What's the Cache?

This bridge has a secret.  Nearly every GroveAtopian knows exactly where this bridge is and exactly where this picture was taken.  So that's not the secret.  The bridge's secret is something else.

To find this secret you have to enjoy hunting.  But not the kind of hunting that uses guns or other weapons.  The only weapons you need for this hunt are patience and your phone.

People who try to discover this bridge's secret will look a bit odd while they are trying to figure it out.  They may walk slowly one way, then turn and walk the other.  They may cross the street and wander seemingly without reason along the the other side.  People who recognize you and wave to you as they go into the feed store will tell you as they come out,  "you don't seem to be making much progress on your walk."

"It's not a walk," you tell them as you smile at each other knowing the next time you see them they are going to ask you what you were doing.

Back and forth you walk across the bridge, your had slowly tracing across both the top and bottom railing while you check every nook and cranny.  Before now you never realized how many there were on this bridge.

You check under the bridge.  Maybe the secret is there.  But no!  Oh dear!  Is someone living under there?  Now you are kind of sorry you looked because that is something you didn't want to know.  Plus there's more garbage down there than you care to admit.

But still you look.  In the tree branches that hang near the railing?  Is the the secret there?  You really can't believe it's even possible the secret would be in the branches.  There are so many of them, it would be downright cruel to hide a secret there.

Looking at your phone, you try to decipher the hints.  Some of them mock you by telling you how easy it is to find the secret.  How could they be so mean?

Finally, the most tenacious one in your group finds the secret and it is so very small and rather cleverly hidden.  It turns out it's pretty much right where the hints said it would be.  And many others have found it before us.

How do we know?  Because when you find the secret, it tells you so.

Trucks use River

We already know that GroveAtopia is a little bit magic what with talk of fairies who occasionally appear to help us out when our story needs some help moving forward.

Apparently they are at work again, but this time they've communicated with us directly.  They've left us a sign in a very busy spot over by the Woodson Bridge.  They've told trucks to swim.  Or float.  No roads for them, because, as the sign says, "Trucks Use River."

Now some may wonder if this is a description of something that's already happening - just letting everyone know:  Trucks Use River, so be careful.  In that case the next sign might say "Cars Use Road." And the next could say, "Bicycles Use Sky" or "Pedestrians Use Trees."  But now we are just being silly.

Maybe the sign is a command. "Hey Trucks!  Use River!"  In that case the next sign would say "Not Road!" because most trucks would assume they could use the road.  But not here.  Not in this place were trucks use the River because the fairies told them to.

Prison Gardeners

Some time ago we established that GroveAtopia continues whether we write about it or not so there is no need to address the fact that we've been absent for over 3 years.  That's longer than any written excuse can handle, so let's just skip it.

That said, over the years, writing and reading about GroveAtopia has been in the back of our minds, hasn't it?  Some have even asked where it has been.  That was surprising.   The truth is that it been in the place where writing is before it hits the screen, wherever that is.  Imagination?  Fantasy?  Some part of the brain called "time crunch?"  In any case it has not been here.

But the other day, driving by City Hall an unusual gardening occurance was taking place and frankly, there is no better place to share it than here.  It was so unusual that it took several awkward drive by attempts to photograph it, so please excuse the poor results.   One plus of poor results is that people sometimes stick around for the explanation.  Let's see if that is the case here.

Here is the first picture.

 See?  You were warned.  It's not very good.  So let's explain.  The guy in the stripped suit.  What is he doing?  Why is he wearing what looks like prison garb straight from a cartoon?

Because he is a prisoner in the GroveAtopia jail.  Yep, GroveAtopian prisoners have to wear cartoon clothes while they serve their time.

Now seeing a prisoner out and about on a pleasant Saturday afternoon might give one pause, but only if you don't realize that the brown door in the background of this picture leads directly to the police department.  So given the combination of cartoon prisoner garb and proximity to the police department, this guy is probably not up to anything we should be worried about. 

Actually, it turns out he's up to something that makes us happy in that mixed up kind of way you feel when you see a good thing being done by someone who is accused of having done something bad.   At the very least you drive around the block and have another look.

And when you do, this is what you see.  TWO guys in cartoon prison garb pulling weeds in the little patch of flowers between the police department, jail, city hall and the Territorial Seed call center - all right there on Main St.

Lest you think this is a common site here in GroveAtopia, well, it's not.  We've seen prisoners washing patrol cars a few times before, so we know they are put to work.  

But we've never seen them gardening, so when you drive by and the words "prison gardeners" pop into your mind, you simply have to tell someone about it.