Mid-summer dream

Sorry it has been some time since I posted. I was out of town in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for two weeks, while most of the east coast sweltered in 100+ degree weather. While I was away, some of my garlic dried up (boo hoo), but otherwise life went on and my garden is slowly growing.

This was a significant journey as I lived out west for nine years, so it's much like going home, except this time I felt more like a tourist than resident. I've now lived back on the east coast for ten years - one more year than I did out west.

I knew I'd become a true east coaster when about 20 minutes into the drive down I-5 toward Olympia, I asked my friend who had picked me up from the airport, "So, what's with all this rain?", in true east-coast fashion, direct and to the point. I couldn't get over the gray skies and rain coming down in the middle of the day.

Granted, the PNW is experiencing an unseasonably wet and rainy summer. Typically by mid-July, the summer weather consists of sunny blue skies with temps in the 80's. Still, it does rain out there a lot the remainder of the year. I was surprised at how tall the trees were, and how dark it felt. I suppose after living on the east coast for so many years now I am more accustomed to four seasons, hot summer, warm pleasant fall, coooold winter, wet spring waiting for snow to melt.

Still, after numerous folks telling me, "be glad you're not in the heat, it's oppressive", I have in retrospect appreciated the mid-60's, low 70's temps I was in while other friends and family were boiling. Except, what I also came to realize was how intimately tied our physical bodies become to our surroundings. After our cold snowy winter, I relish walking out of my air-conditioned office building into the warm summer heat.

Ahh, still, so many wonderful things learned and experienced. I've often used the Pacific Northwest and west coast in general as a sort of sustainable living/community benchmark. For example, 'sustainability' is all the buzz-word here on the east coast, which is great! Still, the City of Olympia was talking about 'sustainability and climate change' twenty years ago - and incorporating these issues into their comprehensive plans. As always, I often have some great environmental insights, and this trip I had several environmental Aha's:

1) Food waste/yard waste composting with roadside pickup is possible! Seattle, Olympia, and many surrounding communities now have this curbside service. That's been a dream of mine for Saratoga/Capital Region for a long time. They are doing it, so it is possible!



2) Seattle/Tacoma finally constructed a major section of Light Rail, connecting downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport! What a dream, and multi-modal experience. I carpooled with friends from Olympia up to the Ferry in Seattle, that took me to Bainbridge Island to visit friends. On my way back I walked by foot from my friends house down to the ferry terminal on the island, rode the ferry over to Seattle, from there walked 5 blocks to the light rail station, then rode light rail to the Airport! A great experience.

3) I was reminded of what a 'bike-friendly' city Seattle and others are. Here is my friend Bryan, who rides the ferry over to Seattle, then bikes another 40 mins to get to work - like many people who live on the Island, he and his wife share one car. The ferry terminal had an entire small building dedicated to 'bike lockers' - where commuters could pay a certain amount per month to store their bikes while they rode the ferry over to Seattle. Even the light rail train had a special area to hang bikes.





And of course, on a personal level, I had many wonderful exchanges and sharing and lessons and reminders which are always wonderful reflections and gauges of how far one has come in their personal life, and perhaps, the next direction to go. I've decided to share these in a later post.

The most important thing I learned though, is it's official, I really am an east coaster - and with that - I'm going to the beach! (Though, for the record, there is still nothing like fresh-grilled salmon from the Pacific Northwest, yes, it even beats fresh lobster from Maine - me thinks!)