The garden permeates the front porch and door.

A scholastically named street profiled here in tribute to the back-to-school season. I remember there was a College Avenue in the town I went to university in. There must be thousands of similarly named streets across Canada. What does College Avenue look like in your city or town?

This colourful home caught my attention on my walk this morning. Stuart Street is a mish-mash of homes but this one, with its cedar shingles, mauve-coloured trim, and orange door made me take a second look.

Wellington Street separates downtown from the Old South neighbourhood. Houses along this busy street vary from the well-kept to the leaky roof, I-need-a-fix-up. There is small block where the lots are large and the houses big.

Ummm, how neighbourhoods use to be designed. Not exactly eclectic but definitely not “mass produced communities with individuality removed” (I lifted this quote from Erika who commented on Carrie & Danielle’s blog today). These houses line three masculinely named streets off of Lincoln Park Avenue: Watson, Cecil and Norman.

This house stands out in the neighbourhood north of London Road, south of Exmouth and just east of Christina. The first time I went by I turned around to get another look. It is a cedar shingled home with water fountains, hostas galore, garden statues, stained glass, arbours, purple accents and large fir trees looming overhead. 

Someone with eclectic tastes lives here.

This bunker-style dwelling on College Street just north of George perplexes the landscape. It doesn’t look like it was an old factory or office space. It is well maintained and peeking over the fenced in backyard reveals a homey garden. Does someone live here?

Century old homes. Some restored. Some added on to. Others needing repair.

A high-traffic street connecting downtown Sarnia to the big-box stores of Lambton Mall Road. Clustered between Christina Street and Russell are a number of notable homes on large lots. I wish my camera did a better job of capturing them.

You can smell spring this morning. Lilac is in the air on the heels of the yellow forsythia explosion. This quiet downtown street with old oaks doesn’t house many grand homes but their simplicity appeals. The street works because the feature we’ve become immune to, the two-door garage, is hidden out back. In suburbia, developers would have you believe a home’s greatest asset is its cars. Maria Street tells you it is the front door.