Un paseo

I took a little walk earlier, around noon-ish, to explore the neighborhood a little bit and find the park we're going to this evening. It's a nice little place - benches, playground equipment, and a whatever-you-call-it with ramps (half-pipe, maybe) and stuff for skateboards and bikes. I walked there and then went down several other streets in the neighborhood - and found my way back, too! (not that big of a feat really, because I didn't go that far, but it improves my confidence a bit. I think my sense of direction is better than I and my family gives me credit for, but I don't have the keenest sense of direction.) I was getting a bit jealous of all you people in Europe walking down to the cafe, hopping on the train to go here and there, and bundling up to go outside, but this walk helped cure some of that. There's so much green and flowers everywhere, and I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt today. The heat's not too bad now, but it's starting to get to that hot part of the day. I could smell lunch cooking outside some of the houses. I did get some stares from guys standing around on the sidewalk and a honk from a truck, but this neighborhood is pretty safe, and I didn't feel threatened at all. I took a few pictures when there weren't people around - a Yield sign (which there are probably more of at intersections, as opposed to actual stop signs), some trees and flowers, and a trash basket (most houses have a wire basket that's up off the ground to put their trash in, so the dogs don't get into it - I found out this morning that we don't actually have one, so we have to just put it out last thing before going to bed).