May 11, 2020: Homes, neighborhoods, and architecture

Over the past weeks of safer-at-home we've had an opportunity to experience our homes and neighborhoods in different ways. Our houses have taken on the activities of schoolrooms, tech centers, art studios and music venues, gyms and sports fields, movie theaters, restaurants, bakeries, and cafés. Our neighborhoods are where we stretch our legs and see other people--even though six feet apart and behind masks. This was not a bike-friendly neighborhood before, but it is now. As I walk in the afternoons I hear far more children playing in backyards than I used to. Small gestures like chalked sidewalks combat isolation. It's fair to say we know our homes and our neighborhood better than we did before. For me anyway, I feel even more grateful for both, and more attuned to how these places sustain individuals, families, and our shared community.

I hope you enjoy this week's theme: houses, neighborhoods, and architecture. Be sure to click over to the Weekly Readalouds to view this week's selection of recorded readings. Click on the images below to check out these ebooks from the County of Los Angeles public library. And grownups especially, I invite you to take a look at these beautiful maps of neighborhoods during safer-at-home (without a doubt my favorite article I've read about this unusual time). See you (distantly, behind masks) around the neighborhood!