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Changes Afoot

Changes Afoot

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I grew up in a neighborhood that rang with the sounds of hammer and saw, with the building of small brick and stone bungalows. The houses weren’t large but they were well made, and when I drive through the area on visits to Lexington, I’m impressed with how well they have held up.

Construction methods have changed since then; house sizes have, too. One of my neighborhood’s best features has been the ratio of house to lot size. Split-levels and center-hall colonials are tucked away on treed lots, in some cases almost hidden among the greenery. Harmony and proportion reign. Or at least they used to.

The newest house on the block is a renovation that more than doubles the size of the previous dwelling. It dwarfs the houses around it. The owners are good neighbors who want a larger home, but this larger home is not the kind of house you normally see around here, and I fear it will open the floodgates.

McMansion subdivisions surround us. I was hoping we would never become one. Now I’m not so sure.

A Quorum

A Quorum

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It was a cold, rainy November evening; it begged for a good movie and a bowl of popcorn. But I’m glad we trudged out to the annual meeting of our neighborhood’s home owner’s association last night. Our street was by far the best represented, and there were people from other streets I hadn’t seen in years.

There was only one problem: we didn’t have a quorum. Which meant that the meeting was unofficial, for information only. We couldn’t approve last year’s minutes (oh no!) and we couldn’t vote in next year’s officers (slightly more troubling).

Apparently, though, if you miss the 40-percent quorum (in person or by proxy) the first time, you need only achieve a 30-percent quorum for the re-do. Since 30 percent of people sent in their proxy votes by mail, the slate of new officers will be approved at the board meeting next month.

And what of last night’s affair? It may not have met the minimum legal requirements, but it met the minimum social requirements. Most of us left with more fellow feeling for our neighbors, and what could be more important than that?

(A quorum of geese?)

A Richer Sensory Stew

A Richer Sensory Stew

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Last night in class we talked about the senses and how sight has stolen the show in our modern, western world. The move from an oral culture to a print one is partially responsible. But there are many other explanations — our art, our sanitation, our world views. The philosopher Descartes not only said “I think therefore I am” but also “I shall now close my eyes, I shall stop my ears, I shall call away all my senses.”

In other times and cultures, people swam in a richer sensory stew. There were drums and bells, cooking fires and open sewers. Would we want to go back? I doubt it. And yet I found myself lingering over a passage in a book about village bells, learning how they were cast by itinerant bell-makers in a community and each had its own unique sound, how they bound people to their places.

The more specialized the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures of a place, the more likely they are to embed themselves in us. When I think about growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, one of the richest memories is the aroma of curing tobacco wafting from the auction barns near the university. It’s an odor that has been banished, along with much of the burley tobacco market. Good for our health? Absolutely. But the eradication of sensory richness may not be so good for our souls.

(A garden gate in Lexington. Step inside and smell the cut grass. )

Farewell to Blogspot

Farewell to Blogspot

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On February 7, 2010, when I wrote the first Walker in the Suburbs post, I knew only that I wanted to share a few thoughts with the world. I had no idea if I could keep blogging until the end of the month. Now, almost 15 years later, it’s time to move A Walker in the Suburbs to a new home. Truth to tell, it outgrew Blogspot long ago, but until now I’ve lacked the time and will to switch sites. 

Starting tomorrow, October 1, 2024, you can find A Walker in the Suburbs here. The content won’t change, but the design is updated, and you’ll be able to subscribe and comment.

Meanwhile, as I say goodbye to this platform, I think of all that’s happened since it began, the writing I’ve done; the people who are gone and the ones who’ve just arrived; how our world has changed. 

How grateful I am to have this opportunity to connect with all of you, to share my love of walking and place. Thank you, as always, for reading. I hope you enjoy the new Walker in the Suburbs. 

Walking Distance

Walking Distance

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Yesterday, a walk with a friend. Not just any friend, but one who lives a walking distance away from my house. 

Granted, it’s a walk through the woods, and this time of year the woods are full of burrs that attach to your socks and spider webs that cling to your hair and clothes. 

But still, to be able to walk anywhere around here is a triumph. And to walk to a friend’s house … even better. It humanizes the neighborhood. It allows me to think (even fleetingly) that I live in a village instead of a ‘burb.

(A downed tree I clambered through on my walk.)

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

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A new sign greeted me on my early-morning walk. “For Sale: Coming Soon” read the sign on a house across the street. 

In retrospect I’m not surprised. The house is looking primed and polished these days with tidied landscaping and a newly sealed driveway. 

I barely know the occupant; his tenure has been relatively short, as residencies are measured in this neighborhood of long-lasting owners. I feel the lack of contact as a failure of sorts. We knew the previous owners of this house quite well. Their youngest daughter was one of our youngest daughter’s best friends. 

Still, times change — and neighborhoods do, too. This one will be changing again soon.

Scent of Home

Scent of Home

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On a walk through my parents’ old neighborhood in Lexington, where I sniff deeply of the mown grass to see if I can detect the scent of home. 

It’s there, I know it is, though I can’t put my finger on exactly what’s different. 

Is it the bluegrass, full of calcium from the limestone-rich soil? 

Is it the way the light strikes the lawns and releases an aroma?

Or is it knowing that the bones of my ancestors lie in cemeteries just miles away? 

A Cabin in the Woods

A Cabin in the Woods

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As I re-acclimate to a quieter life from the whirl that was last week, I keep seeing our cabin in the woods. It’s a tucked-away place but close to hiking trails and sand beaches. 

Seeing it empty, as I do every year in the final minutes of our stay, making the rounds to check that windows are locked and trash is emptied, I’m struck by how much people animate place.

The couch and tables, beds and chairs, even the perfect porch that spans the back, are nothing without the daughters and sons-in-law and grandchildren who animate them. So even though I’m missing the cabin, I’m missing the people more.

Late-Day Hike

Late-Day Hike

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It was late enough in the day that dinner was no longer a vague thought. There wasn’t time for a long hike. Luckily, it’s a five-minute drive to half a dozen paths.

Yesterday it was Beckman’s Trail, an easy two-mile loop that wound up and around itself. There were boulders and grass and a strange yellow fungus foaming around the base of a tree. 

The climb was mellow and the air was bracing. It was over far too quickly. 

Highly Walkable

Highly Walkable

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I imagine the walk when I’m falling asleep. It’s not just the lake that makes this place so magical. It’s the landscape around it. And I plunged into it this morning.

Down the lane, across a field still wet from dew, right at the road and up to the intersection, then back onto the peninsula. There are dips and curves, green fields, and glimpses of lake water through trees.

It’s highly walkable, this spit of land where the family has gathered, and I’ll be walking as much of it as I can.