Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Well, I have word that my mortgage nightmare is over. I won't breathe my final sigh of relief until I have the release and Note from my first bank, but it looks brighter than it has in days.

I've said not-nice things about my house (and I've meant them) but there are some good things, too. I'm about a ten-minute walk from two shopping centers, and as I walked up there this afternoon I realized that it is a nice bonus. There's the usual bank-supermarket-drug store triad, not exciting but handy to have close by. There's a beer & wine store that stocks good beer. There's the aforementioned new Mexican restaurant (which is actually run by a Salvadoran family; technically I think the menu is Salvadoran/Tex-Mex. Whichever, they have good guacamole and I like them.)

There's also a Greek carryout with a wood grill that's awesome, a good Chinese carryout, and a pet supply store where they always give my dog a treat or two.

I do tend to focus on the food, though...a new bakery just opened (Colombian, if you are keeping count of the ethnicities represented. I'm not sure what baked goods are specific to Colombia, but I'm looking forward to checking it out some lazy weekend morning, if I ever get such a thing.) and tonight I was up there to get nan from the Indian market for tonight's dinner.

I wish we had an Indian restaurant, although the closest one to drive to is only a few miles away. About the same distance in the opposite direction we have a Jamaican place with the best rice and peas.

I can also go back to the other side of town, where my parents live, and go to the same pizza-burger-beer joint I've been going to since junior high. Some of my junior high school classmates still hang out at the bar.

What's cool is that I live in a planned community...one of those soulless suburbs...but obviously it isn't. Yeah, we have McDonald's, Subway, and Pizza Hut. but the rest of the places I mentioned are small, independent neighborhood restaurants where the owners recognize us (I don't cook much), and we aren't hurting for variety.