See Watertown, underwater

Vanity Fair recently ran images that showed what cities such as New York and Washington could look like if global warming continues at its current pace (skyscrapers and the Washington Monument were shown largely underwater because of a dramatic rise in the sea level).

Steve Owens has done the same thing for the aptly named Watertown. If the ocean rises 45 feet, his map shows, the Charles River would cover the Arsenal Mall, Watertown Square, and even parts of the Mass Pike.

There would be at least one positive: ``At this level, the Charles River comes just about up to my driveway," writes the .08 Acres (and a Donkey) blogger, at point08.blogspot.com . ``It's waterfront property at last!"

Two weeks ago in this space, we wrote about a Wellesley-based blogger, Diana Chronicles , and her contention that the suburbs are becoming a not-so-neighborly place where people talk less with those living on the same block.

``From what I can see, though, it really depends on where you live in town and how much effort you put into it," writes Bob Brown , author of the Wellesley-based Swellesley Report , at www.theswellesleyreport.com . ``When we moved into our house we hosted an open house a few weeks later, inviting people on the block by stuffing fliers inside their screen doors. We got to know dozens of neighbors by name right away and got into the loop of regular get-togethers that neighbors in our mixed Natick and Wellesley hood hold. The houses are pretty close together where we live, but I imagine in neighborhoods where the homes are spaced farther apart that hobnobbing with the neighbors is probably tougher."

Diana also said that when she walks on the town's trails, no one smiles or says hello.

``I find just the opposite when I run on these trails," Brown writes. ``Almost everyone smiles or says good morning. And it's not like I'm all that friendly-looking."

Erica Ferencik never thought she would miss the ``crazy old woman who used to live next door." But now, she does. ``Everything these new people do involves noise. I've never heard such sounds coming from children before," she writes on her Framingham-based Wake Up And Smell The Blog, at wakeupandsmelltheblog.com . `` They do this sort of high - pitched shrieking thing, like rodents dying in a trap. I know these are merely yelps of joy as they toss the ball thither and yon in fits of childish pleasure but I tell you these aren't human sounds. My ears bleed and spontaneously shred as I lunge for calming drugs.

``And Mom and Dad don't just have a party, they have a Par-Tay. Cars line up. Boomboxes boom. ATV s zoom over. Keggers clang off metal trucks. Kennedys arrive drunk on their helipad. The laughing crazy aunt is always welcome, along with her coterie of insane sisters who howl over shish kebob and vicious clear drinks. `Kee-riste that was funny, tell it again Joey, I love that joke!!! Raa hah hah hah hah haaaaaaagh!!!!!'

``Even their food is loud. I can hear it even from my hiding place under the bed. Sizzling beef. Snapping cans of beer, popping wines. HEY, ANYBODY WANT SOME MORE BURGERS? WHO WANTS WINGS? GIMME A HEAD COUNT ON DOGS!"

``Then, when everyone has driven home drunk and the yelping whelps are all tucked into their creaking bunks . . . I learn about my neighbor's sensitive side: He's an ASPIRING FOLK SINGER! He's outside on his picnic table howling at the moon. . . . It's going to be a long, hot summer."

Trying to capitalize on the success of the Watertown site H2otown.info , two bloggers in Newton are combining forces to create an online community dedicated to the Garden City.

So far, the site, at thegardencity.net , provides a restaurant guide, a list of upcoming events, and several blog postings about construction at Newton North High School and cuts to the school budget.

The site was started by Chuck Tanowitz (who keeps his own blog at tanowitz.typepad.com/tanoblog ) and Kristine Monroe (www.krissyinboston.com ). Despite lively online discussion boards in smaller communities such as Natick (natick.info ) and Marlborough (www.marlborough.com/speakout ), Newton, the state's 11th largest community, has had a fairly small presence on the web.

Cyberscenes is a biweekly look at who's saying what among local bloggers. E-mail Matt Viser at mviser@globe.com.