It's a party!

Welcome to EnJOY. This week it’s a party! 🎉

It was one year ago that I launched this space, so it seems right to celebrate. I’ve even brought (virtual) cake 🎂

When I started here, I didn’t know what it might turn into or how long it would last, but I am so grateful to all of you who have showed up and for your messages and comments. I know a lot of us are trying to keep heads up in days that often feel hard and I am glad we can do that together.

I am especially grateful to those who have chosen paid subscriptions. Your support makes this space possible for everyone.

I’ve decided to celebrate with 20% off paid subscriptions, for anyone who has been wanting to make the jump and receive all posts. Between now and June 21st, you’ll get an automatic 20% discount for the next year. It seems like a good way to celebrate and welcome in summer. Thanks for being here, thanks for reading, and an extra special thanks for supporters.

And now, onto the party.

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The two photos included here are the only pictures I managed to take the evening of August 1^st last year: the very first block party my street has ever held.

August is block party time in Seattle—and in other communities as well. The first Tuesday in August, the city waives the fee to close down a street and encourages neighbors to gather. (Officially it’s a community building exercise sponsored by the police department).

In the five years I’ve been here, my block had never participated.  

I had suggested we might try, but no one seem enthused so I dropped it. It’s a funny neighborhood, a bit reserved, polite but not too friendly. This is so common here it has a name: the Seattle Freeze. There are sixteen houses on my street and for years I only knew people in four of them.

I’ve gotten to know more people (getting a dog helps), but I wasn’t sure it was enough to pull off a party. I wanted to, but I was a little scared to do it alone. Would anyone come?

Enter my new next-door neighbors.

When I told  Kausar there was this tradition but our block didn’t participate, she said we should. As a Muslim, she told me, valuing neighbors is part of her culture. She said her neighbors in Pakistan had played an integral role in helping raise her children and offered to co-host with me.

So, we divvied up the tasks. I made invitations and distributed them, she kept me on task, and that Tuesday evening we set up tables, told people to bring chairs, and there was pasta and wine and neighbors meeting each other for the very first time. The kids ran off to jump on a nearby trampoline and later rode bikes among the lengthening shadows of a northern summer night where it stays light so late.

And I made this Brita cake, which is as if a pavlova and a yellow cake had a baby—cake, then meringue, then whipped cream, then handfuls of berries from the garden. (I am in my messy showstopper dessert era, apparently.)

But mostly people got together. We managed to lure half the block out; I have hopes to do it again this year. Slowly, we are melting that Seattle Freeze.

I was thinking about it this week, because part of what made it happen is that I wrote it on my Summer List—one of the lists I make each season for all the fun stuff I want to find time for.

Studies show that writing something on a list means you are 80% more likely to accomplish it—this has been my experience as well. When I put the list where I can see it regularly, it’s a constant reminder and encouragement.

Also, making the list is fun. I take it as an opportunity to dream big, and I don’t worry if I fail to cross all items off (this is meant to be enjoyable, no guilt or shame).

At the same time, I always remember the reason I got a dog in winter of 2019 is because I decided to finally take that idea out of the back of my brain and to put it on my list. Sometimes this list ends up changing lives, or the temperature of a neighborhood.

Here’s a few of the things I am excited about this summer:

• Stand up paddle boarding!
• Improve my identification skills for conifer trees
• Sushi Burrito and beach picnic with my nephew
• Camping week in August (with kayaks this time)
• Vietnamese dinner with J, 3D, L, C.  
• Outdoor theater
• Two backpacking trips
• Hammock hangs
• Teach N how to bake bread
• Stargazing for Perseid meteor shower
• Block Party, year two!

What about you? What are you looking forward to—or hoping to pull off—this summer? We’ve had a long, cool spring here this year and dreaming about sunny days and summer plans is keeping my spirits up. There’s a lot of good ahead.

Another little something to enjoy: my books! Learn more here

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