April 2025: There and Back and There and Back and There Again

April was a very pleasant month.

Overall things were quite slow, and I was able to get a lot of walking in in the Lexington neighborhood where I’d found myself.

Tax Day was particularly nice.

But, the month actually started out in Pittsburgh.

You see, those doughnuts I bought in Nashville in March were to be delivered there, so I spent a weekend in The Burg catching up with friends over inter-state pastries.

Spring was just beginning to sprung this far North, and that was fun to observe after having enjoyed later-season blooms while down South over the Winter:

Some Spring Shoots and a Newly-Polished Ballfield in a Pittsburgh Suburb

On my way back to Kentucky, I stopped in Columbus where I met this lizard at a hobby shop…

…got the only polyhedral dice set I will ever need…

Because Who Needs More Dice when You’ve Got Ones that Glow in the Dark?

…and then made my way to Lexington.

I was watching some cats for a couple of weeks, and I must say it was one of the nicest places I’ve stayed yet.

And not because it was Kentucky-Derby land.

Although I did get to drive through acres of pasture lands with horses to get there, which was lovely. (…or is it “were lovely”? I suppose that depends on if I’m referring to the drive, which was lovely, or the acres that were lovely. Well, you get the point.)

For one, my hosts were excellent conversationalists, and had a comfy house with some well-planned systems set up for caring for their animals.

(In fact, I’ve since modeled a system based off theirs for taking care of wild birds, which has been a great help.)

For another, it was a neighborhood with good sidewalks and interesting things to look at.

Ribbon in Tree: An Interesting Thing to Look At

Now, you might not think there’s much to look at in a run-of-the-mill suburban neighborhood.

And at first glance, you might be right.

But I suppose what exists where you are is what you make of it.

After all, there could be fairies in the flowers…

…or gnomes behind that shrubbery…

…or maybe the trees are themselves elves or sprites of the Rackham variety.

But even if you just see an ordinary neighborhood, there was no denying that the sunsets and various cloud formations visible with that much horizon around were quite spectacular:

A Typical Sunset Photo in which the Camera Never Does it Justice

About a week into the trip, I discovered that there was a bridge overlooking the train tracks not too far away.

Some evenings I’d walk up there to watch the 8:10 pass by, and every now and again another would be coming in the opposite direction:

Now, in case you guys haven’t seen enough about neighborhoods and sidewalks yet, I think it’s important to write about one of the Rules of the Street you may not already be aware of.

You see, it’s more or less imperative to make sure you observe all the hopscotch games you pass, regardless of time of day.

If you haven’t observed this Rule, I highly recommend it.

You will feel quite silly.

But odds are quite high that you will also get a good laugh out of it.

An Obligatory Hop Scotch Obstacle of the Double Variety
Note Also the Six-Petalled Flower Likely of Either the Amaryllidaceae or Asparagaceae Family

So, what was I doing when not out walking this month?

Well, I was reading Ready Player One, since a copy was available to me here for just the limited time I was in Lexington and I figured that would be good motivation to finish it in two weeks.

I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Some parts were pretty relatable.

My last night in Lexington, I had about 50 pages left and was determined to finish it.

I got a pizza from a recommended local joint, which had a funny message on the door:

No Shirt, No Shoes, No soup for you.

This (the pizza; not the funny message on the door) seemed appropriate since the book featured pizza arcades at various points throughout.

Half-and-Half Pizza: “Four Cheeses of the Apocalypse” and “Gangster”
I always forget gorgonzola is like blue cheese, so I didn’t care for the “Four Cheeses” one so much.
(Their menu has some other funny pizza names, too.)

Anyway, it was a good read if you like ’80s pop culture and video games, along with a dash of pending-apocalypse.

At the end of the month I did some driving between Cincy and Zanesville for the fun of it.

Zanesville also had some cool neighborhood-y stuff to look at.

Like this tree with leaves growing out of the trunk:

Then it was back to Northern Kentucky for a bit.

If you thought you were done looking at pavement, you were wrong.

Sorry, haha.

I found this chalk art while walking around a neighborhood on Easter weekend, give or take a day:

Now, it is true that you have just read an entire blog about walking around neighborhoods and looking at more sidewalks than you probably think of in an average decade.

All I can say to that is:

Although I do feel a little bad about writing a whole blog about the sidewalks of Kentucky and Zanesville, so I thought I’d leave you with a more-interesting photo of this nice cheese-and-olive tray I made for a get together with some friends as April was coming to a close:

Photo of the Month

I got home one evening from walking or getting groceries or something, and was met by this actually-quite-friendly kitty posed as a Bond villain, which made me laugh (in fact, it still makes me laugh).

Just thought this one was funny and worth sharing:

April Stats

Animals Pet

2 dogs, 2 cats

Books Finished

Hearts of Fire by Voice of the Martyrs

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline _.

Library Cards Collected

1

Distance Traveled (Miles)

1,092

Miles Walked

128.48

Song of the Month

WARNING: This song contains brief, strong language.