Aug 26, 2012

Coming together


They were 8 years old when they first met, Trouble 1 and Olivia. They spent 4th grade in the same classroom. They became teenagers and young adults, time passing giving both of them experiences unusual that early in life, and they didn’t see each other for about 10 years. Friday the two of them picked me up at SeaTac. Trouble 1 had been crashing at Olivia’s couch for a couple of nights after being gently kicked out from our Wallingford friend’s house as they were preparing for their son’s wedding.

I don’t know that I even have words for my feelings spotting them at the baggage claim waiting for me coming wobbling after crossing the Atlantic. Once two little kids shy to each other, at the airport now a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man both 26 years old, laughing, all comfortable together catching up after oceans of time and life, having so much fun. Picking up the old mom this summer afternoon. Adam confidently driving my car (which he by the way has turned into a dump in just a couple of weeks, yapp, that’s how my first born treats cars) in the intense Seattle Friday rush hour traffic on the freeway. Olivia GPS-ing him from her I-phone to my storage to pick up my things. What a treat guys, what a wonderful treat.

And today there is the wedding. The Wallingford son Reed (they all went to the same elementary school, Trouble 1, Trouble 2, Olivia and her sister Becca, Reed and his sister Zoe) is marrying his high school sweet heart. And Trouble 1 is there. He happens to be in Seattle the summer when his childhood friend and American brother Reed is marrying,  he gets to be there for it. He was even chosen for the honorary assignment being the wedding witness together with sister Zoe. It’s coming together. It’s all coming together.

And browsing Seattle Times Friday paper looking for this weeks goings on my eyes are recognizing something so familiar I am not even reacting at first. Familiar faces and familiar names in a local paper. Dennis Lyxén, David Sandström, Refused. Although showing up in my American local paper. Cause they are on stage in Seattle this Tuesday. That’s what I always been saying; Seattle and Umeå punk band Refused would be the absolutely perfect match! It is all coming together.

Aug 19, 2012

Persistent ladies

31 years. It took me 31 years of needing, wanting, wishing, dreaming and yearning. That’s a pretty long time. I consider myself being persistent, some may even call me stubborn. A quality that comes with it’s pros and cons. For me, and for people around me. So, 31 years.

48 years. That’s how long Anna Grönfeldt had to wait for an airport in Umeå. Mrs. Anna Grönfelt was a secondary school senior assistant master and a liberal politician in Umeå in the early twentieth century. 1914 she proposed for an airport in the City council. That didn’t work. Mrs. Grönfeldt was light years ahead of her time and the proposal was declined, rejected and stomped on. What a brave woman. 48 years. That’s the time needed for the City, the region and the country to see what Anna Grönfeldt envisioned close to five decades before. I wonder what she felt like at the opening of the airport in 1962. Cause she was there, yes. Hat and wool coat with a big fur collar. A white handbag. 82 years old Anna Grönfeldt got to see her dream fulfilled. A pretty persistent lady.

So 31 years. I’m not talking about airports here, those doesn’t come within my jurisdiction. No, I’m keeping closer to home. It took 17 years before I had the floor heating craftsmen didn’t really believe in when I first moved into my grandparent’s old homestead 1981. 17 years too before the kitchen with a fireplace everyone told me was an impossible project was in place. 20 years before I had converted my childhood intriguing attic to an upper floor that I dreamed of as a little girl. 23 years before I had the 4-wheel drive that I so badly needed here at the end of the road. 27 years until I found the exact right wooden barrel to take care of the rainwater at the east corner of the baker’s cottage. And so on.

31 years. It is finally happening. And it comes with a transformation that I wasn’t aware of during the years of wanting and wishing. The north side of my house is changing from a forest-closed-in behind to an open entrance as a carport is rising from my dreams to reality! The groundwork was done the beginning of this week and a wooden skeleton telling me this is for real was up before the weekend. They say my insurance for more tolerable Umeå winters will be an excisting building before I leave for Seattle (!) on Friday!

I was thinking 31 years is just way too long to get a project done. To have a dream fulfilled. That it’s a sign of slow drive, no action or not meant to be. That was before I knew of Anna Grönfledt though. She is now my hero and benchmark. I am working on an Anna Grönfeldt scale. So watch me. The solar cells that I wanted to cover the south side of my roof with since I moved in here will happen. Eventually. And beware. My dreams and visions might grow bigger than my house. And I’m terribly persistent.

Aug 13, 2012

Goings on part 2

Well, I’m not sure why a city that provides natural mist nine months a year needs a mist machine, but I’m quiet certain there is a cool explanation to it. I’m totally in for the heated saltwater pool on a barge in the bay and an out door stage though. These are a couple of features in the vision for the new waterfront design in Seattle.

Waterfront Seattle is a partnership between the City of Seattle and the entire community to create an inviting new public waterfront for everyone – a Waterfront for All, that the entire region can enjoy for generations. The assignment for the design of the 26-block area is taken on by celebrated James Corner Field Operations, creator of the famous Highline on Manhattan. The impact from the project on the city and the civic undertaking is compared with the Seattle Worlds Fair 1962. Exactly 50 years later Seattle is going to be transformed again, and I would say this might even be bigger. The land area is larger and those 26 blocks at the water is truly the front porch of Seattle.

This blog, Home is Away, Away is Home has a main purpose: telling about the culture, development and progress of my two cities, Umeå on the north east coast of Sweden and Seattle on the north west coast of the United States. Cities, very different in scale although surprisingly similar in a lot of ways and with quite a few things in common.

One is the treasured and troubled waterfront in both cities, simultaneously undergoing major transformations. In Umeå about a 25 year process containing tons of arguing and emotional distress. There is no doubt though, that designing the Seattle waterfront is a much more challenging task. Except for two loved parks and a much liked and highly frequented community building for young people, the Umeå River 9-block waterfront has been a close to dead spot, a big parking lot, pretty much. The Seattle waterfront is an extremely charged place, socially and culturally, politically and ideologically. It’s not only a fantastic scenic spot loved by Seattleites and tourists, but a melting pot for business owners, ferry commuters, the professional sports teams, property owners, the tribes, shippers and builders, and the industrial port.

So, what’s going on this summer 2012? Well, July presented a progress report from, among others, the architect James Corner. The design on hand tries to reflect the observations from all those parts involved in the everyday waterfront life, and the price tag is 420 million dollars. And although, again, the scales are different, the wish list and the visions are very similar to the much smaller Umeå waterfront:

Promenades, parks, bicycle and roller stretches, possibilities to touch the water, cafés, ice skating rink, restaurants, outdoor stage for concerts and performances, improved easy access walking from downtown down to the water, and a desire for a prospering and fun place to visit even during our dark/gloomy snowy/rainy winter time.

So listen Umeå: a heated swimming pool on a barge, wouldn’t that be great even in Umeå?! Our cities share the same problem; Elliot Bay and the Umeå River are too dangerous for swimming but seductive on a hot day. A barge with a pool, changing rooms and showers, yes! The idea actually comes from Europe, existing in Copenhagen and Frankfurt.

And please give me an outdoor stage on the waterfront! There will be a Black Box in Kulturväven, the new building for cultural arts, and that’s fine. But oh how I would love a big summer stage that would capture and hold the light summer nights! A semi-outdoor transparent one, a building in see-through glass, seats in doors and the back open not to let anyone out. Black boxes are for our long black winters. Give us the exact opposite to celebrate the uniqueness and the magic summers on the 63rd latitude, a Light Box!


Aug 5, 2012

Goings on part 1

-       Give us opportunities to get closer to the water, and give us something to do!

That’s the two strong themes in the feedback from the Seattle public when asked what they want the Seattle waterfront to be in the future. And I would say that’s a general opinion in Umeå too, when it comes to the new waterfront design. Getting closer to the water is a challenge in both cities. The Umeå River is running fast through downtown and a dangerous water to be around. Portage Bay is deep and crowded from ferries, cruise ships and heavy traffic with the Port of Seattle as destination. Creating spaces for activities on the other hand, is a more down-to-earth task, and both my cities are ready to take it on.

There are two loved and highly populated green parks within the Umeå waterfront, Rådhusparken (The City Hall Park) and Broparken (The Bridge Park, connected to the oldest of the three bridges crossing the Umeå river in the city). Both of them will now be redesigned, Rådhusparken by Ulf Nordfjell, a Umeå-born landscape architect with world reputation, and Broparken by Anna Flatholm, the City landscape architect.

Rådhusparken will be stretched all the way down to the water, ending in black rough wood and granite creating a grey shade space, communicating with the black and white glass exterior of it’s neighbor Kulturväven, the new building for cultural arts. Rådhusparken, in the very heart of the city, will probably in the future still be nr. 1 on the top ten list of Umeå parks when it comes to casual downtown picnics, bare torso sun soaking and impromptu hanging.

Broparken will have a different agenda. The design is a rolling flowing green space declining towards the river, including two stages, temporary market space, and areas for inner city farming. At the bottom, connecting to the new skateboard park Sparken that is already there, a Parkour park, the first one in Sweden designed in collaboration with Parkour practitioners. So, Broparken will be a park for contemplation, arts, market, small scale farming and adventurous people climbing, jumping, forcing hinders with grace, speed and termination. The work has started and the park will be done within a year. And both parks will be beautiful welcoming outdoor rooms for residents of Umeå and guests from all over the world in time for the biggest event ever in Umeå, The European Capital of Culture 2014.

The Seattle public is eager to start seeing some proof of Waterfront for All actually happening, that’s what Marshall Foster, head of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, announced at the mid July presentation of the giant 26-block project. The impact of the development is compared with the Seattle Worlds Fair 1962, 50 years ago. So, what’s happening? Well, that’s an exciting cliffhanger for next week.