walking on home, September 17

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Here's a street I haven't shown you before.

Many moons ago, when I was looking for my Very First House, I saw a house I really liked on Murray Ave. It was old, it was cute, it had character.

You know, the sort of character old houses develop when the doors have had to be planed, planed, planed in order to still swing, because the door frames have slouched out of square as the house settled? The kind of character that shows itself in the way a marble rolls swiftly across the floor after being placed, stationary, on the wood?

"My" little house had some very visibly non-rectangular doors, and (in retrospect it shouldn't have been a surprise!) the inspector I hired pointed out that a new foundation would be needed. Soon. He told me to sight along the up-hill side of all the foundations on the street, and, sure enough, either they were bowed toward the downhill side, or they had brand-new foundations. "My" house had a distinct crack in the foundation, if you looked for it behind the furnace.............

I reluctantly walked away from the house, and looked elsewhere.



Murray Ave. still has little cute houses.

People who live in this neighborhood display their individuality far more than people on my street, where driving a red car is the ne plus ultra of personal expression.

I have a fantasy of life in a neighborhood like this one on Murray Ave. A fantasy of happy neighbors, living in harmony.

I am realistic enough to know that even the cutest of houses (with the most excellent paint colors) and prettiest little gardens do not indicate harmonious group living. Let's pretend, as we walk down Murray Ave......

No pretense about enjoying these emphatically personal little houses and their flowers...........



















At least we can walk down Murray Ave., even if we can't live there.



Ok, now we are back on Washington, on our usual path home.

Gotta love a canna leaf.





Urban pepper, backed by basil.





Now wait a minute. We've walked by this a million times, and I've never noticed that the fruits on this tree are ... new to me. Doesn't this look exotic?

I love the loooong stem, the scalloped cap, the pumpkinoid fruit, the persistent pistil (at least that's what I bet it is.....) hooked to beckon our glance.....................





That harsh slanting late-afternoon light is difficult. Too much, or too little. Wonder what this little tree is!





Here is this very nice apple we admired last week. The sapling on which it is growing is between the sidewalk (which you can see at the top of the pic) and the street (right behind me). I hope someone picks this apple and attempts to eat it.

I feel the same way about those tomatoes at the top of yesterday's post. A shame to let them go to waste..........



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