And here's the actual Canoas Creek as built in 1971, as it should be--straight, deep, no pesky turns and twists and swampy areas, allowing homes to be built right up behind it! This would be a great place for a trail except that now all those homeowners don't want pesky hikers hiking right outside their back fences.

After the other week, where the Sierra Club went for a really brisk "hike" of 5 miles, all on paved walkways in the suburbs of Palo Alto, with some folks snapping photos left and right, I thought--hey--let's take a new view of my own neighborhood as a Hiking Destination! But when? Saturday morning I agreed to meet my sister and bro-in-law at the mall to see Iron Man. I always drive because it's a LONG way over there--gosh, at least 5 minutes, or maybe less! But then, Saturday was gorgeous, and I realized that hiking 1.8 miles each way to the mall was a whole lot less walking than I've been doing Wednesdays with the Sierra Club. So, what the heck! Have camera, will hike. So off I went. (My photographic goal today was: No cropping or lighting fixes or realignment required in Photoshop after I got home. This was all done with my cheapie point-and-click digital camera. I did end up cropping two or three but mostly it helps if you actually pay attention to what you're doing!)

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elf1 > Whirlagig thingamabobs add color to this yard without having to actually plant any pesky real plants! But they also had genuine actual plants.

elf1 > Everyone's upgrading their windows. Everyone. Even though PG&E's online energy-savings calculator tells me that replacing my windows won't save enough energy to be worth the cost.

elf1 > Canoas Creek was apparently built in 1971. (You can kind of see greenish smears of mostly removed pesky graffiti.)

elf1 > And here's the actual Canoas Creek as built in 1971, as it should be--straight, deep, no pesky turns and twists and swampy areas, allowing homes to be built right up behind it! This would be a great place for a trail except that now all those homeowners don't want pesky hikers hiking right outside their back fences.

elf1 > Found some beeyutiful flowers along the way to make me forget about how pesky some things are.

elf1 > This is the typical sort of home in this neighborhood. 1970s typical California suburban.

elf1 > This is how someone remodeled the house next door. Fits right in, huh? Fountain and everything. It's a beautiful house. But it looks--um--shall we say, out of place (OK, maybe Overdone, Ostentatious, maybe even just a little bit Dumb) in its chosen neighborhood.

elf1 > This person takes advantage of a sunny strip along the main drag to share his or her favorite iris with us. I am thrilled in the springtime. I love iris. Irises? Irii? Irisi? Aiyiyi.

And here's the actual Canoas Creek as built in 1971, as it should be--straight, deep, no pesky turns and twists and swampy areas, allowing homes to be built right up behind it! This would be a great place for a trail except that now all those homeowners don't want pesky hikers hiking right outside their back fences.