Rainbow Dragon's Lair

[JohnStrong]

In 2024 we all have more than enough data we need to hold in our heads just to get by on a day-to-day basis. Why add to the noise? Your body will tell you how much recovery time you need. Your body will tell you what's easy/moderate/hard/flat out in terms of intensity

Big agree

 

[Maegaranthelas]

That looks like such a warm and welcoming neighbourhood!
Finally a place worthy of our delightful Rainbow Dragon

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

In my previous posts I showed you some photographs of "lawn" signs in my neighbourhood. But you may have noticed that most of them are not, in fact, on lawns, but in gardens.

In the Booming Metropolis, it was all about the lawn. Especially on the street where I lived, where everybody had huge properties with huge lawns. But pretty much every property was maintained with a huge amount of lawn. The lawn mowing during the summer months was loud and prolonged and frequent.

When I told people in the BM I was looking forward to moving back to a city because it would be so much quieter here, people invariably assumed I was either confused or joking. I said no, it really is significantly quieter in the city neighbourhood I am moving back to. And it is! There is so much less lawn here and so much more garden. Some big, showy, cultivars. But also a lot of native flower gardens, pollinator-friendly with different species that bloom from spring right through into the fall. The majority of properties in my neighbourhood have front yards that are mostly, or in some cases entirely, garden.

These are some of the streets Shelby and I walk down now:





















This home even planted flowers along the tiny strip of land between the sidewalk and the road:



It's not just private homes either. The neighbourhood churches maintain a nice amount of garden space too:







This property backs onto a public park. And they've got flowers growing in planters fastened to the public-facing side of their fence:



More flowers:









And trees! So many more trees here!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

If one doesn't have a garden of one's own in my neighbourhood (likely because, like me, one lives in rental housing), one can rent for a modest fee a plot in a nearby community garden. People use these spaces for both vegetable and flower gardening. Some of the plots are still gorgeous, even this late in the season.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

September 14:
3K run
13.5 km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 6

Morning hike was in a local ESA that is an easy walk from our new home. I will try to post photos soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of a Great Egret (Ardea alba) enjoying elevenses on one of the ponds we visited.

For our evening hike we walked through the Village and then along the Thames Valley Parkway down past the forks. It was after dark by the time we hit the TVP, and we had two close encounters of the striped kind. Fortunately I spotted them in time, and Shelby and I both escaped unscented. But they were close calls. (Shelby was absolutely ready to make friends!)

My run was also after dark, and I had two more close encounters with striped Flowers, right in our own neighbourhood.

 

[aku-chan]

Looks like a great place to live, seems to have a real community spirit!

 

[Fremen]

I'm glad you found a nice place to live in the end

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

September 15:
10 km hiking
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
Consecutive days of exercise: 7

Life in the Village just keeps getting better and better for Miss Shelby. On this day she met a couple in our neighbourhood who gave her a standing invitation to visit their home anytime she likes to get a treat. Then we came home to find our upstairs neighbours sitting out on our shared front porch. They were immediately big fans and showered her with lots of attention. (The landlord had wanted me to keep Shelby out of communal areas on the property. But this couple are the only other people who live here, and they said that was nonsense. Let her hang with us in the yard, on the porch, wherever. They like Shelby!)

September 16:
10.5 km hiking
6 km run with OSRB
Consecutive days of exercise: 8

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

September 17:
12.2 km hiking
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
Consecutive days of exercise: 9