Having expected it to be a slow Monday, I was certainly proved wrong by the amount of real estate activity my office experienced today. One of the bright sides of my day was having another one of my listing sold as well as a closing take place with two of the most charming young buyers. I know they’ll be exceptionally happy with their new home as well as the neighborhood. They’ll certainly be two people whom I’ll be staying in contact with on a regular basis. Delightful young people like as they are, is a confirmation that there really are very nice hard working young adults living in our community. I was a bit cramped for time getting to my next appointment after my closing to where I wasn’t able to stop for lunch. About mid-afternoon I figured I’d visit Mr. Taco in the mall and grab a burrito. I’d only been there once before and didn’t think I had anything worth mentioning, but today’s carry-out was tastier than I’d expected. With that said, I’ll have to frequent their lunch counter more often. I’m becoming all the more sensitive about where I shop in purchasing as much as I can locally, even if I have to pay more. Small businesses have been the backbone of our economy since our Nation’s beginnings, and if we don’t patronize their stores, we’ll all soon be prisoners of corporate entities who’ll not care a hoot about our City. As long as our Downtown continues to prosper, there’ll be more locally owned shops opening their doors for business. I had an extended conversation with one of my colleagues late yesterday about possibilities for several of the storefronts in our Downtown. She was certainly in agreement that the business plans I spoke of would work very well for whomever would take the time to fill those market niches. Having worked in the Historic Downtown for over 25 years, I can’t help but say I have a pretty good idea about what works and what doesn’t. We as a community must continue to strive for the creation of safe neighborhoods surrounding the Historic Downtown to where more people will want to not only shop there, but live there as well. Mixed use has been, and will always be the glue that binds those charming districts we see in other cities. The more residential dwellings we can create and fill, the more commerce we’ll be seeing– and that’s my promise.
As I as driving home tonight I began remembering Halloween from my childhood. In those days we didn’t have all the bite-sized candies that are thrown in the begging bags of trick-or-treeters. I clearly remember my Mother popping dishpans full of popcorn which would then be turned into those wonderful marshmallow popcorn balls that were wrapped in wax paper and tied at each end. Then there would be those aromatic fresh apples that would have a wooden stake slid into their cores and then dipped into pot of hot caramel and be transformed into yet another mouth-watering treat. Then there was that yummy fudge made from scratch and filled with a sprinkling of home-cracked walnuts and cut into neat rectangles and wrapped into wax paper singlettes. I was never sure which I liked best. It was a toss-up between the popcorn balls and those sinfully good buttery caramel drops who’s wax paper always fought me. I’m now salivating over those memories and ready to start calling out for a real old-fashioned Halloween!
