Welcome Home!
With the summer waning, I’m doing what everyone else in this area is up to: I’m trying to spend as much time outdoors as possible. First thing in the morning I take my tea to the patio. After dinner I leash the dogs and walk through the park. My weekends are spent gardening and working in the yard.
Even at work, busy with a hundred tasks, my attention wanders and I find myself gazing out the window. I’m out there even when I can’t be out there.
When I first moved to Washington, living north of Spokane, I watched the way people threw themselves into the pleasures of summer. Bicyclists rode up and down the highway. Young girls rode their horses in the fields. Farmers made hay while the sun was shining. Families packed up the car and went camping every weekend.
After my first Northwest winter, I learned the wisdom of that attitude. The season, for all its beauty, is relatively short. Here, we have to take advantage of the long, gloriously warm days before winter’s gray skies settle over us.
Last August I moved my family into a cottage just minutes from downtown. And I watched neighborhood kids splashing at the pool and picnicking at nearby parks. The setting was different, but the attitude was the same: Let’s get out and play.
September is here. The children are back in school and the golden days are growing shorter. Like it or not, the garden party is almost over.
This week in Home
When his golfing hobby began to interfere with his time at home, Spokane’s Matt Hildahl transformed his backyard into a personal putting green. With a little help his family turned their bare landscape into a private playground.
Hildah’s project is this week’s cover feature.
Making it personal
The rebirth of the Keystone International District of East Sprague has led to a creative use of property. Businesses are staking claim to a part of the city that had been neglected for far too long. This week’s Urban Style profile, written by Amy Klamper, introduces readers to a couple who live, work and collaborate in the historic building they purchased three years ago. It’s a tea and triumph story.
The weather is still wonderful, but the summer holiday is officially over. It’s time to get back to school and back to work.
Ready or not, the seasons change.