suburban splendor

It's such an interesting experience coming back to the suburbs now that I've been living in a city and haven't had a car in about 5 years. I do miss driving at times, particularly around here - San Francisco Bay Area - where it's a quick trip over the hills to the ocean or up to San Francisco or East to the Bay or numerous hiking trails... I used to just go for drives... but being a more urban dweller now I'm used to walking everywhere, even with great public transportation in Boston if I can walk there instead of taking transit I probably will. We all need the exercise and I take transit too to keep up with the transit culture which is a brilliant eclectic mix. Here although it's less than 2 miles to the grocery store I take the car... but when I go "downtown" I tried to find a central place to park and walk around. In between buildings and on sprawling sidewalks are planters and courtyards perhaps so you don't feel disconnected from your own yards when you're out in the world. It's almost like a competition to see who has the prettiest planters. My nomination today goes to the Wells Fargo bank in Palo Alto with their beautiful poppies and snap dragons. If I'd done drive-thru banking I would have missed it entirely.