This is Suburbia?

It can be a challenge to find somewhere peaceful and pretty to walk in suburbia.  I'm not a fan of stepping out the door just to spend the next hour or so passing house after driveway after yard of a typical suburban neighborhood.  With cars whizzing by.

Luckily, we do have several areas conducive to feeling "one with nature" that I love to frequent.  Today I walked the Prairie Path, which is a paved walking/biking road along a now-defunct railway.  I've not traversed its entirety, but am told it passes through my town up north to Wisconsin and down south as far as Batavia.  And although they don't show up well in these shots, the emerging fall colors were lovely this afternoon (click on photos to enlarge):

It's a great path for biking or walking, stopping to rest, having a picnic lunch, or reading and people-watching!

Searching for a Winter Place

I'm looking for a little Florida place in which to pass the next six months or so.  Chicago's winters can, indeed, become that long.   And it's not that I mind the cold so much (although I do get cabin fever up here).  It's the endless days of grey that really get to me.

But with my budget, it's hard to actually find something on the beach.  I'll probably have to stop looking there and settle for something further inland.  I'm looking for something like this:

With a budget for this:

Grey, grey go away

It has been grey and rainy for weeks here, with only a sprinkling (no pun intended) of sunny days.  Today is one of those sunny days.  At last.

When I retired, I sold a rather large house and opted for a smaller townhouse in the same suburb, and an "in-town" city place for fun.  I love how the sunshine pours in through the windows of my townhouse.  I used to choose homes that had as much north exposure as possible.  Well, I've finally given up the "fear of fading."  My bedroom faces northwest, so I don't have the aggravation of light pouring in before I'm ready to get out of bed, but when I am, it sure is nice to walk around the rest of the place and see this (click on photos to enlarge):