While it's true that it feels like they should just roll up the sidewalks on most Sunday afternoons... and the winter evenings and weekends are said to be particularly desolate, living downtown has thus far exceeded my urban fantasy.
Out of the 400,000 people at the Taste of Buffalo festival last weekend, I was one of only a couple hundred with the potential to walk home.
I stopped home for lunch on Tuesday and discovered a farmer's market rich with fresh-season cherries and raspberries and lunchtime outdoor concerts just yards from the front door of our building.
I'd only seen doormen on television, but now I'm learning their schedules and which are the most friendly and helpful. The others in the building, even a big name athlete, seem to share the feeling that we're in this together, holding doors and chatting in the elevator.
Yes, the majority of the businesses close at 6 p.m. and parking for our guests can be a challenge, but with a little planning everything can be workable.
Thursday on the Square, the city's free summer music series, is also a few steps from our door.
Tonight it's Dr. John, an event we're pairing with dinner at our place with Mary and Howard ... folks who provided countless meals and entertainment to me through the long hibernating winter. I can't imagine any meal or company from my five-star days being better than this one.
We went out to the cottage last night to visit family , check on our tomatoes (the birds got the first perfectly red orb) and spend the night. It was quiet and pitch dark and I slept solidly.
The unshaded, large windows of our loft apartment shine all night with a cityscape skyline.
I sleep really well there too.



Copyright 2005 Judi Griggs