It's now been two and a half weeks that we've been in West Seattle - and we've yet to even take the water taxi across the bay to downtown Seattle. Why? We're enjoying this neighborhood too much to wander away!
The area has such a soothing and tranquil vibe. The neighborhood itself is a cacophony of diversity; unique home building creativity that is only surpassed by the ever variant front yard gardens, ancient trees and rose bushes that rise to the sky, sometimes over 7 feet in height.
There's also a playful and ever present reminder of community that we continue to discover during our daily walks. We find ourselves surprised around every new block that we explore. Whether it's the "hobbit house" hollow of a tree that playfully invites you to peak inside, or one one of the many lending library boxes found along the sidewalks - it is both a feast for the eyes and an opening for the mind with possibilities. Heck, we even encountered a free "plant library" where one was encouraged to take and leave plants as well as gardening supplies!
There is a true sense of recyclability in this community that goes beyond separating your trash - people here share, gift and repurpose with almost endless ingenuity - like an old bicycle that became a planter box?! Pristine and meticulously manicured landscapes live in harmony with jungle-like wildflower motifs next door - making space for each family to live their own way.
West Seattle is a small peninsula and is known, among other things, for one of its crowning jewels, Alki Beach. The theme of caring and sharing extends itself there as well. For example, people simply don't litter - we walked the beach the morning after the 4th (before the clean-up crews) and noted how little clean-up was needed. And throughout the walkways, there are uplifting stories embedded in the concrete, reminding visitors of good deeds and happy moments. Signs in the restaurants and stores are playful, and even kind.
It seems like the surrounding vibes have a cumulative effect on folks here - the synergy of creativity and communal sharing encouraging all to play more, think more openly, and hopefully care more about each other.
That certainly is how it's beginning to shift in our awareness - and it has also spurred us to become more conscious of our surroundings, both personally and professionally and how we might more actively influence and leverage our living spaces. This community gives us hope.
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Hugs... Phyl n' Jer!!