33 and a Third

I ceated this entry by mistake. As of today (Fri Nov 14 2003) it is causing the whole blog to fail for some reason, so I am putting some text into it.

I really should make more of an effort to write more often, eh? But my entries always turn into some huge, long affair that ends up taking too long. Okay. It’s now 22:28. Lets see how long this takes (and I’ll make an effort to be brief — but since I’m such a terrible speller, I’ll have to spell check this thing and that always takes a long time, and I do ramble on, don’t I?)

Went to a community meeting about the Guild Inn tonight. Since we’ve moved into the area, I’ve learned a whole lot about the Guild Inn and its historical significance. I often hear people of my generation belittling it, and so I assumed it was some old fashioned, silly place, that used to host a lot of weddings. Boy, was I wrong.

It used to be owned by Rosa and Spencer Clark. They opened their home to artists, and created a co-operative community where artists could live and devote their time to their art. They would sell their work as well. There’s a short blurb about it here.

The city owns the property now, and the crumbling old inn has been closed for a year. We’ve been hearing about proposals for the site for quite some time, and it seems they’ve finally chosen a developer. Many people attending the community meeting are frustrated with the length of time this has taken, and one elderly lady wondered whether she would still be alive to see what all comes of it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll start developing in a year or so.

Representatives from the city and the developer told us of their vision to include a restaurant, spa, culinary school and 400-seat theatre. Some of the specifics may change (perhaps it’ll be an art school, for example), but they have a concept where they’re trying to keep the facility open to the public, but also make it a successful business. They’ve assured us they won’t encroach on the surrounding forest, and won’t tear down a single tree.

It all sounds rather exciting, and I honestly wonder whether I’ll be happy with the end result. Most people in the Guild, myself included, are emotionally tied to that old building and the forested grounds. We love strolling through the woods and grounds, examining the unique bits and pieces of old buildings that Spencer Clark accumulated over the years. I’ll always cherish memories of us playing hide-and-seek among the strange architectural structures (especially what we call the Greek Theatre, where they’re actually holding outdoor plays this summer). My pessimism probably results from a change in the grounds over the last few years. They give permits to wedding parties to have their pictures taken. So on weekends in the summer, the park is chock full of bridal photo shoots. In fact, we can no longer play hide-and-seek among the columns for fear of becoming entangled in veils and tuxedo tails.

I have a secret dream of having a water gun party there. I even found a source for water (although it’s often turned off). It would THE BEST place for it.

And now I have to stop because I’ve gone off on another tangent. Geez. It’s 23:01, and I’m dead tired, and I can’t believe how long this ‘quick’ blog took. Sheesh. Happens every time.

Testing entry

Don’t panic. All the old entries and pictures are still around. It’s just that the old URLs won’t work to point at them for a short bit while this all gets muddled through..

Oh, and I need this second post to see how the site looks.