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.

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 63^rd latitude, a Light Box!

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.

The knock out week

Smash! Crash! Thud!

I can’t even find a word that fits for the sound of the biggest fir on the north side of my house falling. And then the tallest aspen. My big project for this summer is building a car port, and the fir and the aspen and quite a lot of their nearby friends had to be victim for the chain saw to make room for what I hope is going to make my winters a bit easier to deal with.

I was still in my bathrobe watching that big fir falling. Bertil and Clas came rolling unannounced with the saw and the tractors before I was even out of bed Tuesday morning last week. Well, I had asked them to do it for me, they just forgot to tell me when. And they are early birds, so…

So, before breakfast, in my bathrobe I watched the forest fall. It’s been there all my life and generations before me and now it’s gone and it leaves me unsteady and staggered. Although I know it’s for a good cause. It will be good. It will be very good.

Bertil and Clas are not just early birds, they are also intensely fast and do I dare to say, in their excitement over knocking down such tall trees, a bit wreck-less. So, in a few hours the trees were down and so were my telephone lines. I have two of them, one for the house and one for my business. Before the evening I was standing on a small clear cut without landlines. All wobbly.

Wednesday was quite an intense day too, on the cell (oh how I hate being on the cell for hours, no, no way, this was proof to me that I am not a modern human being, there is no way I will terminate my land lines) with confused airlines and cheery renters to wrap up a Seattle-stay for myself (!), so waking up Thursday morning I asked for a peaceful day. A day for recuperation. The reply was instant.

Crash! Or whatever. This time it was above my house. A terrible thunderstorm, arriving as unexpected and fast as my loggers, parked right over my house. Me again, in my bathrobe. Running around the house pulling cords from the outlets. Bu too late. This was bad. This was really bad.

Digital box. DVD. The radio part in my amplifier. Two telephones. A spotlight dimmer system in my bathroom that’s not possible to turn off (!). Several outdoor lighting. Broadband. Airport. They were all knocked out. That is, what I have found out this far.

So, Thursday evening my house was quiet. No landlines. No Internet. No television. My home here at the end of the road had turned into a summer cabin.

Saturday morning. My doorbell is ringing. Here we go again, hopping out of bed into my bathrobe. I am very surprised to find two Polish guys on my front porch. I can’t help laughing. It’s been a lot of unexpected mornings this week. I’m not sure what scared the poor guys the most, my crazy laughter or my bathrobe. But, in a few minutes I had my landlines back! And Sunday afternoon I had replaced all my broken communication tools. Being without them for four days had been an interesting experience. And the week had been a knock out one.

  

Mission completed

Pälle is close to white and smells good. I gave him a good bath this week. Pälle is 25 years old and hasn’t had a real clean up since he was a teenager. Pälle is Trouble 1’s tiny teddy bear that’s been with him since he was one year old. And the reason for this occasion is that he is preparing for traveling.

So is Trouble 1. He is packing up his most important things for spending three months in Seattle. I am driving him to the airport tomorrow morning. Trouble 1 has spent a great deal of time in Seattle since he was six. But this is the first time without anyone from his Swedish family. So, Pälle will be a good companion.

Trouble 1 and his little brother Trouble 2 didn’t really have a voice about Seattle to start with. And I remember sitting on the plane going over there for a year, putting my children in an American school, thinking, “What am I doing?” Pulling my sons out of their safe environment, just because I wanted to! And it wasn’t easy. Those first three months, before the school and their new language were comfortable to them, were tough. So tough that they, although the nine following months were great, didn’t want to do it again. Every time I was on the subject about spending another school year in Seattle the boys replied: “But we live in Sweden, right?” And now they were old enough to have a voice. And a vote. And they won the game.

So, I had dragged my children across the ocean, forcing them in to a different language and culture, just because I wanted to. But as they won the game about not doing school in Seattle again I found my way of still having a foot there. We spent summers in Seattle, fall breaks, even the Millennium. I wanted it for myself, but also for my sons, even though they were reluctant. That one school year had given them a second language, a culture different from their Swedish one, friends, and an American family: The Stolterman Crowd. I made it my mission to provide my sons all that, until they were old enough to choose it for themselves. Or not.

Today, being young men, they have a hard time figuring out why the heck they didn’t want to be in Seattle! And now they are choosing it for themselves. So, Trouble 1 is packing. He has wanted this for some years now, and it’s finally happening. There is this class at an art school waiting for him. The little boy with the Seattle Art Museum art kit tight under his arm is returning. And parts of his Seattle family are still there waiting for him. Pälle has been with him in his backpack every Seattle stay. And will be this time too. Fresh from his bath. And my mission is completed.

Facing the sun/keeping cool

And there it is! Summer! The saying is summer doesn’t arrive in Seattle until 4^th of July, and yes, most of the time that prognoses is very right. It’s like the overcast and the drizzle is blown away by the Star Spangled Banner and the fireworks on Lake Union, letting the sun and the mountains out for everyone finally to enjoy. Today 83°F (28°C), Monday 80° (27°), Tuesday 77°(25°), Wednesday 83°(28°), Thursday 78°(25,5°), Friday 75°(24°) and a big unobstructed sun! Oh how I love that sight!

And the saying in Umeå is that summer doesn’t arrive until after Midsummers. That’s often true too. At least if we are lucky. Some summers summer doesn’t really arrive. But this year it did warm up last week, even though the forecast doesn’t look like a Californian one.

Northern Sweden is struggling its long cold snowy winters. Seattle is fighting the rain and the very grey skies for nine months of the year. Yet, having spent quite a lot of time in Seattle since 1993 there is one thing I don’t understand.

When winter is loosing it’s grip and spring and summer awaken us, Swedes go crazy. Yes we do. We are going crazy for the sun. We are turning our faces to the south, throwing our clothes off, forgetting everything about skin cancer and melanoma because our craving for the sun is bigger then our fear of death. We just need the light and the warmth like an old car battery needs to be charged.

Seattleites on the other hand are cooler about the summer. They do appreciate it. The blue skies, the mountains coming out of the clouds like a forgotten Set Design; were they really there all this time? But I know that at the end of this upcoming week with temperatures in the eighties you will hear this phrase all around Seattle: “When will we be getting some relief?” Seattleites are very thorough about their sun block and would never chose to sit in the sun. They keep their doors shut to keep their houses cool and would you catch someone at a beach, it will sure be a tourist. And there are more sun glasses sold in Seattle then anywhere else in the entire US, would you believe that, the rainiest city in the country!

So what I can’t figure out is this: Yes, the northern Swedish winters are long and dark. But the Seattle winters are long and dark too. Those grey gloomy rainy months can really wear you out. Be as much as a dark sack as the Swedish winter. Yet it seems like the Seattleites don’t need the sun in the same way as Swedes do. So is it the cold? The cold itself that forces us to shut our doors to keep the heat in the house. That forces us to stay inside to be safe. Yes, it might very well be.

Anyway, for now it’s summer in both my cities and I am going to enjoy it! I’m going to sit outside, put some sunscreen on and turn my face and my starving body towards the sun, charging my battery and not waste any energy on cultural guessing games. And I will take my sun shades on and keep cool…

Only the Sky is the Limit!

Three huge pillars suddenly erected in front of the historic Stora hotellet (The Grand Hotel) at the Umeå river waterfront! And the day after there were six of them! And day three eight! And in Seattle The Seattle Great Wheel opened this weekend! The 175 feet (53,54 meter) ferris wheel is among the tallest in US and is changing the waterfront skyline in a big way. And so are the intriguing concrete pillars in Umeå. But it has taken a while to get there.

Hal Griffith, who owns Pier 57 where the ferris wheel is located, has envisioned this new attraction for 30 years. Three decades was needed for the plan to come to fruition. 42 climate-controlled gondolas are raising Seattleites well above their familiar zone. And I am sure it is a perfect match in the Waterfront for All project. The time was finally right.

Staden mellan broarna (The City Between the Bridges) was first presented in the Umeå City Council in 1989. But by that time of course discussed and envisioned for a number of years. And those huge eight concrete pillars pointing to the sky today is the first proof that it is finally happening. Sure, there has been a big busy and loud hole at the sight this winter, but a hole is just a hole, right? Anything could happen. More appeals, ancient findings, financial problems, politics, activists moving in with their sleeping bags, water running up from the river, the soil and foundation not solid enough, yes, pretty much anything.

But the findings turned out being from the sixties. And yes, the walls of The Grand Hotel and an old bank building is cracking from months of piling, but it seems like nothing can stop this now, there is actually a building coming up in The City Between the Bridges! I have to say, it’s truly hard to grasp. It’s really happening!

The construction of the new building for cultural arts, Kulturväven, will be the biggest contribution to Umeå since the Umeå University in the early sixties and I am here to see it rise. The building will be a ferris wheel of music, theatre, dance, literature, film and crossovers we can’t even fantasize about. And it will forever change the skyline. The physical one, obviously. But also the mental one. As experiencing the view from the top gondola will alter our vision, makes us take a deep breath and let it all in. Make our mind expand. And our hopes to rise. Only the sky is the limit!