Hidden Gems of Gainesville

The Newberry Branch Library  hosted an event where children and toddlers can play with goats. Not only did kids learn how to interact with goats but they were able to feed them milk from a bottle, learn how to milk a goat and what products can come from goats milk. There was between 40-60 parents and children at the event in the small field next to the library. For some kids, it was their first time ever seeing a goat. They had goats from a variety of age ranges: newborn baby goats (born two days prior to the event!), mama goats and some goats that were a couple years old. The library host the event twice a year. The next one will be in December - goat storytime. Kids can read to goats! The library has had similar experience with dogs as well that's ever week at the Alachua library branch. Here is an article from WUFT about the goats from 2015:  https://www.wuft.org/news/2015/12/17/children-milk-goats-at-newberry-branch-library/ And here are some photos! ...

The City of Gainesville and GAI Consultants sought help from residents to guide future parks, trail and public space design throughout Gainesville!  Two open house events were held to discuss design standards for parks and public spaces. These standards help define the unique character of Gainesville’s parks and public spaces, and include park furniture, signage and other amenities.  The architect on the project says they have been holding interactive meetings for about a year now, and plan to do them twice a year. Check out their website for any further information about upcoming meetings.  Here are some photos of the ideas Wild Spaces and Public Places had in mind:  Interviewing architect Sarit Sela about the meeting, and future plans for the park.

As Gainesville re-invents S. Main Street, it's planning an environmental bonus for the corridor. They're planning to use the stormwater runoff to add a touch of green. It's part of an overall 8.5 million dollar project, and S. Main Street will get the special runoff system with a series of stormwater planters. The first two planters should be finished by the end of the week. The next time you're in the area, you might want to check them out. ;) Take a look: https://youtu.be/T2SyBKOx8po

I enjoyed reading this book, because it gave me a lot of good advice for my blogging website, it answered some of the questions I had about what makes a good book. Most people who go on a website are just looking for what they need, and if you make things to complicated they get confused. In the first chapter, author Steve Krug writes exactly that. Most people don't want to have to go online, and go through the process of figuring out how to work the website before even getting to what their looking for/what they actually need to do. The BBC says the average attention span is about eight seconds; this means that if you make it complicated, website-users are bound to leave the site. You want to make sure your website is easy, and just a few clicks (maybe two-three, or four at most) before getting to what they need. On the topic of making it easy, keep your writing simple; omit needless words! Don't put big words in your website because most likely, people may not know it and w...

There is a program at the Alachua County Public Library - Archer Branch, where children can read to a dog. These dogs are certified therapy dogs with Love on a Leash, a group in Gainesville that specializes in helping people through pets. Children can either bring their own books and read to them, or the library will put out some books for kids to choose from. I brought the 4-year-old girl I babysit here last week, and she loved it! She was reading to Barnie and Phlash, and was giving them a bunch of pettings. Once we left, she asked me if we can go again next week. If you're looking for something fun and free that your kids will enjoy, this is the place. The librarian, Taryn Brown also told me that a lot of children's reading rates have increased since starting to come to the program. It's a win-win situation for everybody!  Nova (right) is 4-years-old, and is reading to Barnie (center).  The other therapy dog is Phlash (right)

On Sunday, Feb. 3 I went to the annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire. My friend actually used the faire as her photojournalism project, and she invited me to go with her for fun. We got there around 1:30 p.m. on a rainy day, and it was very muddy! Throughout the event we were dodging mud puddles and getting our shoes stuck in the mud, so make sure to wear either old shoes or rain boots. Once we bought our tickets, we walked through a castle and entered the faire. They had many shows including jousting and medieval human checkers. The jousting was very cool to see because I always saw it in movies. They also had a bunch of food including authentic American food, a lot of deep fried items and some Greek food; I had a gyro. There were many shops that had wands, swords, capes, crowns, etc. Anything that you could think of that people wore or used during those time, they had it! It had a lot of fun, and will definitely be going back next year.

This past Wednesday, Jan. 23, I reported on the Point-In-Time survey in Alachua County. This survey counts all homeless people in the county. Volunteers who help with the survey are either homeless themselves or were recently homeless. For each homeless person they find, they will ask them questions including: Where did they sleep last night? Do they have any family embers who are homeless? Length of time they have been homeless? Do they deal with physical or mental abuse, drug addictions or alcohol? And many more. The purpose is to see how many people are without homes and living on the streets. According to GRACE Marketplace Director Jon DeCarmine, these surveys help them figure out how to better suit their needs. I followed Shachia Alexander and Betty Hollar, two homeless women who were volunteering that day, and handing out goody bags filled with toiletries and food to every person who took the survey. They were taking surveys at St. Francis House in Gainesville; they spo...