Little Thing #170: All the Shiny Details of a New Place

It’s been almost a month since I’ve arrived in Seattle, and today is the first of my writing Fridays! Since my classes are all on Mondays and Wednesdays, I’ve decided to give myself Fridays for writing through the end of the quarter (which also happens to be the end of the year). My hope is that this writing will be creative, personal projects. It may end up being applications for jobs and scholarships. Like every other blog post, I’m letting these be what they want to be, with minimal editing.

After working extremely hard for the last four years, I’m trying to start my graduate school journey at a slower pace. I’m going to dive into my classes and write and volunteer and show up to all the random talks I can find. I’m exploring a new city, cleaning our apartment, and trying very hard not to spend money. I’m going on long walks and finding my writing voice again.

Over the last several weeks, I’ve discovered many Little Things that I love about my neighborhood in Seattle. They’ve wanted to become blog posts, but I just haven’t had the energy (physical, mental, emotional, or creative) to put them down. So, in this rusty return to regular writing, I’m just going to list them out.

• I live on a tree-lined street with a front porch. This is a Big Thing. I am in Love with this front porch. I fact, I am writing this from a rocking chair I bought secondhand for said porch.
• There is a small statue of a rabbit nestled into the eaves of the porch that came with the house. She is very hard to photograph. You will need to come see her yourself.
• We have these mushroom stained glass windows that scatter rainbows all across our house in the late afternoon. I’m hoping this continues into the cloudy months, but I doubt it.
• In a nesting haze, I bought a mushroom shaped nightlight for our bathroom that I am enamored with.
• I also bought a pair of dangly earrings in the shape of pink chickens wearing sparkly gogo boots. This was an essential purchase.
• In my many meanders, I’ve discovered that many residents of my neighborhood put their trampolines in their front yards. I love this.
• Our bedroom is small, but we have a very large closet that fits both of our clothes, a desk for Tom, and a little nook for me. I’ve hung waterfall fairy lights all around me (the ones in the photo for this post) and found a jade green velvet armchair that fits perfectly into the nook on Facebook Marketplace.
• There is moss everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
• I see a Volkswagen bus every single day. Not just the ones parked permanently in people’s driveways. Folks driving them. It makes my heart sing.
• I love turning a street corner and just suddenly seeing a mountain range. That’s pretty cool. I say, “Hello, mountains!” every time I see them, and I dearly hope I continue that trend.
• My student ID gives me free public transport.
• The local farmer’s market is a ten-minute walk from our home.
• The flowers at farmer’s markets and Pike Place are truly stunning.
• In order to accommodate the random round table that fits a little too snuggly in our kitchen, I bought four red velvet stools, and they are perfect.
• There is poetry on the buses here.
• Someone has stapled Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” onto a lamppost near my house.
• Our landlord drives a Mini Cooper.
• This may sound a little weird, but I walk past some fraternity and sorority houses on my way to campus, and I kind of love it? After going to a tiny liberal arts school for undergrad, this is the Big School experience that I missed out on, and I’m so glad I’m doing this as a slightly more mature Taylor who cares much less about the opinions of others.
• Tom has found a jam session he’s been going to every week.
• I love the way autumn is whispering her way into the leaves of the trees on my street.
• All of the cross country teams, run clubs, and random solo runners pass my apartment on their way to the park. It is both delightful and deeply sad for me as a washed-up runner.
• The few rainy days we’ve had (I’ve been told they’re coming with the autumn) emphasize just how green this city is. Perhaps that will compensate for the lack of sunlight.
• There are so many dogs. So many. And I love them all.
• We have discovered a delicious and overpriced vegan ice cream shop.
• I also saw one of those little studios where you paint pottery, and now I desperately want to do it.
• We do not have to pay for laundry.

And finally, while Seattleites are like Bostonians and tend not to want to make eye contact, I’ve still managed to have a few smiling moments with people. In fact, I walked up to a woman offering free poetry at a table in Green Lake and had a delightful conversation that resulted in the scroll she gave me a few moments later:

Quiet Place Before the Busy Time

Before the busy time, I

breathe, and look to see

what’s here – this city of my

destiny will become my

new mirror.

I’ll work to represent the

place where all are welcome

in – to learn, enjoy, survive,

and if they can, sometimes

to win.

These multi-storied buildings

will write on my very bones—

somewhere in there, I too

will share in all these great

unknowns.

Melanie Reed, 2023

I think that about sums it up. Orientation next week. Happy Fluffernutter Friday. 🙂