Top Ten Tuesday

I thought it might push me to be a little more, um, regular in my communications if I tried something like a Top Ten list, although I'll be back in a day or two with a What I Did This Summer Part I post -

so, 10 Things I Like About Where I Live:

1. We are less than 10 minutes by bike to the shores of Lake Ontario, with real beaches and everything.

2. The Burlington, ON "core", where I live, has a small-town feel - we can walk/bike to the library, Starbucks, and the kids' orthodontist.

3. Our town is a relatively short drive to so many wonderful attractions: Niagara Falls (45 min); Toronto (40 - a zillion minutes, depending on traffic); Muskoka / Algonquin Park (2 - 3 hours); wineries (40 minutes in the Niagara direction, 3 hours to Prince Edward County); FABULOUS beaches (10 minutes down the street; 3 hours to Sandbanks and plenty in between).

4. Our house is two blocks from school, so the kids can and usually do come home for lunch.

5. Ours is an old, established neighborhood, with lots of huge trees and heritage houses, which makes it great for strolling.

6. The downtown core is being fixed up (perpetually), and there are cute shops, boutiques and restaurants all within walking distance.

7. In addition to Starbucks, there's a Coffee Culture and even a Second Cup within walking distance, so no caffeine hankering goes untended.

8. I like walking.

9. We live on a very quiet cul de sac populated by mostly boys, so it's always easy to get a road hockey game going, if you like that sort of thing.

10. I have followed the "smallest house in the best neighborhood" adage. Ours is a cute, small-ish cottagey thing surrounded by a few $1million+ properties. Put it this way: Thursday is lawn service day on our street. I cut the grass on Fridays.

So there you go, 10 reasons I love to live in Burlington!