the Way of the Turtle

QUIET NIGHT...
2 Mile Walk in the Pine Hills Neighborhood
Friday, November 9, 2012

I had hoped to try going for a run tonight to see how my foot would react, but by the time I left work I was sufficiently tired and hungry that it just wasn't happening... actually, it took some doing for me to eventually convince myself to get off my lazy backside and make an extended walk to the store. I was surprised by how quiet it was... maybe it's early enough that the college kids haven't started partying yet, or maybe people are taking advantage of the long weekend to go away...

One of the reasons I like wandering around outdoors is all the things I end up thinking about and all the things I notice around me - something I think is a lost art, given that most people are endlessly distracted by their music, text messages, phone calls, and so on when they're out and about. As I walk around the Albany neighborhoods one of the things that stands out is how the houses are mostly up on hills, well above street level. And I wonder how that happened - it seems far too regular to be just a coincidence of geography. Were the streets dug down to run below the level of the houses, or was the land under the houses built up higher than the streets? And why? Drainage? Perhaps one of these days I'll do a bit of research about the architectural background of Albany and it's streets and find the answers... for now I just continue to ponder the questions while I'm out walking around.

JMH