Around the neighborhood

I've been living a little over a mile from campus in my house for a year and three-quarters. For the first eight months or so that I lived here, I was ill a lot (this was before my priorities shifted to health--I'm now one of those boring people who will go to great lengths to avoid getting sick), so I never really walked anywhere, but once that was done I started walking to school and noticing the neighborhood a lot more.

I adore my street between home and school. Portland is so pretty--and living in a city is so different from living in the suburbs. People treat their homes and neighborhoods differently, and I like it. There's a different feel in general.

In the mile between here and school, there are lots of houses (single-family, duplexes, small apartment complexes...), more than ten restaurants, three churches, a 24-hour grocery store, a normal-hours grocery store, a liquor store, a gas station, two auto parts stores, several coffee shops, hair salons, bars, and banks, a movie rental place, two convenience stores, a hardware shop, two furniture stores, a dry cleaner, two realtors, a bike shop, and a lot of other stuff. We have so much we can walk to, and I only wish I could manage to explore it all. I adore familiarity with places, especially complex places like this. I love the affection that grows as you get to know a place.

(Some things we do not have within walking distance: a Wal-Mart, a Starbucks, or a McDonald's. In case you missed it above, we sure do live in Portland. I had never quite realized those last two--although they are building a Starbucks up a few major streets, and that'll be walking distance from campus. But I do feel good about our neighborhood.)

I think the entire point of this commentary was to say that the Catholic church seven blocks from my house is having a "Viva Las Vegas!" fundraiser. Uh, what? I love you Portland. I sort of love you, Catholicism, when you make me giggle instead of frown.