#MicroblogMondays: The playground

Playground structure & gazebo, as visible from our condo windows.
(Zoom lens used for photo -- it's not quite this close to us!) 

Our condo building is home to a few young families -- but it's mostly split between young people (singles & couples)(some renting, some owning -- probably their first home) and older retired folks who (like us) have downsized. (I must add that we're among the younger retirees, though! ;)  )

Despite the rather ridiculous price tags involved (!), the new townhouses built behind our building seem to have attracted some young families:  we see kids of various ages headed off to school in the morning (toting backpacks), and then coming home again later in the afternoon.

People have been living in the townhouses since about last summer, but there's still (!) landscaping and other finishing work going on, albeit not as much since the colder weather set in. There was a small flurry of activity shortly before Christmas that resulted in a small playground structure/area near the edge of the property (because what better time to build a playground than in the dead of winter, right??), followed shortly after Christmas by a gazebo (presumably a shady spot where parents can sit and monitor their offspring?). 

The weather hasn't been great, and so the playground hasn't been used very much so far. And to be honest, I really didn't give it that much thought.  But it's gradually starting to get a little milder and sunnier outside -- and the other day, we spotted a couple of obviously delighted small children climbing all over the equipment as an adult stood by supervising.

It was kind of a bittersweet moment. A reminder of the big back yard at our old house, which I thought would be great for the kids we were going to have (and their friends), and the swing set we would install for them (just like -- or even bigger and better than -- the one my dad got for my sister & me when we were pre-schoolers).  The kids who never materialized.  The big backyard that sat mostly empty & silent for the 26 years we lived there.

The playground is within clear sight of our condo unit, but not close enough to make out faces, etc.  Not too close... but maybe not far away enough either?

(Of course, maybe Great-Nephew would like to come over for a play date someday...??)

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.