certainly sounds live. It is ever changing and vibrant in the ways that recordings cannot be.

I know in my head that my imaginings are unlikely. It is probably some night security guard with an exceptionally loud radio. Or perhaps the landscaping company rents out the lot to some performing group. To tell the truth, part of me doesn’t want to know. The mystery of the music is as alluring as the music itself. I certainly prefer this lively music over the Wednesday night automobile auctions we used to hear wafting from the auto place three lots down. The sound of distant music and laughter is pleasing. I can close my eyes and see the picturesque fiesta which I’ve never had the opportunity to attend in person.