Bozervations

There are a lot of Musicians and writers here, and they like to act big.

Lisa and I attended a Solstice party last night and 50% of the conversations I had involved name-dropping about local artists. There is a man in the co-op playing harp. I wish he would just keep playing because every time he talks, its some underhanded statement about his talent or some conceded remark to a couple about how ignorant they are of the art or the area.

It seems really easy to find a space to sell your own work here.

But I suppose that gusto produces good local business. Every store downtown is filled to the brim with local products. Lots of note cards, some photographic ones of which I feel do not do justice to the landscape. There is a market held at a local farm on Mondays combined with a carnival that fundraises for a youth entrepreneurship program.

There is money.

On our way back from the party, Lisa drove me through a new condo and apartment complex community. The design was more like that of a Victorian mansion with a Scotland yard sort of clock tower at the end of the “village” entrance. Lisa heard that apartments run well over $1,000 per month. Gold turns to grunge, literally right across the railroad tracks. As we continued on home, we winded through a few small neighborhood streets until we turned and this particular one sprawled double the width of any other. Halfway down, Lisa pointed to a building the size of a small city block. “That’s the Rabbi’s house.”

There are playgrounds.

Every corner. Big twisty, turny, curvy, creative playgrounds.

There is a really odd construction project going on in the neighborhood I am in.

It is a hole in the ground. Probably plumbing. Yet it is at a three way intersection and thus requires a traffic conductor. She is rather inept at this whole conducting thing. I can never tell whether I am getting the “slow” or “stop” signal because she goes into these sort of trances where she must forget that she is there to hold a sign. It waivers at odd angles, not really directing anything. I don’t blame her. It must be a boring job. But then I wish she wouldn’t make blunt motions at me like I am supposed to know my right of way.

I have seen about 2 people who were not Caucasian.

They were both children. To my recollection I have not seen adults.

But there are probably 2 dogs here for every person.

Dogs could seriously govern this place. Most are independent enough to stroll about everywhere without a leash.

They like to run.

Yes, the dogs. But the people also. There is a triathalon today, a marathon thing next weekend, a month-long weekly fundraiser run in the evenings….

The ratio of Starbucks per city block in Toronto is the ratio of local cafes to city block in Bozeman

Cateye café, the leaf and bean, café nova, cowboy Joe’s, Sola café….not to mention these really odd modern industrial looking café-bakery things that line the outlying blocks of mainstreet, serving local brews and artisan breads.

There are never four-way stops.

This is really annoying. And really important to remember.