Sounds of the City

We live in New Orleans (duh).  It's on the Mississippi River and we are surrounded by all these different sounds and sights and smells.  Calico Jack and I were talking last night while we were making dinner and we heard police sirens blaring a couple of blocks over.  He made the comment that it was comforting to hear those sounds and I agreed.  There is a police station just blocks from our house and this is not an uncommon sound.  Now while I know that police sirens are not necessarily a comforting sound, it goes along with the cacophony of noises that we hear on a daily basis and makes us feel at home.

I don't know if I could move back to suburbia again because I have become too accustomed to the sounds of a big city.  We have the wonderful church bells that chime every hour and play hymns.  We have the sounds of the boats on the water.  We even have the sounds of the street car.  And of course, people playing live music at the bar down the street.  It all comes together to make a beautiful symphony of our small space in the world. 

I think my favorite sound that I hear every day has to be the church bells.  There is a particular hymn that they play sometimes that sounds like a demented version of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider".  I know it probably doesn't sound that way to most people, but I was having a moment a while back and I could have sworn they were playing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider".  Except that they aren't.  They are playing a hymn, but I couldn't tell you what hymn because I have no idea.  I just know it's like Tim Burton's version of that children's tune.  I joke to Calico Jack that they are playing it again every time I hear it.  He just looks at me and rolls his eyes.  :)

When we lived in Dallas, TX, the apartment that we lived in had a big pond right across from our balcony.  It was pretty.  At night time there would be the sounds of the bullfrogs croaking their little froggy croak.  It drove Oliver CRAZY and he would take his little kitty paws and beat on the porch door.  I think he wanted to go eat the frogs, or perhaps he was trying to make them be quiet.  It never worked and he never had the opportunity to go and catch a frog.  Thank goodness because he would have been foaming at the mouth from that experience.

I can't imagine not being able to hear.  Right now, there are workman at the house (still) and they are hammering away and sawing things and doing the work that they do.  I have to confess this is NOT my favorite sound of the city, but they have a job to do and so I try to block it out as best I can.  It's not like they work much past 5 o'clock.  The walls are thin though, so it's hard not to hear every movement they make.

What are some of your favorite sounds about where you live?  Or do you like that things are quiet?  Do tell!

xo