A Pleasant Hills blog.

It was cold today, but I was able to walk the mile to the train station. It wasn't the abysmal cold that we'll have in about a month, or maybe even next week, and I had reason to think that all the ice patches along the way had melted, and I was right. At least, I didn't find any under my feet.

Part of my route takes me through an unincorporated Cook County subdivision known as "Pleasant Hills." It's pleasant, all right, but not a hill in sight. The residents of Pleasant Hills have houses and lots a little larger than my subdivision, which may represent the difference between my area's development in the 1960s -- when people were still more or less rational about their housing needs -- and Pleasant Hills in the '70s or '80s, when the runaway giantism that characterizes new suburban development in our own time was getting under way.

PH also has a strong appetite for outdoor Christmas decor, and a week before Christmas, it's in full flower. My favorite decoration in PH is a house tricked out in blue lights around the eaves and a short curtain of white icicle lights.

A blue-and-white motif might represent a Jewish household, but in this case I think it's something else. The yard has a flagpole, and every day I pass by I see two flags on it. The Stars and Stripes takes its place at the top, following flag etiquette, and under it is the national flag of Finland -- blue and white. My guess would be a Suomi-American household, ready for Christmas.