New Neighborhood, New View

I recently moved to a new house, in one of the older parts of town, a neighborhood of rambling alleyways and vestiges of an older, pre-modern community life. It lies just north of the Drum Tower, a gorgeous edifice and the scene of an unfortunate incident during the Olympics. Back in days of yore, before wristwatches, the Drum Tower was the city’s grandfather clock. First utilizing mechanized water clocks which would beat a gong every quarter hour, it eventually moved onto, you guessed it, drums.

[North side of the Drum Tower (no, not my new house)]

The traditional courtyard houses populate this neighborhood. It just so happens that, directly in front of my bedroom window sprouting out of one of these courtyards, stands a 300-year-old (oak?) tree, whose life has spanned two dynasties and has survived into the modern era. Wouldn’t you like to ask her about all that she has seen?

[View from my window]