Sea Scents

As my Facebook mobile uploads will attest, it's been a good and busy morning.  Took the bus to Starbucks by Green Lake, got a venti drip and walked down to the local licensing shop on Roosevelt Ave.  Renewed my tabs, walked up to 65th, caught the 48 again and hit the Safeway on the corner for milk and such before returning home.  I'm usually not out of bed before 11:00am on a Saturday morning, which in some ways is a shame.  I love early mornings...how they feel, how they look, the sense of impending possibility..but I also love my sleep.   Lazy weekend bed mornings are a little slice of heaven. 

But the interesting thing occurred as I stepped off the bus for Safeway.  Those of you who aren't familiar with the Crown Hill area of Seattle, it's what I think of as a 'last vista' area before rolling down into Puget Sound.

                   

There are lots of these along the 'coast' of the Sound...Magnolia, West Seattle, Richmond Highlands, upper Edmonds, etc...and they provide great walks and great views across the board.  

I've always loved this little piece of the neighborhood, long before I moved here.  15th Ave NW is a huge promenade of a street, and leads down to Seattle Center/downtown via a nice ramble, so it's always been a thoroughfare for heading to Bumbershoot, Golden Gardens, et al.  Passing the Safeway on the corner of 85th, with all of its Scandinavian flags hanging along the roof, and the giant barn-style Denny's (RIP) on Market were touchstones for this frequently-lost female. 

Let's also not forget the fact that 15th, in its guise as Holman Road, passes Dick's Burgers as well.  Truly a street of dreams.

                 

So when we first moved to this apartment, and I realized how close I was to all this greatness, I was ecstatic.  And I became aware, as I would mosey down to the store or walk out to catch the bus, that there was something...different...in the air 'round these parts.  Something I liked, something somehow comforting, akin to the feeling you get when you can tell autumn is on the horizon. 

It finally came to me that there's a sense of the sea that comes in from time to time, like a subtle parade.  It's not salty sea air...it's not strong enough, pungent enough for that.  It's just this undercurrent of...ocean...of the feeling that you could jaunt down the other side of this neighborhood and be on the water in a heartbeat.  You also notice it down in Ballard proper, but somehow the horizon from the hill makes it more poignant.  Ah, I don't really know how to explain it.  But it's lovely, and melancholic, and makes my arm hairs tingle.

I haven’t been cognizant of it for awhile now; I walk out to my car for work in a daze most mornings and my loop to Green Lake only takes me westward on the way home, on the lee side of Crown Hill to boot.  So when I stepped off the bus today and was caressed by that lonesome feeling again, it caught me off guard in the best of ways.  It also reminded me of how much the varied geography of the Seattle area contributes to both its disordered personality and its glorious changeability, and how I love them both, even when I complain about the resultant civic issues. 

                 

I also believe it would be very difficult to move ‘inland’ again, for the same reason.  I adore my hometown in Idaho, and can imagine no better place to raise children safely and securely.  But I have this feeling that my heart would always pine just a little, knowing I wasn’t ten minutes from the sea at any given moment.  It’s funny, I rarely actually GO down to the beaches around here, but somehow just knowing I’m in proximity is enough.