2007/05/03 Ducks at Windsor Park Lakes, Houston

On my recent trips to Houston, I’ve stayed at centrally-located hotels close to client offices. On this trip, however, a late start in the morning meant that I could avoid the commuting rush, and stretch out a visit with Jeanne over three days. (When I’m on the Internet, it hardly matters where I am in the world).

The neighbour next door to Jeanne has lawn ornaments — and I don’t know how the local ducks relate to them.

A few minutes walk down the street brings us to the reason that ducks are in the area: a man-made pond, with houses ringing the shore.

The ducks are obviously used to be around human beings. When they saw me standing on the shore, they swam right up to me. Since I didn’t offer them any food, though, they dispersed rather quickly.

Behind the pond is a gate into the subdivision. When I came in the previous night, I had to enter via the manned gate, and must have driven all of the way around the pond.

In Texas, the land is flat, and the subdivisions are big. (Actually, the image is an optical illusion, because it’s not that far to walk to the house at the end of the street).

Jeanne lives in a quiet neighbourhood … quite in contrast to the urban landscape in our neighbourhood in Toronto.