Never would have thought this would happen - back living on Genevieve Street in the north end of San Bernardino - bankrupt San Bernardino; gang-infested hood San Bernardino; it-can-only-get-better San Bernardino.
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| Christmas Party at Sondra's - 2012 |
There
are good things about being here... no, GREAT things. One that I love is the people. Many kin are here, family that I only stayed in touch with through phone and email are now "in my face" in the best way possible, friends... and best friends, classmates from high school days, old neighbors, acquaintances of my parents, work buddies from 20+ years ago, my church family - yes, the very best thing about being back here is definitely "The People".
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| garden abundance |
Once I get past the negative aspects of living here: blast-furnace summer heat, nature assaulting lawn maintenance engine noise, car alarms, house alarms, vagrants, graffiti, panhandling, traffic and more traffic (wow the list could go on and on), there are many wonderful coincidences and occasions for pleasant interactions and hopefully heartening moments that turned into days, then weeks and now several years.
The second best thing about being here is "The Growing Season." Yes, the year-round ability to grow your own - food that is and other plant and tree life. I absolutely love when I can walk out my back door, scissors and basket in hand to pick a handful of kale for the morning green smoothie or fresh greens for my lunch salad or fill a basket with sweet tangerines, navel oranges and Meyer lemons not just for me, but enough to share. Now that's fun!
Included in one of the "best things" is the Oborny Avocado Grove nestled against the foothills just north of my house. It is an oasis away from the "other" side of this town with an abundance of wildlife and of course, those delicious avocados.
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| A canopy of avocado trees |
The North End neighborhood was an idyllic place to grow up with tons of baby-boomers tucked into orderly laid out mid-century tract homes, homeowner maintained yards and young parents that got involved with school activities. We rode our bicycles everywhere, built forts in the open fields, romped in the streets long after dark with no fear and collected bottles to buy penny candy. We made friends with the neighbor who had the only swimming pool on the street, rode horses on dirt roads and into the washes and belly-crawled past the Fisher's house to get to the "cave" tucked into the side of the foothills behind our homes.
There's so much to say about those days and when old friends get together, stories often are told... many of us having known each other since elementary school days. We all have a story or two about how it used to be. I'm sure you have a few -- perhaps you'd like to share yours!?
