We spent the last month back in Madison arriving on September 7th after being away for most of the summer. There are many reasons its good to be back. We were staying on the westside of Madison in the Parkwood Hills neighborhood. We were fortunate to be a short bike ride from a nice Saturday morning farmer's market on the west side of Madison. It is not as big as the market on a capital square, but it has plenty vendors and a great variety of fresh foods. We have enjoyed the variety of restaurants in which there are typically vegan and vegetarian offerings.
The neighborhood we stayed in (as well as many neighborhoods in Madison) had many parks, walking trails, shaded sidewalks, and bike lanes. I never needed a car to get to any of them. Madison continues to become more and more bike friendly as number of bike lanes and trails are being added each year.
We spent three weeks house and cat sitting for a lady (Cathie) in Parkwood Hills area of Madison. This was a short walk to West Towne Mall and Memorial High School. We sat for two Ragdoll cats, Penny and Cameo. We connected with Cathie through a website called TrustedHousesitters. Thank you Cathy Statz for recommending the website. This was a nice house sit and the cats were easy enough. Cathie was able to take two trips -- one to Banff and one to Shannon, Ireland.
The location was convenient to the Lussier Community Center and there were many opportunities to volunteer in a number of capacities while house sitting at Cathie's. I helped cook meals twice for the after school program, sorted food donations for the food pantry, and helped clients get their food from the pantry.
The Owen Conservation Park was just a 1/2 mile walk from Cathie's house. Some of the parks in Madison have an arrangement with a goat farmer. The goats are brought into parks to help clean out the invasive plants that create undergrowth around the trees. They use temporary fencing to keep the goats in certain areas and they goats were there for a couple weeks.
And neighbor.com just announced Madison as the #1 most neighborly city in America. The rankings are based factors such as charitable donations, volunteer work, and low crime rates. This year the factors also included population changes and voter turnouts to account for citizen engagement and investment in their communities. The cities that top these rankings reflect the core values of unity and neighborliness that make a community truly great. This I always feel is true of Madison.
Today, we started a house sit for a newfie in Minong, Wisconsin. We are staying at a log cabin near several lakes. We will be here for a week. These are a few pictures taken on our walk to the lake.
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