Oct. 16, 2011

There's a part of me that feels bad putting this up, because it highlights a mistake my neighbor made. Then again, it's also exciting to see this rarity of rarities happen, and I wanted to make sure I documented it. It's like coin collectors getting all excited when a coin with a mistake makes it into circulation: they end up being super-rare and super-valuable. Anyway, take a close look at this picture. It's difficult to see because of the glare from the sun, but you'll notice that Halloween is spelled "HALLWOEEN". My first thought was that some kids pulled a prank on my neighbor, but it's been this way for more than a week now, and he's had more than enough time to notice it. Why haven't I said anything? Well, I prefer to document without interfering. In other words, I'm too chicken.

Oct. 6, 2011

I've learned that it's not unusual for my neighbor to pay tribute when influential people pass away (Ted Kennedy, Patrick Swayze). So it's not exactly surprising that he would create a tribute to Steve Jobs. Unfortunately I wasn't home at all during daylight hours today, and its not well-lit, so it's almost possible to see, but right at the front of the yard is where it says "Steve Jobs" (right by the sidewalk).

Aug. 27, 2011

While the main project is finished, I did promise new photos if anything remarkable happened. Well, here we have it. The yard is completely blank. That's mostly noteworthy because up until yesterday it said "Labor Day Coming" as you would expect. Why the teardown? Hurricane Irene. No real sense of how that's going to manifest here, so I understand the cautious approach.

The End...for now

So I'm finished with all the posts, all the summaries, and pretty much everything else I can think to talk about regarding the neighbor's yard. It's fascinating and remarkable how much you can learn about somebody just by watching his lawn decorations (i.e. paying attention to your surroundings). Admittedly, he gives a lot more information than most people do, but it's interesting nonetheless. It's also amazing how quickly taking these pictures became routine. Nevertheless, I'm glad to be done with it. No pressure of trying to be home in daylight, or worrying about traveling out of town.

From here on out, I'll only take pictures and post here when he puts something particularly interesting in the lawn. For anybody who might have read through all of this, thanks for reading!

And now, for the grand finale...a time lapse video of all the pictures from this project.

Summary, Part 2

In addition to just giving the numbers of photos, I thought it would be fun to add a full chronological list of all the holidays and events that were marked during this project...

Easter
Palm Sunday
"Something Big"
Holy Monday
Holy Tuesday
Holy Wednesday
April Fools Day
Holy Thursday
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
Easter Monday
Easter Tuesday
Easter Wednesday
Easter Thursday
Easter Friday
Easter Saturday
"Sunday" (Sunday after Easter)
Dollar Sweepstakes (it's what the "Something Big" turned out to be)
Mothers' Day
Armed Forces Day
Memorial Day
Flag Day
Summer Solstice (beginning of Summer)
Fathers' Day
"Happy Birthday Jimmy" (Jimmy is the neighbor's name.)
4th of July (Independence Day)
Parents Day
Air Force Day
Disability Children's Day
Labor Day
9/11 Anniversary (Patriot Day)
Grandparents' Day
Autumnal Equinox (beginning of Autumn)
Columbus Day
Halloween
"At Norristown Public Library: Holland Job Fair"
All Saints Day
Election Day
Veterans' Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Winter Solstice (beginning of Winter)
New Year's Day
Valentine's Day
Groundhog Day
Presidents' Day
St. Patrick's Day
Vernal Equinox (beginning of Spring)
Easter
Palm Sunday
Earth Day

Plus several references to his parents (presumably deceased).

Number of days this year when there were no decorations on the lawn (at least when I took the picture): 1

Summary, Part 1

So as I reach the end of this project, I thought I'd share with you how I did. My goal was to take a picture from the same place every day for a year. There were, of course, lots of days that I missed for one reason or another. I'm a little disappointed at how many days I missed, but thankfully very few of them occurred at times when there was something to document. You might also notice that the number of photos often exceeds the number of days in a month. That's because some days I'll take two photos, especially when the display changes after I've taken the first one. Here are the numbers:

Total number of photos:
Dates of project: 3/28/10 - 4/24/11

Photos by month:

March 2010
10 photos, 1 video
missed days: 0

April 2010
28 photos
missed days: 5

May 2010
25 photos
missed days: 6

June 2010
23 photos
missed days: 7

July 2010
30 photos
missed days: 1

August 2010
31 photos
missed days: 0

September 2010
33 photos
missed days: 0

October 2010
30 photos
missed days: 2

November 2010
25 photos
missed days: 5

December 2010
26 photos, 2 videos
missed days: 7

January 2011
28 photos
missed days: 5

February 2011
28 photos
missed days: 3

March 2011
32 photos
missed days: 0

April 2011
26 photos, 1 video
missed days: 0

April 24, 2011

It's Easter! I watched the neighbor change over the decorations last night, and took this picture around 8:30 this morning. It's when the light is best. (I only know that because I've spent the past year taking the same picture every day.) It's interesting that he's included both "Happy Easter" and "Happy Easter Sunday". I feel like it's a nod to both the secular and sacred celebrations of Easter. It's a beautiful day; great for marking the end of this project.

April 23, 2011

It's Holy Saturday, which the neighbor is also calling "Easter Eve". The Earth Day signs are gone, of course, leaving us with only Easter decorations. It's also the second to last day of this project. To celebrate, I've added a short video to really give you the best experience of the Easter light show that I can.

April 22, 2011

Today is Good Friday. My question: will he turn on the light show tonight like he has all week or will it go symbolically dark tonight and tomorrow night? It's also Earth Day, although the festivities are confined to the far left of the yard.

April 21, 2011

It's Holy (Maundy) Thursday and the countdown continues. Three days before Easter and the end of this project. Everything else remains unchanged.

April 20, 2011

Holy Wednesday is exactly the same as Holy Tuesday but with different text. The part of the yard devoted to Earth Day anticipation is unchanged.

April 19, 2011

You guessed it: Holy Tuesday. But look more closely! All the way on the left, right in front, and pretty much illegible in the photo the following words have appeared: "Earth Day Coming". Earth Day gets a tiny display compared to Easter, but it isn't forgotten. I had to look it up. I confess I was worried that my project would end before Earth Day happened. I need more resolution than that. Thankfully, Earth Day is this Friday. All is right with the world again.

April 18, 2011

Like I said, the display changes daily during Holy Week. It's Holy Monday, which replaces the Palm Sunday sign on the left.

April 17, 2011

It's Palm Sunday today and that means it's also the beginning of Holy Week, which is one of the biggest times for the neighbor's decorations because it's literally a different holiday every day. The display will likely remain mostly the same until after Easter, but the text in the right-hand side of the yard will change daily. I also expect the nighttime light display to be on in full force this week, so I'll try and get a video of that.

6 days left of remembering to take a picture.

April 2-16, 2011

Easter is definitely coming soon. The energy he puts into the Easter display is staggering. You'll have to download the picture and look carefully to catch all of its subtleties, but it really does compete with the Christmas display, which is saying something. Easter essentially dominates the entire yard, although a small portion is reserved to let us know that Palm Sunday is coming.

March 21-April 1, 2011

As you can see from this photo, Easter is one of the biggest holidays of the year for the neighbor. The incredibly elaborate display with all the eggs has been going up for the past week, and if follows this basic pattern: Easter (plus countdown) in the middle, minor Easter-related Christian holidays (Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, etc.) on the right, and "other holidays" on the left.

This picture captures all three. On the far left, barely legible, are the words "April Fools Coming". Easter is dominant in the center; and Palm Sunday, with its angels and flowers, has its own place on the right.

As for the complexity of the Easter display...it will only continue to grow through the month of April. The giant bunny train will soon be making an appearance.

March 18-20, 2011

Ok now we're in the home stretch. This project is intended to last one year, and I'm just over a month away. (I'm going through to Easter, rather than just by calendar...can't miss the Easter buildup.) It's true. The month before Easter is a lot of changes. There are a lot of minor Christian holidays that fall during this time, so there's something new all the time. In anticipation of this, I'm posting this picture of the most basic setup that will be the foundation for all.

The setup includes lots of eggs. Many of them disguised as flowers. There are easter bunnies too. Off to the right we're still anticipating the arrival of spring (barely, since it starts tomorrow).

March 4-17, 2011

Kind of a surprise here. It's very unusual for the neighbor to change up the decorations before a holiday even arrives. I think the "Happy St. Patrick's Day" Banner was kind of disintegrating so he took it down and replaced it with the phrase "Erin Go Bragh" which is a kind of Anglicized version of the Irish phrase "Éirinn go Brách" (Ireland Forever). The countdown continues, though.

Possibly noteworthy: no mention of Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.

PS - I chose this particular picture because of the Christmas tree out with the trash. This is not the only Christmas tree I've seen being thrown out in late Feb. or March. I guess people in this area just keep their trees for a long time.

Of course, once St. Patrick's Day arrived, the yard changed slightly:

Feb. 22-March 3, 2011

Immediately after Presidents Day he started gearing up for St. Patrick's Day. The shamrocks are out, of course. In addition, there's a printed banner reading "Happy St. Patrick's Day". There are also two miniature buildings over by the front walk. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the green one is labeled "O'Jimmy's Pub" and the red one is "O'Holland Hotel". There's also a countdown that started on Feb. 28.

Feb. 15-21, 2011

From Feb. 15-20 the lawn read "Presidents Day Coming" which logically progresses to "Presidents Day" on Feb. 21. The Christmas wreaths have finally come down, and we're still awaiting spring on the far left side of the lawn.

Feb. 14, 2011

Valentine's Day, complete with red lights. Note the Christmas wreaths still present on the second floor windows.

Feb. 3-13, 2011

After Groundhog Day we're back to focusing on Valentine's Day...except for a couple days. Between Feb. 8-11 there was an additional decoration: a long line of American flags across the front and the word "Father" right behind him. This could commemorate any number of things having to do with his father: a birthday, anniversary of death...anything, but it's one of those ones that makes you feel a little awkward when you see it. It's like you're getting just a little more information than you were looking for, but at the same time I admire him for putting himself out there like that.

Feb. 2, 2011

It's Groundhog Day and the neighbor has actually done something pretty creative this year. (It's possible I just missed it last year.) Of course, the far right section of the lawn is proclaiming that it's Groundhog Day, but if you look on the far right you can see some new decorations. They're illegible in the picture, so you'll just have to trust me that they say "Spring Coming". Get it? The groundhog didn't see his shadow so spring is slated to arrive early this year. Either that or he's just really optimistic, but I think the timing is more than coincidence.

Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2011

Valentine's Day is still coming, but there's a couple changes. The Christmas decorations are slowly coming down. The "tree" on the far left is gone, but if you look very closely you'll see that the second story windows are still displaying Christmas wreaths. We're also anticipating Groundhog day. More on that soon.

Jan. 20-28, 2011

Finally, all is right with the world. The neighbor is back, and he's hard at work with the decorations again. We're anticipating Valentine's Day now. The "Christmas Tree" is still up on the far left of the yard. Not sure why. This particular picture is unique because it actually depicts the neighbor at work; currently snow-blowing the lawn. The purpose of this is unknown, as he did not add any decorations in that part of the lawn for several days.

Jan. 1-19, 2011

It looks like the neighbor came back just in time for the New Year, but his return was short-lived. After changing the signs to read "Happy New Year" he disappeared again. No lights at night, and no changes for most of January. It was kind of odd as it got later into January to see not only New Years, but Christmas decorations still up.