It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood...

Two weeks ago today I sold dear old Dougie the Dodge. How has it been going? So far, so good.  As I may have mentioned before my neighbourhood has almost everything I need within

 a block or two radius.

Come and walk with me. 

There's my condo with the crabapple tree out front - hence "Crabapple Landing". 

 As we leave the condo complex we are walking east towards Northland Mall - I can see it from the end of the condo road. If you squint really hard you might be able to see a yellow shopping cart that someone has abandoned in the mall parking lot - it's just beyond the No Parking sign and sitting between two cars. We'll see it again later. For now we're going to turn left.

 About 150 steps from my front door, but invisible due to many trees, is a plaza called Huron Market Place. There used to be a movie theatre where the World Gym is now. I took Kazi there many times - her first movie theatre experience there was "Lion King" when she was four. She found out that life isn't always fair and sobbed her little heart out.

 I do my own taxes so I don't use Liberty Tax Service but further down is Dollarama which is very handy - I was just there yesterday buying trail mix and nuts to pack for my hike in Scotland.

Across the street from Dollarama is my local library. Most of my library interactions take place on my iPad as I download books to read but lots goes on there - bookclubs, lectures, movies, a knitting group, English Second Language classes, crafts and so on.

There's the Huron Market Place sign - another

store I go to frequently is Giant Tiger. I get good bargains on produce and it carries

pretty decent brands of clothing and household products.

Here's one spot I won't be going to for awhile! My local gas station! 

That price is per litre, not gallon.

 A bit further down from the library is another plaza which I use once in a while. It has a pet valu store along with an LA Fitness, several restaurants, a bank, a used sports equipment store (it's where I purchased cleats for slo-pitch). 

Across the other street from the gas station is yet another plaza with my favourite thrift store -

 Talize  :)

There are three coffee shops nearby - Williams, Tim Hortons and Starbucks. I don't

often go to Williams though I do like their food better than the other places.

Further down from Talize is my pharmacy - Shoppers Drugmart - 

We're not heading in that direction today. Just past Shoppers is the

Bank of Nova Scotia which is where I go.

Right now we're on the other side of Northland Mall - we haven't crossed 

any roads or walked on any streets - we've just walked through parking lots.

Ummmm....I guess one Dollarama store isn't enough!!

My favourite restaurant is in this mall. It used to be several blocks to the east but when

the mall was refurbished it changed location which makes

it even closer to me. Sweet!

Further down the front of the mall is my favourite grocery

store - No Frills. It has really improved over the past couple of years - also being

refurbished. The best thing is the increasing variety of foods due to serving a large ethnic community.

Here we are inside the mall - you can see the Wine Rack :) and the Health Food store, both used frequently! There is a nice area for socializing.

Here is that shopping cart again, we are seeing it from the other direction.

We are now heading back to my condo complex, the entrance of which is past those

apartment buildings. We are still walking through parking lots.

The apartments are kept up nicely - they have access to a swimming pool which is

just beyond that atrocity of public art. I read an article yesterday about so-called

"public art". It stated that public art should be ART first and PUBLIC second. I have

to say that in this hideous example PUBLIC came first and ART second!!

 Here is the entrance back into my condo complex. The mall and apartments are 

behind us now. All of the trees in the complex

have grown very tall in the 23 years we've lived here.

These condo owners used to be able to see their neighbours on the other side

of the cedars, not any more. The street light is being

swallowed up by the trees!

 There's my place below. To the left of the crabapple tree you can see some branches

 from a maple tree. It was just a sapling when we moved in and now is 40+ feet tall. 

There is another one shading

the back side of the house. I had to change all of my perennials from sun-loving to shade-loving 

over the years but I don't mind. When it's 30c outside it's 24c inside. I rarely have to turn on the A/C.  

 Home sweet home.

I didn't even show you all of the many many restaurants/fast food places. Within a couple of blocks there is: a Macdonalds, A&W, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Harvey's, Fireside Subs, two pizza, no three pizza places, Dairy Queen, a place that sells greek food (can't remember the name), Fast Eddies etc.

Most I haven't been to as I cook 99% of our meals at home. 

BUT - I am excited to say that a "Globally Local" restaurant has just opened in the old Harvey's location and is open 24/7!! 

VEGAN FAST FOOD!

 Kazi and I have already eaten there and it is fantastic! And affordable!! 

So there you have it - what the heck do I need a car for? 

I rode my bike to my optometrist app't in less time than it takes to drive there.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with my cart. The last time I used

my cart for groceries I was a student at university without a car. I'm glad

I never got rid of it! (the cart, not the car!)

On Wed. I'm renting a car for 24 hours to go to the beach. It will cost less than putting gas into Dougie for the same trip.

I went to Bracebridge in my brother's car and I gave him $$ for gas.

I know that once we start getting cold weather and snow travel will be more difficult. 

Hopefully I can figure out ways to make life easier.