Hello and welcome to another Monday – start of a new week. The weather cannot be better today. The sun is shining gorgeously and I am smiling. I look outside at my little terrace and I feel joy. I wonder what small things can give us joy. We have a balcony on our attic and I find it strange, but the more I think about it I feel I am lucky to have a balcony that faces the street. I love balconies, and I love to look at the world passing by. When I lived in Boston, I remember I went to look at apartments in a community and I had two options in the same building – one looking at the street side and parking side and the other at the woods. I chose the street side because I loved watching from the comfort of my home. In Germany too, my apartment faced the street side and it was a cul-de-sac and all the kids played there or people just parked their card or mowed their lawns and we always said hello to each other. I was a lovely community that I miss till date. Before this, I never knew engaging with your community can give you so much joy. Simple plesaures in life. This home in Melbourne, Australia (that I found in Homes To Love), does just that.
The family lives in the bayside corner of Melbourne with a great community who not only share the same street, they share cooking, their cars and look after each other’s children. Instead of craving for more privacy, there is an intentional lack of blinds that brings the outdoors in and welcome the smiles and waves of people passing by. I am introvert, but I do not consider this as an intruder of privacy, rather I would welcome this a community build up. We live in strange worlds now and when I have caring and smiling neighbours, I would appreciate and be grateful for that. What a nice way to build up the community feeling that we lack so much these days, especially during the covid days where loneliness has become a major mental health issue.
And how I love this internal courtyard that has been built to let the light in. The Australians are amazing at bringing the outdoors in and this house is another example of that. It shows how we can connect to the nature with smallest of spaces.
This home is like a fresh breath of air to me. It celebrates community and nature – two most important aspects of wellbeing. It makes me wonder what I can do with my home to incorporate this in my life. What a great lesson.
