a driving tour of north ATL 'burbs...

Before we left the city this morning, we were roaming around the northern edge of Atlanta, actually in what is probably a Marietta zip-code. You know how they all run together, and the names of streets can change without you realizing you've relocated? We did some of that too.

Looking at all those outrageously huge houses, on the teeny little lots that are so out of proportion to the real estate as to be laughable. And laugh we did for several reasons. Among them being the absurdly ostentatious size and style of those houses... just unbelievable. Enormous Spanish-istyle home, with red tile roof, four car garage, that would be so attractive in a different setting - like on the Mediterranean? But in suburban Atlanta? With the huge house and multi-vehicle garage wings fanned out on each side of the home, and the property enclosed by a stucco-wall fence that encompassed an area about ten feet outside the foot print of the building.

And another we agreed was the ugliest house we had ever seen. The part of the house that was facing the street, actually looked like the side/end, with no front door/entry way. So the front would have been overlooking the roof of the neighbors, with only a driveway separating the two. A wide open flat space between the house and the curb, with nothing but grass, not the first shred of landscaping - I guess that the 'pretty-fication' part was not for the average passers-by to view? Or maybe all the decorative plantings were on the inside, kept out of the line of vision of pedestrians and commoners?

We are looking at houses that obviously run into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars - and ugly as sin. Saying to ourselves, as we look at how the 'other half' lives: what were they thinking???  How could anyone afford that sort of lifestyle... and if you actually had the resources to be able to afford it: why would you?

Thinking of how much the mortgage payment would be. How much you would have to make to afford the house payments. How much you would have to work to make that kind of money. How much you would be paying someone to take care of such a huge house. How seldom you would actually be in residence to enjoy the estate you worked so many hours to support.  How expensive it would be to pay someone to come and clean, how crazy a life like that would make a person...