Exploring the neighbourhood

Mr. J and I went for a walk around our neighbourhood tonight. We walked to a c-store a block or so away, then continued on to my office. The air is cool, but it's been so warm here the past few days. We stopped by a lake and watched ducks float around; maybe it's a pond, I don't really know. Ducks are not the same as chickens; I called them chickens by mistake, but I don't think he noticed because he didn't tease me about calling them the wrong thing.

Last fourth of July, when we were in our old house, we also walked up to the closest c-store; we bought ice-cream that night and wandered around that neighbourhood. It's very different where we live now. Quiet, and more urban. I wasn't expecting it to be quieter; there are more people per capita here so I was expecting more partying and loud explody things. Maybe people are quieter here on account of the laws regarding fireworks; maybe people here aren't as patriotic as folks in Vancouver. Whatever the reason, it's nice that it's so quiet tonight. I'm glad not to have such loud explosions going off for hours and hours.

Fort Vancouver puts on a fireworks show every year. It's supposed to be huge and amazing and exciting. I don't find it so, stopped going when I was a teenager. Traffic is terrible, people lose all manners, and the noise is ever-lasting and deafening.

I don't miss Washington. It was very rural in our old neighbourhood in Vancouver, and I wasn't particularly attached to it. I like it here, like the urban feel to it; I like the supermarket across the street and the office complexes just blocks away. I grew up in downtown Sacramento, in an old mansion that had been converted to apartments off of J Street near Sutter's Fort. I went to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic school, and my mom and I walked everywhere. Beaverton is nothing like Sacramento, but living here reminds me of where I grew up, and I love it here.