We had two goals for our outing today. One was to check out the huge amount of construction going on at Briarwood Mall. Basically, they have torn down the weakest (in my opinion) anchor store (Sears) and are building, uh, what? A big 2-story(?) grocery store and maybe other stores and a big “luxury” apartment building for “low income” folks, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, so maybe I misunderstood. I have read about this project but didn’t really process it. Any way, there’s a lotta construction flying around.

I have a couple of thoughts about all this. I don’t think MOST people WANT to live in apartments, especially high-rise apartments (the apartments being built are what I might call medium-rise, 5-6 stories or thereabouts). When we bought the Landfill I was looking specifically for a single-family house with a backyard. When the (small) one we bought also bordered a small adjacent woods, I was over the moon. I know that not everyone nowadays can afford such a situation, at least not in the city. We could barely afford it 40 years ago when we started our loverly little family.

My second thought is that the GG asked me when the last time I had been in Briarwood was. I could not remember. I finally ventured that it probably had something to do with the Apple Store. I know it was pre-COVID. We’ve been ordering new iPhones online since before COVID and my MacBook Pro is humming along nicely so hasn’t needed repairs (knock on wood). I had to order TWO “new” (refurbished) work PCs after COVID. Those things die like flies. At any rate I had stopped shopping in person for most things you might find at a mall long before COVID. Clothing? Hit or miss, mostly miss. Maybe an occasional trip with the beach urchins?

Since Briarwood is a couple miles up S. State from Cubelandia, I asked if we could dip down there and take a look. I am not sentimental about this place although I feel a bit of nostalgia for the good times we had when most of us worked there (at least some of the time). But we’d been outta there never to return since COVID. I had heard rumors that a church had moved in and yes! Bethesda Church (whatever that is). Who’da thunk it? I couldn’t really look inside as curious as I was.

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