Why is this an exceptional house sit?

It's said that for every general rule, there is an exception. Before our current homeowners left, I was explaining that a downside of house sitting, in my opinion, is it makes it difficult for us to socialize with others. Ironically, we've developed friendships with our homeowners, which I didn't expect, but most of the time they're travelling so it returns to just each other - and the pets - for company. However, the homeowners assured me this sit would be the exception.

Greg getting ready for a nap with the girls

The homeowners explained that in this neighbourhood, there are lots of opportunities for socializing. Let me backtrack. Green Valley is an unincorporated retirement community, population 24,000, made up of 59 homeowner associations. Each homeowner association covers a certain area, and of course there are streets within each of these areas. The street we're living on has 13 houses, with most owners being full-time residents, as opposed to snowbirds.

Just drool over this spread, and I'll explain later!

When we arrived at this home, we were given a map of the street, showing each house with the first name(s) of the resident(s), phone number, and name of the pet(s). I've lived at our house for 22 years and I couldn't map out my immediate neighbours, let along 13 houses!

Our homeowners told us about many examples of how they're a close-knit group. They felt we would certainly have an opportunity to socialize, and they were right. The first morning we were here, a neighbour stopped by on the premise of selling tickets for a house tour. I text the homeowner and told her I think we passed the "neighbourhood watch" test. She text back to say she'd heard from that neighbour who said we were wonderful. Whether the neighbour was genuine, curious, or was asked to do that doesn't really matter; we were able to laugh about it.

A closer look at a street event - a feast for your eyes!

The first weekend another neighbour lent over the wall and invited us over for a drink. We met eight of the neighbours there, and spent about three hours sitting outside, chatting away. We text the homeowner to tell her we were "being interviewed", as Greg called it. We enjoyed ourselves. 

As we were leaving, we were told "Remember, 5 pm Thursdays". Apparently each week anyone who's interested goes to a local restaurant/bar for a meal. We guessed the invite meant we'd passed the test and were accepted into the group. So, today we're off for a meal with "our" neighbours. We have a social life ... at least, for three weeks!

Look at the chocolate decorations - aren't they amazing?

So what's with the delicious desserts photos? You'll have to wait to hear about one of their neighbourhood gatherings. I'll explain another time. All I'll say is today we were invited to a party at the house where these photos were taken. Are we going? Of course!

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Location: Green Valley, Arizona, USA
Weather: High 85ºF (29ºC) Low 63ºF (17ºC)
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