This week I’m writing from a place with a beautiful view. One of my favorites, in fact. Did I come here for a writer’s retreat, holed up in some faraway place to power through a final draft of my next novel?
The view from Mom’s house.
Nope. I’m here because- –
Wait! I know where we are.
So do I. We’ve been here since 1962.
Yep, we are at the parental home and Mom still lives here. The view is of Point Hudson Marina- -Admiralty Inlet is to the left, Port Townsend Bay to the right. It’s a family visit, something I manage a few times a year.
A view of Mom’s house, built in 1880 and renovated between 1959 and 1977.
Our folks, who grew up in town and moved back after college and getting established professionally, bought the house in 1959. It had been abandoned for decades and was in pretty rough shape. They considered both tearing it down and renovating. Renovation won out. It was a long, slow process and they did a lot of the work themselves. The house was habitable after a few years of evening and weekend effort. The finishing touches on the last room, the upstairs bathroom, happened when I was away at my first semester of college in 1977.
Town has changed a lot since 1959, when the primary industry was the paper mill and the population held steady at 5,650 the whole time I was growing up.
Either that, or they never updated the entry sign.
It was pretty much a town of working families. Big employers besides the mill were the hospital and the school district.
And now we have the stupid tourists.
Hang onto your hat, Lily, these visitors will increase exponentially in years to come. Over time, as town is “discovered,” older, wealthier people will move here to retire. With this influx to a small geographic area (town is on a peninsula, 9 miles square), median age (59.5) is higher, and median property value ($448,400) has skyrocketed. Plenty of private homes are now valued at one million dollars or more.
Wow, that’s a lot of money! And 59.5 is really old.
Let’s stop quantifying for a moment and get back to the view. No matter how much town has changed, except for a few houses built down by the beach Mom’s view has remained the same. This is worth considering. Nature will always be more permanent and powerful than us humans or anything we create. It can be predatory, too, luring us hapless rubes to beautiful vistas, only to teach us later about earthquakes, tsunamis, erosion of coastlines- –
True. But you can’t deny this view is gorgeous. I especially like it in the winter, when there’s a full gale blowing and whitecaps in the inlet.
You’re right, Lily, but tomorrow we’ll journey home and see the view I like best:
My favorite view of all: Hoosegow!
Loved this.
Shary
Thanks, Shary!