Shall we walk?

Mike and I decided to go for a jaunt around the neighborhood today (that's the sign on the corner where my bus stop is. Valley Road and Fernwood Ave (technically, this is the other side of Valley Road. I live on Fernwood Place (the dead end), not Fernwood Ave). If you ever see a plump asian woman standing on the corner reading, that's me).

I asked him if he wanted to do anything particular today, but nothing was on his mind other than having a walk around the neighborhood. I grabbed my camera in hopes of taking a few snaps of the neighborhood.

Sadly, I recalled that we were a bit late for a walk. Autumn's finery gave it's last hurrah recently and now all that's left are brown and withered and struggling with their last grasp to hold on to the trees. The only exception to this appears to be the large maple on our property. It still has half its leaves still, and many of them still green. It is irritating me. Not only does it prolong my raking-date (when I finally rake all the leaves into one large pile and say good-riddens to the rake until next year), but prevents me from taking photographs for my Seasonal Greetings cards. I've decided to become really artsy this year (plus, I was inspired by tracing) and make my cards this year instead of buying them. Yes, it will be more expensive. And yes, it will be more of a hassle... but I want to do the exercise anyway. I think it will be cute. I want to take a picture of Mike and I in front of the apartment in an "American Gothic" pose with dour expressions on our faces. Until the tree has dropped all of its leaves (I want a bare tree in the background), I can't take the picture! Augh!

Anyway, we walked down Fernwood and saw this interesting almost completely ivy-covered house. It looked funny with part of the ivy turning this russet brown and some parts still vividly green.

As we walked, we talked about the houses in the area. They are all massively huge. You can tell that the neighborhood is an affluent one. Many houses sported new cars, fine imports. Many of the lawns were immaculately turned, the handiwork of no homeowner. It was the kind of groomed that one gets from a professional. Mike and I had a little laugh about that, especially when the yard would show no traces of leaves. It was almost like a protective bubble was placed around the property that no leaves shall fall here. Surreal.

I love the number of steps to the front doors of some of these houses. I would get a workout going up to the door! Granted, we didn't walk in the "right" side of the tracks, where I would get exhausted walking just halfway to the door. I live on the east side of railroad tracks (as a matter of fact, we're right next to them. The trains help me get up in the morning. Thankfully, they've stopped disturbing my sleep. Then again, I think I can sleep through almost anything these days). On the west side of the tracks are million dollar plus homes. I have some pictures of those. I'll put them up sometime. So, these are the "poorer" equivalents.

Although many of the houses were quite grand, none were as spectacular as the ones on the other side of the tracks, so I took few pictures today. One thing that did catch my eye was a great tree. It towered over the other trees on the block, but also had this wonderful feature of a massive vine clinging to it. I took several photographs, but nothing could really capture the awe I felt upon seeing this tree and its vine. Here is as close to the base as I could take a photograph (it was on the other side of a high stone wall).

Amazing.

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I told Mike that I had an interest in studying latin. He said that he would be interested in studying latin as well and was surprised that I was interested too, since I find learning languages extremely difficult. One would suspect that someone who knows and understands another language other than English wouldn't find it so difficult to learn languages, but not so with me. But, like I said yesterday that obsessions are Good Things(tm) for me so, I'm encouraging this. I solicited a few online friends for suggestions and have decided to go out and purchase a Latin textbook when I go shopping with my mother tomorrow.

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I watched The Velocity of Gary. It's pretty bad. If anyone has any redeeming things to say about this film, I'd love to know. Maybe I just didn't get it.