my neighborhood

I love my neighborhood. I bought a 1930 Craftsman bungalow here three months ago and have quickly come to feel at home. It's a walking neighborhood, with sidewalks and streetlights. People are always out walking and my kids zoom up and down the street on their scooters and bikes. All the houses have front porches, so I've already met most of my immediate neighbors. The folks living here are a nice mix of longtime residents (One couple on our street has lived in their house for SIXTY YEARS!) and younger people buying and fixing oold houses. Unlike most of very Republican Knoxville, my street is decorated with lots of John Kerry signs (we have one too). I can walk to work in only ten minutes on the days when the kids are with their father (most mornings I have to drive them to their schools on the other side of town). The neighborhood is truly a neighborhood, with small businesses, shops, churches, and restaurants. Tonight my kids and I walked to the Time Warp Tea Room for a nice supper of sandwiches, chili and iced chai. And we can walk downtown in about thirty minutes.

I should have moved to North Knoxville eons ago. And unless I move to the country, which I may do someday. I'll never live in a neighborhood without sidewalks again.