YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN (but you might leave quickly)

   
  What a welcome sight, strangers enjoying the patch 'o green I tried to turn into a Coconut Grove park for years. This was on last week's visit to Miami (the Grove Guy moved to Gainesville six months ago).
 Renata Dixon and her family enjoying Four Corners Park.      

    Three adjacent neighbors fought my "Four Corner's Park" proposal for years and now, despite the city refusing to help, the pro-park momentum continues to make it a joyous, public place. Last Saturday there was a yoga class bending in places that won't bend on me, kids running through Charlie's Woods, and a new awareness that "this land is our land".

       









Nothing's perfect. When I headed up Palmetto Avenue I was mortified to see Charlie Cinnamon's historic cottage demolished.              
                                          Before

After


Charlie's house stood in the back left corner for
one hundred years, next to "Charlie's Woods". 

     Replacing it will be a 9000 sq. ft. 
monster with more bathrooms than days of the week.
  
 It's a great example of why the Grove Guy in now a Gainesville Guy.  Developers control everything.

   A half-block further was the home we sold last summer. It looked abandoned but fortunately, not torn down.
       
    We were happy to see some of the Old Grove hangin' in there. The Farmer's Market still thrives next to sign selling its future. The proposed luxury condo includes a roof-top pool and landing pads for human-carrying drones. 

                                          Park your drone  here

    
     In Gainesville there still is plenty of turf to park a flying car on the ground but who cares?  We fly everywhere on bicycles. If you do drive a car you can park easily for free.

     We enjoyed seeing old friends and the balmy breezes we miss here in the North Florida pines. Driving home the next day Francesca and I talked about the special things we left behind.  High on the list was looking out to an endless sea, parrots flying overhead, and the cat litter couple.
Two for five, you can't beat that.