fotos from the neighborhood

I know most of the US is still starved for color, so I went for a walk with my camera yesterday.
These little guys make me want to plant crocus. They are so, SO happy in the sun shine!


One of our local gardening experts refers to violets as, "invasive little thugs." I'm rather taken with something so small and delicate that self-seeds and makes itself happy wherever it can. Thses are colonizing a patch of lawn, and since our lawn is mostly moss and weeds, the violets are quite, quite welcome to invade.


Here is one of the older homes in the neighborhood. It was built back when this area was still mostly orchards and broccolli fields. Back in the thirties. The early American decoration and the tower have been added over the years.

This house is actually on the national historic register. It was built in the 1900s. As you can see, there are some big lots in this area. This place sits on over an acre. We have gotten a lot of infill and development in the past few years, so the neighborhood is a happy mix of post-war ranch-style homes, tiny grandmother bungalows on huge lots, single-level apartments, and very modern single-family-dwellingss tucked into what used to be large backyards.


A developer set houses side by side for a mile, then realized that kids would have to walk clear around the development to get to the school on the other side. So he took easement from both sides of a couple of lots and built this acess path. It feels quite magical to me. A portal to something wonderful!