It's never boring around here and other musings

So here we are, three days into our adventure with Naomi and Craig. We've raked leaves, cleaned stuff, played pool, experienced some marvelous hiking, played ping-pong, gone leaf-peeping several times, watched movies together, and generally re-acquainted ourselves with the essential "NaomiCraig household experience."

Last night, we drove a good forty-five minutes to find an Applebee's restaurant!

In Brandon there's one two miles away on Hwy 60 and we have two within four miles. We also have three Chili's, at least two Ruby Tuesday locations, and one or more of every imaginable type and price-level of eatery imaginable.

I'd forgotten how rural this part of Connecticut is!

But, on balance, I'd take this kind or rural any day over our kind of Bay Area "metro-spillage" (my term).

It's not that Florida's not beautiful - it's just that we've paved over it and without regard to anything other than the bottom line for developers. Connecticut didn't just accidentally remain well cared for. It's the kind of decision communities can and do make all the time.

If we don't start making those kinds of commitments to what's left of natural Florida now then, just as soon as the construction juggernaut starts up again, we're going to roll over again because we're afraid the big investments will up and leave if we don't give them everything they want.

To be honest, I think we need to re-define what we mean by prosperity. If we believe it means "more money and less sense community responsibility..." then we'll continue down this destructive road. But if - instead - we understand prosperous in terms of stewardship rather than ownership... well, there's hope for Florida after all.

Think about it - DEREK