A few blocks from our house, up on 24th Avenue, there is a long wall along the back side of houses facing the next street over. Since 24th Avenue is a busy through-street, it serves a good purpose to help block some of the traffic noise from these homes. When Linda and I first moved to Yakima twelve years ago, this wall was adorned with paintings depicting various scenes from around the area. Sad to say, over the years the sun had faded the paint and the wall was tagged time and time again. The tagging made it necessary to paint over the scenes to hide the tags. For the past I don't know how many years, the wall has just been a mishmash of various beige and gray colors of paint.
Recently a retired gentleman who lives on the other side of the wall organized his neighbors and spearheaded an effort to transform it into a thing of beauty. They enlisted the help of local artists to paint new scenes on the wall. It is still a work in progress, and has created a lot of buzz on social media. Since it was only a few blocks away from our house, I took a walk last Friday morning to check it out.
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| Nice sentiment |
The picture above is the panel located in about the middle of the wall. A lot of the wall has yet to be painted, as it is still an ongoing project. I'm hoping they can get it done before the weather turns really cold. Whenever it is finished, I plan to revisit it to see what has been added. As of last Friday morning, these pictures below show some of the main panels that have been painted. Below the pictures is a short video showing the entire wall, in sections (I had to stop filming quite often because of traffic going by). I hope you enjoy it!
The wall has several inspirational quotes along it, but I think my favorite is this one below. I don't believe it is finished yet, so I am anxious to see what it looks like when done. It kind of sums up the whole feeling behind the project.
This project just shows you what can be done when neighbors get together and decide to do something to improve their neighborhood. Everyone who rides or walks down 24th Avenue will now benefit from their efforts, and some local artists got a much-needed chance to showcase their work.
AUTUMN IN YAKIMA
With the cooler weather we have had lately, all of the trees are starting to lose their leaves. However, the leaves still clinging to the trees are treating us to a beautiful show of fall color. We had some rain the other day (!), and afterwards Linda ventured out into the front yard and took some pictures. The collage below shows two shots of leaves on the same bush, a huge Barberry. The range of color on this one bush is spectacular.
This project just shows you what can be done when neighbors get together and decide to do something to improve their neighborhood. Everyone who rides or walks down 24th Avenue will now benefit from their efforts, and some local artists got a much-needed chance to showcase their work.
AUTUMN IN YAKIMA
With the cooler weather we have had lately, all of the trees are starting to lose their leaves. However, the leaves still clinging to the trees are treating us to a beautiful show of fall color. We had some rain the other day (!), and afterwards Linda ventured out into the front yard and took some pictures. The collage below shows two shots of leaves on the same bush, a huge Barberry. The range of color on this one bush is spectacular.
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so Linda and I took a walk around Kissel Park, the little park near our house. I took my phone along and I was so glad I did. The trees around the park were just bursting with colors. It was a bright, crisp, beautiful sunny day, one of those days that make you realize how lucky you are to be alive.
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| Park view from the walking path |
AN OLD FRIEND
On our way back from our walk we passed by the open field where I took the pictures of the sprinkler icicles last week. Standing out in the field was an old friend. I'm not sure if he was here when we first moved to Yakima, but we have been seeing him for years. Almost every time we pass by this house, we see him grazing out in the field. It was nice to see an old friend enjoying a beautiful day.
PARTING SHOT
Lately I have gotten back into puzzling, since it's too cold outside to drag out my lounge chair and sit under the tree. I would most likely have leaves falling all over me if I did that...not to mention the fact that I'd probably need a blanket or two. So now I wander back to the computer room and help Linda with the puzzle on those afternoons when I'm not doing a lot of cooking. This time we are re-doing one of my favorites, Colin Thompson's Curious Cupboard #3. We often are joined by a little furry friend who thinks she is "helping." You can't get mad at her, though, she's so adorable!
That's all for this week, join us again next week for more from the Southerner in the Northwest!
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