Fire in the 'hood

Wifey and I enjoyed a lovely winter weekend. Saturday we rode our bikes over to the Pinecrest Art Fair, and walked around our beloved old Parrot Jungle. It became a city park several years ago, when each of us was surtaxed a few thousand dollars, so we go whenever we can to get our municipal money's worth.

When the Ds were little, we bought an annual pass to the place. The Ds never tired of the glorious birds, and amazing foliage, and kitschy shows in the "Parrot Bowl" consisting of birds riding bicycles and doing magic tricks. It was pure Miami...

Now, there are are shows and jazz concerts there, and the city has done a nice job of keeping the place up. We enjoyed our time there...

And then Saturday night, Wifey's friend Cara invited us to dinner at her Venetian Isle condo, to meet her boyfriend Teddy. I love the term "boyfriend" when it applies to a 79 year old "boy," and we had a nice time meeting him. Teddy's daughter was there, with her fiance, a Bronx guy who does health care consulting, and the 3 couples got along well. Cara set a great table, and poured Absolut generously...

Yesterday I napped well to the AFC playoff game, and enjoyed watching the match between former Canes players, one of whom, Ed Reed, clinched the victory for his Ravens. And then Wifey and I went to dinner with Paul and Patricia, at an Argentinian steakhouse in the Gables, which we all enjoyed.

We got home, and the phone rang, around 1030. We rarely get calls that late. It was our neighbor Gloria, the association president, telling us a house was on fire!

I walked down the street, and sure enough, there was a scene with 3 fire trucks, and a couple of police cars. The off duty FHP troopers we pay $2000 per year per house for were nowhere to be found -- they rarely patrol on Sunday nights, I've observed.

Anyway, I asked the policeman, and he told me no one was hurt, but that the fire started in our late neighbor Greg's house. Greg died a few months ago, from pancreatic cancer, and his young son lives in California. We assume he's going to sell the house at some point, but luckily no one was in it this weekend.

I walked home, and it occurred to me how lucky we are to live in a hood where this sort of non event is the big news -- a fire that took out a tree or two, and maybe a kitchen.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I plan to celebrate by exercising some of the freedoms MLK espoused . In my case, that means the freedom to head over to Brands Mart to buy a new house phone...

And tonight I plan to light a fire, but in the pit by my pool.