Recipe of a City

Sorry, no image today...nothing yesterday either, geez.  Yesterday we drove home from Los Angeles and I immediately went to my friend's house to babysit her 4 lovely daughters.  Today I flew to Boston for a quick business trip (home tomorrow).  

So, I am staying at a hotel in a trendy part of town with tons of shops, it's very hustle bustle and lively (very different from my life in suburbia).  When I walk through a busy city it seems they are all made from the same recipe, the ingredients include countless cross walks and traffic, a few homeless people on park benches, hotels and shops, a guy leaning against a building holding a coffee cup, another guy playing his electric keyboard on the sidewalk for tips, a couple meeting outside a restaurant for a first date, a person sleeping in front of a church with a sign that reads "one of many homeless veterans" (only it was spelled "vetrans").  (I can't help but correct this as a vet myself.)  I'm sure I can go to any city in America and find the same ingredients, it makes me curious about what attracts these people to cities and also tells me why I don't feel happy in them...it's not my scene.  I much prefer smaller towns where people are nicer, kind to each other, where nature is the centerpiece, not the traffic.  The older I get, the more I adore small town life...but I do have a soft spot for the culture of this city, it has a soul, you can see the history all around you and when you're here, you enjoy the culture and energy.  Maybe the ingredients seem the same, but each city is tweaked with a different flavor...enjoy yours!