Across the Border

photo by Ballard Avenue

The other day we were patrolling the border between Ballard and The Outside. This picture looks across the DMZ towards Phinney Ridge. The Ridge isn't a bad place (and we once lived there way back in the day), but it's become a bit twee over the years. A little too precious, a little too neat, a little too obsessed with their rising real estate values. Well, Ballard's are rising very well themselves, thank you, yet we don't go all ga-ga over the latest yoo-hoo from the real estate Authorities. Living on the Ridge is all about having the latest, the most tasteful, the must-have thing you read about in Sunset or Metropolitan Home last month. It's all about insecurity and collecting stuff to assuage it. By contrast, living in Ballard is simply about being right with the world.