It is a sweet neighborhood with solid bones. Over the last few months I have been working on creating something of a public art project at the corner of our property at the four-way intersection. This is the key intersection of the neighborhood for both cars and people, as it is where the two roads leading other places intersect and become the two roads the lead to the beach. Out there I've build a small bench, a directional sign-post, and a chalkboard. Periodically I update the chalkboard with tide-charts for the week, or some Walk Whitman poetry, or an announcement, or an open-ended question. I've got a cup with chalk out there now so that people can write their responses.
I sit out at the bench sometimes. It is a good place in some ways... Many people pass it walking dogs, or riding bikes. However by far most of the traffic is cars. It is awkward sitting out by the road watching people come up in noisy steel boxes and then speed away. You can't see their faces very well, you can't talk to them, they usually are headed off somewhere else in a hurry. Few people walk by, because there is no where to walk to, besides the beach.
In Paraguay, I would sit in front of my house in the evening and dar saludos to everyone who would walk by. Neighbors would be out visiting their friends, they would be buying last-minute groceries at any of the several neighborhood stores, or headed to a volleyball court for a game in the cooling evening air. I am very lucky to have friends that live at the top of the hill, three small blocks away. I walk there to visit them. There are no stores in my neighborhood today, of course. People conduct their business and friendships by car and email with people miles and miles away.
