Now that the 90 degree days are past, we are getting back into our routine of daily walks. After dinner, or sometimes during the day, we grab the hounds' leashes and take off. Unless we have somewhere particular to go, we walk in the alleys between each block of our neighborhood. We love alley walking because:

1) there are fewer other dogs and people for our dogs to bark at. 1a) Most families keep large trash cans in the alleys for easy poop bag disposal.

2) peering over fences allows us to enjoy the backyard gardens many neighbors tend. We love divining inspiration and comparing homegrown veggies.

3) we find treasures. There is a South Clintonville tradition of leaving useful but unwanted items in the alley for walkers and pickers to discover. Most recently we claimed a wooden crate for the chicken coop redesign.

4) there isn't much traffic on alleys, so they are safer for Lil and the dogs.

5) we see cool things, like this week when we spied crazy blue berries (a friend on Google plus identified them as the invasive porcelain berry) and a yellow buckeye tree. Who knew these things existed, and just around the corner from us?