Back Deck

I truly love the deck at the back of my condo! It is nothing fancy or special—just the usual wooden structure affixed to the rear wall of a vintage city condo that connects with the six flat building’s back stairs. And since I am on the top floor, mine lacks a “ceiling” that the others have. It is on the west side, so there is blistering sunlight from about noon on. I make do with a very cute, very French looking blue and white striped patio umbrella.

Now all that sounds reasonably nice. What is challenging is that it is on the alley. My view is of parking lots for the other buildings on the block and rows of dumpsters and garbage cans for both trash and recycling. As well as the growl and grinding of a parade of garbage trucks. In Chicago, where I live, the City sanitation department takes care of single family dwellings and building with five or fewer units. So, all with six or more contract with a scavenging company of which there must be five or six that serve our block of a dozen or so buildings. And since there are separate trucks for trash and for recycling, we must have 10 or 12 that traverse our alley beginning early in the mornings. It might also be that the larger buildings have more than a weekly pickup.

The other part of the alley view, of course, is the back end of the neighboring buildings. Those located close to me all have decks, too. But that is part of what I love! By this time—late spring—many have put out their plants. Like me, there are mostly container “gardens” with planters mounted on railings and large pots of annuals. Two of the three buildings across from me are also vintage six flats like mine—as is the one next door. Many have BBQ grills and patio tables (as I do). Some, though have what looks more like outdoor rooms with curtains, swings, and decorated walls. Others have solar powered faerie lights that come on at twilight and lend a festive glow to our alley. The third building across the alley is a duplex, or maybe a three flat. It has a garage on which is a large rooftop patio. This year, its planters are filled with cherry yellow blossoms.

Now, you might think that all this would be terribly noisy. And once in a while it is—holiday weekends when families gather on those decks, the occasional loud music that is not to my taste. (And the annoying air conditioners in one of the bigger buildings.) But mostly it is joyful voices and laughter. Dogs and bikers heading out for walks and rides. Birdsong. The wind. Jets in the takeoff and landing patterns to and from O’Hare, helicopters that are hopefully checking traffic patterns and not boating incidents in Lake Michigan. These overhead noises just fade into the ambient sound—the pulsing rhythm of the city—a diverse city neighborhood. I love it. Far more than a gated community with a tiny private patio where no one ever walks past.

The front views of my home very different. From my sunroom with three walls of windows, I have a slice of Lake Michigan—enough to see its moods, to hear the waves as they bound into the shore when there is a brisk breeze or wind. I am not right on the lake but across the street. So, I see it over the roof top of a low townhouse building. And, in winter when the trees are bare, all the way to a park and beach.

Here, too, there are dog walkers, bikers and joggers. Nannies with strollers. And, yes, the garbage trucks that collect from the lakeside buildings. Here there are manicured front lawns, trees, and sidewalks. A neighborhood the same yet different from the alley side. It is a one way street, running for only three blocks along the lakefront from the border between city and northern suburb. It is the best of both worlds.