Monthly Archives: March 2015

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Day 87-Hills and a hedge

day 87Today, I revisited the Cove Lake neighborhood near Man O’ War and Richmond.  I previously visited this area on Day 42 and Day 72, but this portion was a little more homogenous than the portions I passed through on those days, with mid-1970s single family housing throughout.  The key feature of this area is the hilly terrain.  There are views of the St. Joseph East Campus on the other side of Richmond from the tops of the hills.  Retaining walls of various sizes are in many yards.

All in all, this was a chilly day and a quiet neighborhood and there isn’t too much to add. I do like to comment on features that I like, and one house had a nice hedge around it’s yard, a nice break from the open yards that dominate.   Hedges and fences seem like they would tend to isolate houses, but when they are low enough to see over they almost feel like they have the opposite affect by connecting the entrance of a home to the sidewalk.  A neighborhood with picket fences or hedges, when well implemented, feels social and welcoming rather than isolated and suspicious.

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Day 86-Return to Rookwood

day 86Day 86 brought me back to Rookwood, which I’ve visited twice before, on Day 45 and Day 7.  Today’s walk was similar in a lot of ways to the one on Day 45, including the converted garages.  Today’s walk did pass near an original house in the neighborhood, apparently much older than the 1950’s-vintage houses around it–its always neat to come across these houses.

A couple of things struck me today. The first was that the streets here are over-engineered, with posted speed limits of 35mph that are probably faster than they need to be for starters, but which may well be exceeded regularly because the street “feels” faster than 35mph–there aren’t a lot of psychological barriers to going faster.  The streets feel wide, and they are wide at 36 feet.  Few parked cars and few streets in the treelawn area contribute to the wide-open feeling here.  The speed at which cars are traveling and lack of barriers doesn’t just make these streets feel (incrementally) less safe to walk along, it also makes parking on the street feel kind of risky.

An original house in the Rookwood neighborhood
An original house in the Rookwood neighborhood

The second thing I noticed is that there were relatively few signs of young kids in this neighborhood.  There may be good reasons for this and of course subjective observations are susceptible to all sorts of errors, but it seems worth mentioning, especially in light of the traffic speed observations.

 

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Day 85-Flag-Colored Fence

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Today was another springlike day.   More melting and the remnants of a rainy day earlier in the week means the city is pretty muddy.  I headed over to a neighborhood along Armstrong Mill just inside of Man O’ War.  This area seems to have been built in the 1960’s, a little older than I expected this close to Man O’ War.  Mud aside, I thought this area felt comfortable.  It lacks the self-consciousness of newer neighborhoods and people feel comfortable doing unique things.  The outward expression of homes is more open, more honest.

You know, I like to highlight things I like about neighborhoods. On some level I feel like I’m on a quixotic quest to find aspects of neighborhoods that remind me of the places I knew as a kid. Thinking about those neighborhoods, there were subtle things my neighbors did to differentiate their homes and yards (or balconies).  These could be visual things: I remember a planter that struck me as “Nevada-shaped.”  Or tactile: a particular stucco wall that was rough to the touch but made up for that by allowing itself to be walked upon.  Or olfactory: juniper and honeysuckle were especially memorable.  Any of these things could serve as waypoints, or make things interesting along routine walks.

The entrance to the neighborhood from Armstrong Mill
The entrance to the neighborhood from Armstrong Mill

This neighborhood provided a similar experience. The mud smell and the juniper contributed to a earthy spring experience that intensified at one corner. The fence on Beaufort painted in flag colors anchored a street that was more expressive that most. Subtle things can play this role as well, especially to the frequent passer-by. This neighborhood has plenty that might qualify for this as well including a peculiar mailbox and someone’s project car.

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Day 84-Hibernation

day 84Today was my first day back on the pavement in awhile as travel, viruses and weather have conspired against scheduled walks.  I spent it in the Eastwood neighborhood, near Liberty road and next to the large Gatton property.  This is a 1990’s era neighborhood and very similar to  a lot of smaller developments near it and off of Liberty Road.

Two aspects of today’s walk were notable.  First, though most of the snow that fell last week has melted off the sidewalks, there are still little snow walls or pillars made by shoveled snow from driveways and sidewalks.  In some cases, the snow wall covered the sidewalks, revealing that some people may have shoveled their driveways but not their sidewalks.  Ahem.  The second aspect is that familiar phenomenon in which a spring-like day brings people out.  Despite the sogginess of the melted snow on rain-saturated ground, people were in their yards or out walking.  Good to see.

It’s perhaps worth a quick mention.  The time off was not all for naught.  I’ve made some tweaks to the map, with more perhaps to follow.  I’m also much closer to providing dynamic maps for each post that should better highlight each day’s walk as well as allow more context.