I have not yet ventured into the land of owning a digital SLR camera, so my photos will not do this scene justice, as I simply can't capture the magic that comes with the lighting of the trees.  We wait around all year here in Fairhope, for the lighting of the trees which takes place every year on the Thursday before Thanksgiving.  The trees of the town will stay lit until Easter when they once again become trees, and trees alone.  But from the Thursday before Thanksgiving until Easter, the trees are pure magic.  We love them.  Sadly, the old trees were replaced this year with new trees, and they are smaller than the mature Bradford Pears that were removed.  But give them a year, and then another, and another and eventually they will be towering masses of light once more.

We come from all corners of town, strolling in just after dark, when the central streets are blocked off and it's safe to walk all around, waiting for the moment.  Kids, grown-ups and four legged friends, all wandering, visiting, and waiting.

The Sugar Plum Fairies waiting, too.

A lovely lilac tree in a window

Before the lights

Same view after the lights come on - Fairhope Avenue

And now, its a magical wonderland until Easter.  We do love our traditions.

     This beautiful contemporary home is located in the heart of the Historic Village of Montrose, just a short stroll to Mobile Bay, on a private lane.  With over 2700 square feet of living space, its roomy tri-level construction will afford you many options for the space, and downstairs you can choose:  two bedrooms and a bath, a bedroom, bath and office, or a complete redesign to fit your own perfect specifications.  The main living area is comprised of the living room, formal dining room and kitchen, with access to the back covered porch.  Upstairs is the master suite with a private balcony overlooking the lush and private back yard, as well as two more bedrooms and a third bathroom.  This home is a rare find. 

   I may be small at 538 square feet, but I have plenty of space all dressed up like a little Italian Villa.  I have Faux painted walls that look like stone, I have a Trompe L'Oeill window painted in my galley kitchen, I have mahogany counter tops and I have the most luscious fabrics around gracing my windows and even my bathroom ceiling.  You can watch the world go by from my balcony that feels just like a little luxury treehouse, and at night the I-10 Bayway Bridge is all a twinkle with travelers.  I am so special and I need to be lived in again. 

   See.  Ida was a true annoyance.  I knew she would be and I am thankful that she was an annoyance and not a full fledged November hurricane.   She was a little blustery, a lot of rain and quick to leave an visit someone else.  Today?  Beautiful outside.  See for yourselves.  I was really hoping some of her blusteriness would help me with my yard work and blow some, well a lot really, of the dying leaves away.  But no.  She couldn't even do that.

View from my front door.  Yes this really is today, November 11.  See all that green?  Tis like I said on Pat's beautiful photograph of the red tree:   we rely on you guys up north to share fall colors with us.  We generally go from green to brown here on the gulf coast of Alabama.

Limbs I trimmed from my unruly Azaleas on Sunday, but didn't have the time to pick up.  And leaves to blow into a pile and pick up.  But these limbs and leaves were there when she blew through and they are still there now.  Hmpf.  Thanks for the assist, Ida.

     All in all we are grateful.   But I personally would have been much more grateful if she had actually cleared my yard  and driveway of leaves for me.

     We experience these hurricanes regularly, but this one is just annoying.  Why now?  Grrrrr.  I digress.

    Once a Hurricane enters the gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, it is anybody's guess where it will make landfall.  We find ourselves checking all sorts of weather pages on the Internet, waiting for updates from the weather channel, or interruptions to regular programming from our local stations.  Anything.  Any information that we can use, we are after.

     I found a site several years ago that is the best at collecting all the information that is available and then some.  The gentleman who runs the page is from New England, and he posts a discussion on tropical developments, all summer long.  He makes sense.  He is accurate.  And he posts some of the most beautiful maps I have ever seen.  I am such a color junkie, that I like to go over and look at the maps and - ooh la la - I just enjoy looking.,  They don't make a lick of sense, but they are beautiful.

     If you are here with me along the Gulf Coast, and you want some in depth information, do yourself a favor and bookmark that page.  You'll really appreciate the quick access to weather news you can use.  And if you aren't here with me, you might want to check out  of the webcams he has posted - just to get a peek at what might be happening in the path of a storm.  Cool stuff.  Useful stuff.  Especially now, when we are biting our nails - again.

     Just  when we think its over (hurricane season) a rebel forms in the lower Caribbean sea.  A rebel named Ida.  Looks like we all are going to be batting down the hatches on the northern gulf coast.  Some of the models are predicting a landfall near the southern tip of Baldwin County, my county, and so we prepare.  At least if the power goes out (right - if), when the power goes out, it won't be sweltering outside and we will survive without the need to deal with the excessive heat while we clean up afterwards.

   Joy.  Personally, its the perfect end to a frustrating year.  2010 can't get here soon enough for me.  Ya'll keep us in your warm thoughts.  And I'll keep you all posted.

     I am working with my sellers and Bank of America to attempt a short sale for my clients.  I though today that I have been patient, professional, persistent and kind enough, so the kid gloves are coming off and I am documenting our transaction here.

     After the loss of our paperwork, the second submission was finally received and a file opened on October 29.  For those of you who have been waiting for months, this will seem like child's play, but initially and after the conversation I had today with a clerk in the short sale division, I am beginning to see what some of the problems are.  I expect more.

    Today, I was told that the file is open as of October 29.  I said great.  Then have the BPO's been ordered?  Do we have a Negotiator assigned?  The response is truly laughable.

     She said, I'm sorry, but no.  It takes three weeks to assign a Negotiator.  My mouth fell open.  What?  Could you repeat that?  She said again, it takes three weeks after the file is open to assign a Negotiator.  Now I ask you, would it take you three weeks to pick up a file, walk across a room, or even a parking lot, tap someone on the shoulder and say, "Here's your file." ?  Three weeks?  I had to tell her, sorry but I think that is one of the most absurd things I've ever heard.  So now, I'm told, I can't call them until November 20th.  November 20th.  Let me repeat this:  NOVEMBER 20TH.  What's today?  November 6th.

  Bank of American, you had better get yourselves straightened out.  And soon.

     These are the kinds of news stories that truly make me ill.   The article that appears online today says that two Gulf Coast families have lost nearly a combined total of a million dollars.  They are victims of a lottery scam and at least one of the scammers has been arrested.  But, he is a member of a larger ring of scam operators connected at least so far to Jamaica.  And these stories are not at all uncommon. 

   We've joked about the emails we receive from here on occasion, and by now I think every single one of us knows that those lottery emails are either phishing or outright fraud.  Most of them are generated from Nigeria.  And since they continue to come, they must, at least in part, be working. 

    So I have to ask, how on earth do they continue to work.  Are we as a nation so desperate for money that we will fall (still, and after having heard of these scams for years) for the you've won a bazillion, gazillion dollars and all you have to do is send the following information to me.  Then you have to pay wire transfer fees, and taxes and it continues until the "mark" is totally broken.  Bankrupt.  Life savings gone.

    I still fret about this one.  About a month ago, I needed something at the customer service desk at one of my local supermarkets.  As it happens, there was a nice lady at the counter just ahead of me who was sending money via wire transfer  - Western Union.  I could hear the conversation between the clerk and the customer, and the clerk was trying to locate the name of the recipient in her computer, as this was not the first time funds were being wired to this individual from this lady.  It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, and I clearly heard the name, and my attention was then focused on this transaction.  I knew it was bad manners to listen in, but the whole time I listened, I knew this was probably someone being taken by a scam.  The name was oddly foreign.  First red flag.  The country was Nigeria.  Second, third, fourth and fifth red flags.  The amount being wired was ten thousand dollars.  That's right.  10k.  Ten Thousand.  $10,000.00. 

     Now I know looks can be deceiving, but this lovely lady did not look or act like or dress or speak like someone who should be shelling out 10K to anyone in Nigeria.  And with all the red flags going off, I kept getting stronger feelings that this particular lady was most likely being taken advantage of. 

     But, manners dictated that I should not interfere.  It was not my business to butt in and ask her anything about what she was doing.  So, I remained quiet.  The funds were sent.  And then it was my turn.  I couldn't help but ask the clerk, if she knew why the lady was sending money like that to Nigeria.   And the clerk's response was, "I don't know, but she does it a lot.  I don't ask her why she's sending it.  I just send it for her."

    I left it alone, and I didn't butt in.  And I will never forget that afternoon.  Could I, should I have said something to try and save this lady?  I didn't.  Dis she need saving?  I don't know, nor will I ever know, unless in subsequent news stories she and her face appear talking about the hundreds of thousand of dollars she was bilked out of.  If she does, I will always wonder if I could have helped.

     These stories make me sick.  It could have easily been my mother, as in the early stages of her Alzheimer's disease, she sent money all over the place.  She was so confused that when she received solicitations for donations, she thought they were bills she needed to pay.  Gosh there were lots of donations sent out by her in that first year that she was still living on her own and before we stepped in to take over some of her life tasks.

     She did not have a computer.  And I thank our lucky stars for that.  But I am grieved for those who don't understand that these emails are fraudulent and who spend their nest eggs in hope of a fortune.  It happened here.   It happens everywhere.  And it really makes me sick.

It never stops coming, these stories, true, true, true, that come from trying to deal with this new mega bank and its incredible sweetheart deal.  But here, that's not the story.  This story is how this one couple has been shafted.  They are not alone. 

Do read this all the way through.  I am turning the comments off.  Please visit the original blog to comment.

   I've been pondering this since a week ago when I first read Bob's challenge.  Especially pointed is this:

 "I have a hunch that not as many people are going to be able to participate because I get the sense that not as many people are doing this." - Bob Steward in this blog.

   And that really got me thinking.  He goes on to say that if we aren't, we should be.  And I agree.  So how have I done it?

   I've only been most active since last April or May.  And subconsciously, I have been using my blog to enhance existing relationships and future relationships.  I have done this is a couple of ways. 

  First, in posts like this one, Agency in your Real Estate Transaction, I try to answer some of the most common questions I get in my day to day, week to week, customer clients relationships.    Or this one about the Fairhope Single Tax Colony.  It is unique enough to require more than one explanation, over several discussions.  A blog post that I can email is a great way to enhance that conversation.  And it does come up, when purchasing or selling property in Fairhope, Alabama.

     Secondly, I try to include posts to Localism of local interest.  These are especially favored by our newcomers.  We cherish them, truly, and want them to become involved in the community, experience everything they choose, and enjoy living here as much as we do. I may highlight a community, an event, or a place, but whatever it is, for a newcomer, it certainly helps to highlight our little corner of the world.

    Finally, I do post blogs about Seller properties and their open houses.  I try to make my listing blogs stand out from the norm, like this one here.  So many Sellers actually appreciate their home telling a story from my perspective.

   Turns out, I am using my blog to enhance my current and future relationships.  I just didn't know it until this opportunity to go back and reflect camer up.