HANG GLIDING, DOUG, AND HIS FINAL FLIGHT

   In the late 70's hang gliding captured our imaginations. My buddies, Terry and Doug  (neighbors in the Grove) took the big step and bought a Seagull hang glider.  

   With no place to fly it we drove to Delray Beach which had some breezy little sand dunes.

   Below is a 1977 photo I took that day. Doug Barnette is giving Terry Ferrer a shove as he launches.  With a strong wind blowing in our faces, each of us got to fly it fifty feet. What a thrill; for a few seconds we were the Wright Brothers!

   The two of them got the bug so bad they moved to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, where they learned to soar for hours at a time. 

    Sadly, Doug "flew away" five days ago. He died from complications following knee surgery. 

   And you thought hang gliding was dangerous.

                              ____________

SIT DOWN WITH A LEGEND

   

   

     Have you visited the South Grove's Four Corners Park lately?  It's the four lots where Palmetto Avenue crosses Plaza Street. It's been a dedicated public space since 1910 and a group of our neighbors has been trying to get the City of Miami to designate it as an official public park.  For some incomprehensible reasons they have not.

 

     To to make the place a little more welcoming we installed six benches there.  Each is dedicated to a Coconut Grove citizen who has made significant contributions to the Grove
community. Some are living and some are not. All have ties to our  neighborhood. The public is invited visit the benches and to learn more about the “Legends of The Grove”.  Here's how they are described in our brochure,

     
    - THELMA GIBSON, 1926-. Born in Coconut Grove, Ms. Gibson has been -and continues to be- an important West Grove leader. She
became a nurse in 1947 and went on to lead important public health initiatives
that continue to this day. Ms. Gibson lives on Franklin Avenue, three blocks north
of the park.


                                              - BOBBY INGRAM- 1937- .  Bobby is Coconut Grove’s legendary troubadour. The former U.S. Navy submariner began his musical career in the 1950’s and was,
at one time, David Crosby’s partner in a folk duo.  His latest album, “Postcards From Coconut Grove”, is a local treasure. His cottage is on the east end of Palmetto Avenue.

                                   - CHARLIE CINNAMON- 1922-2016. Charlie was South Florida’s premier publicist and a WW II veteran.  He brought Broadway shows to Miami and founded the Coconut Grove Art Festival. He lived in the 1919 historic bungalow adjacent to the
wooded area. His young nieces used to play in its dense foliage and they gave this
magical place its name, “Charlie’s Woods”.

- KING MANGO - 1982- ,The Mango King is a mythical figure who leads the Grove’s annual holiday parade,“The King Mango Strut”. His bench is dedicated to the volunteers who have produced this zany affair since 1982.




                                 - EBENEZER STIRRUP- 1873-1957. Bahamian born, E.F. W. Stirrup was an early leader and philanthropist in the Grove’s African-American community. He built over 100 homes in our seaside village. His own 1897 home -at 3242 Charles Avenue-
has been fully restored and is now a bed and breakfast.  It is just west of Main Highway’s Regions Bank.

-  JANET RENO - 1938-2016. Ms. Reno was first woman to serve as our Country’s Attorney General. The Harvard law grad spent her early years in her family’s Avocado
Avenue home. Her honors include serving as our county’s State Attorney, and, as Grand Marshall of the 2002 King Mango Strut. She once told Palmetto Avenue's Glenn Terry,

 “I used to love riding my tricycle in this neighborhood”.

      The benches were financed by a grant from the Miami Foundation. We appreciate their help. Four Corners Park, official or not, is open for all to enjoy from sunrise to sunset.  

                                  _________________________________________________

PS:  This is probably my last Grove Guy blog written in Coconut Grove. We're moving to North Florida next week. Yesterday it was fitting -and very sad- to take out-of-town friends to lunch at the last Old Grove holdout, my favorite place, Scotty's Landing.  As we approached the seaside eatery, a security guard stopped us, "Sorry, this place closed down last week.  It's being replaced by a Shula's Steakhouse".  It brought to mind a Joni Mitchell song.

               

WHAT'S BUGGIN' CHARLIE'S WOODS?

            We're building a new park on the west end of our block. It's four corners dedicated to the public in 1910 it's been a blank slate ever since.  Slowly, "Four Corners Park" is coming to be.  The coolest part is the wooded section.  We call it "Charlie's Woods" because the late Grove legend, Charlie Cinnamon, lived in a historic bungalow next door.

          Those heart-shaped leaves to the right?  Potato vines! 

    The woods is filled with invasive trees and plants.  Our mission is to eradicate them so we can replace them with natives.  One of the big pests is the potato vine.  They engulf everything every summer  blocking light, sucking up nutrients, and generally making it difficult for the "good plants" to grow.
    Months ago I attended a butterfly festival in Gainesville, Florida.  One booth had a sign reading, "We can eat your potato vines!"  In inquired and learned that the U.S. Dept. of agriculture was giving away "potato vine beetles", bugs that eat the invasive vine.
    I signed up for the program and last week an ag official came to Charlie's Woods to set 300 of these bugs free.  Now they are happily munching away turning the large heart-shaped leaves into lace. No, it won't kill them (you have to dig the potato-like seed out of the ground to do that) but it slows them down.  It's mother nature's way of tipping the scale.