" Sixty years ago my family lived in an orange grove. Forty years ago we were one house in a field of houses, with few orange trees between. Twenty years ago we were one of many houses in a row in a rich neighborhood. Ten years ago, mainlanders bought up all the houses, all but my family’s, because my father didn’t sell. So now we have a hotel to the left of us, and a surf shop to the right, and two bars on the street, and three mansions, and no orange trees. My father sits on the porch and rocks, as he’s done all my life. Even if you live sixty years on one block, the block moves around you.

Gladstone, Max. The Craft Sequence . Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. "

― Max Gladstone , Full Fathom Five (Craft Sequence, #3)