BEFORE            AFTER

I have always been in love with Mother
Nature. I could never understand someone saying they are bored when all
they have to do is go outside and see the flowers, fauna, sky, clouds,
trees, birds, insects, animals, lightening storms or just look through
their windows at storms raging, the bright sun or full moon lighting the
world  or casting shadows.

About 2 weeks ago
I did a blog showing all
the beauty local residents have added to The Gateway Terrace apartments
such as Mary Lou's garden above and which she decorates every holiday.
All this is being threatened to be taken away.

No longer will we be able to walk around and
be surprised by the beauty of flowers such as those above or below.

I love potted plants and always have a
dozen or so, mainly on my window sill facing the east. Ironically, with
the way my building and apartment are set, up you would really have to
go out of your way and stretch your neck to see my plants.

I am a cook who likes to use fresh herbs and
spices when I make homemade meals and, consequently, grow them on my
kitchen sill. I have lived here 11 years and I have never seen and/or
heard of a flower pot or, for that matter, any other item a resident has
put outside their apartment, going through a window and, remember, we
lived through Wilma to mention one hurricane, because, though we may be
old we are not senile, not living in a nursing home, we do know to take
anything that can 'fly' during a storm has to be brought in before the
storm arrives.

Yes we live in HUD subsidized housing but
these 'rules' have never been in our lease before. Are they HUD rules
that just haven't been reinforced before? That doesn't sound right
knowing how strict HUD is with rules that are in place.  Are they new
rules being enforced by the Westminster corporation that owns the
property? Again that doesn't sound right as they made us sign papers
when Gateway was being made a smoke free a year before it was to take
place.

Or are the rules of the new administrator
trying to show who is boss? His previous job was as the head of a
nursing home. Does he think we don't have our faculties and need to be
watched over? Or is he reasonable, willing to listen to his clients (us)
who drive, shop, cook, volunteer, help him in his job to run Gateway
smoothly?

Is the
fact that we are old, and, yes, poor, mean we can't have beauty in our
life? Does it mean that we can't pursue hobbies of planting and tending
gardens, making the outside of our apartments to look better, more
individual yet be safe?

Can old, poor people fight 'city hall' and
who is city hall? HUD? Westminster? The new administrator?

TO BE CONTINUED---HOPEFULLY!!