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Sometimes you meet a person and you know, straightaway, that she will be your friend. That’s how it was with me and Whole Heart Local.
On Thursday, September 15, I officially met Whole Heart Local, following a spring of plotting, a summer of planning, and hearty smattering of apprehension. I was fresh from the non-success of my first blog, Librarytour, and I wanted WHL to be a win. A love letter to my favorite city, a safe space to wonder from, an opportunity to be more public with my writing: this blog has proved a good venue, a satisfying partnership.
So, Whole Heart Local – here’s to you: 100 posts! Looking forward to 100 more.
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On to the Giveaway. Inspired by my adopted neighborhood (how jealous I am of friends lucky enough to be born here), my first Giveaway will feature treats purchased (or gathered) right in Jamaica Plain, Boston. I’m calling it JP Beautiful.
Leave a comment below about one beautiful thing you’ve noticed, or created, or wish existed here in JP. If you never been to Jamaica Plain, please leave a comment about your OWN neighborhood or someplace you’ve lived or visited that just about blew you away, or made you sit down and consider over an ice cream cone, or a place you just find cool.
The winner will be chosen by random on Monday, May 26 (also my brother’s birthday, by the way. Say: Happy Birthday, Stadi!)
Happy Commenting.
Luck.
Phoebe Sinclair Writes 
Hey Phoebe! I can’t say that I’ve been to Jamaica Plain, but I do love my own neighborhood of trees and streams and woodpeckers and owls and lady slippers.
Happy 100!
I’ve admired how JP residents are generally creators of ritual, street art, and amazing community. Once at JP Licks I met a sweet visitor from Argentina. She and I ate our sundaes at the same table, chatting, and then we swapped contact information. For the next year we were penpals, sharing the cultural/life experiences that had shaped us as women. That kind of openness you cannot find anywhere in Boston except JP!
My favorite thing about JP is the air. There is magic in it…and it feels a tid bit fresher than other hoods in and around Boston.
There is a homeless man named Neil who has sometimes been sleeping in my tiny tiny house behind Harvest. He is very kind, and yesterday he called me to say he had something for me, and when i went by the Harvest to get my bicycle (where i leave it locked up at night), he gave me a four leaf clover. He had gathered them the day before. He is a very kind man who stayed with Reggie during the end of his life.
I loved that tree in JP (YOU KNOW which tree) and that corner grocery.
The above was my spontaneous tribute to Dr. Seuss.
I’ve been sort of lukewarm toward my own ‘hood – it was ok, but no magic – until I started seeing it from a bike’s eye view. Now, I’m befriending dogs! I’m finding snails in locust trees! I’m riding along butterfly migration paths! I think I should be starting my own blog! 🙂
PS – I happily comment, but I withdraw from your contest. Feels nepotistic.
PPS – Happy Birthday, Stadi!
Happy 100!
Well, In JP I love JP licks, of course. As well as boomerangs. And well as visiting my favorite sinclair and kurmisky. Also that time we ate noodles in a bowl. And the pond.
Ok, so JP is pretty cool!
I’ve never been to JP. I live in New Jersey, though I have spent time all over the world. I lived for a summer in Toronto, in a beautiful neighborhood, on a street lined with trees and filled with interesting, intelligent and lovely people. I lived on D’Arcy St, close to Kensington Market, and pretty much everything in downtown Toronto. The people made the place so special. I met someone who has become a great friend, even after I moved back to the States. She plays the cello and she and some of the other neighborhood denzians would jam in the evenings on the front porch, as the summer breeze blew by, often carrying warm rain.
Hands down, the Arnold Arboretum. Once, years ago, Sequina and I brought our nephew there when he was just a baby. It was early summer, and we played catch in the grass while he slept. I’m pretty sure it was Jack who first brought me there- we planned to go back and take photos together, but somehow it never happened. I loved the way it was a safe, green space in the middle of a city- it was the one thing driving my move to JP so many years ago. To this day, I always say- if I had to move back, it would be to JP.
JP is nice, but it’s nothing without the friends I have there. As for my neighborhood, I’m not really sure yet (it’s only been 4 days!), but if pressed I’d have to say the house I have in it. Oasis!
The roundabout Pond walk is magnificent and cozy in all four seasons; how lovely to live near it. Reminds me of my almost daily hikes along the Charles. Enjoy! and congratulations on the beauty and truth [and sweetness] of “Whole Heart Local!”
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