Theme Day 2016: Didn't Have Anything I Liked ...

...For the first day of the year, I couldn't think 

of a picture I was particularly fond of.

On my way to swim practice on December 30th,

I walked by the Chase Tower, almost abandoned

during the holiday week, to see this floorlamp 

shining through the window blinds.

Not only did I like the subdued lighting 

and shadows; the composition seemed to add

to the overall linear look of the alley,

with the blobs of fluorescent light echoing

the circles in the wrought-iron fencing.

Pale Cold Light

At the end of the year, the pale sunlight 

broke through the cloud cover just long enough 

to shine a ray or two on Christ Church Cathedral.

 Opened in 1857, the cathedral is the oldest religious 

building in Indianapolis in continuous use.

As the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese

of Indianapolis, the structure has been a part of

the city's growth, as well as having long ago

been dwarfed by surrounding structures.

To it's credit, in a time when many religious and 

corporate organizations seemed to have 

lost their mission and morality, 

this church has remained stalwart,

 reasonable, and humane.

Strawberry Aftermath

See that little red thing, just to the left of the girl's foot? 

Dead strawberry slice.

All day Thursday, it somehow evaded being scooped 

into a bowl and eaten by an avid lover 

of strawberry shortcake,

only to end up soapily smeared on the

downtown sidewalk.

Oh, the ignominy of it all.

(I just wanted to use ignominy in a sentence.)

About a half dozen teenagers were engaged

in cleaning the 30-pound pails before

they were returned to the supplier. 

The Festival organizers estimate they sell about 

six tons of strawberries, which would make

about 400 pails of the fruit - not to mention the giant 

containers of whipped cream and the ginormous 

amounts of ice cream consumed.

(Damn, my day is complete! I just used

the words ignominy and ginormous

in one post! Spelled right, too! :-)

All the Fixin's!

Thursday saw the 49th Annual 

Christ Church Cathedral Women's Strawberry Festival. 

Held annually on Monument Circle, people line up early

for the treat and sit in the shadows of the Monument

and the Cathedral to enjoy strawberry shortcake with

ice cream as live music plays in the background.

People of all ages stand in line for some of the 

18,000 home made shortcakes and fixin's,

lovingly made and stored by members of the church 

in the months leading up to the Festival.

The Festival served an estimated six tons 

of strawberries to go with the cakes, as well as 

vanilla ice cream and whipped topping.

Ninety-five per cent of the proceeds from the Festival

will go directly to local, national, and international

outreach groups.

Oh, the Bloomanity!

The gardeners planted pansies on Saturday in the large concrete pots

 around downtown Indy, possibly in anticipation of 

the NCAA Basketball Tournament games being hosted 

later this week. What they surely didn't plan on was the early spring

snowstorm that blew into town late Sunday, dropping about 

10 inches of snow onto the newly planted blooms.

The daffodil above had its neck snapped by the weight of the snow.

Its death in the yard of Christ Church Cathedral recalled

the albino killer in The DaVinci Code, while the poor pansies,

just planted, well, surely a failed Arctic expedition.

  

To Remember

I've lived in Indianapolis a long time now. 

I've passed Christ Church Cathedral thousands of times over the years, 

attended services, and gotten homemade shortcakes at the annual 

Strawberry Festival. Until today, however, I'd never noticed

this little sculpture set in a corner of the church yard.

Incised in the base of the sculpture are the words, 

To Remember ALBERT SPLATT, 1940-1977.

I only found one mention of him on-line, in the caption

for a newspaper photo, showing him making a presentation

to one of the church's Strawberry Festival founders.

Whoever Mr. Splatt was, he was sufficently respected by members

of the church for them to want to make a small memorial

in his honor. The humble statue of St. Francis sits just off the sidewalk 

around Monument Circle, a bird in hand and his toes 

curled over the edge of the base.

Textured Tuesday: Franz Kline in Speedway

Er, downtown near Christ Church Cathedral, actually.

It cracks me up. I'm walking along, minding my own business, 

when I catch sight of something out the corner of my eye.

This time it was the sidewalk. As a repair job,

it's pretty crappy, but as texture, color, shapes and line

it's pretty interesting. 

Hey, all you cee-mint

repairmen and cutters out there, whatever it is

you're drinking or eating, don't stop.

Painting, 1952. Franz Kline. Oil on Canvas.

Strawberry Festival

Today, under tents in front of Christ Church Cathedral,

people gathered for the 47th Annual Strawberry Festival. Sponsored

by the church's Women's Guild, the Festival serves homemade

shortcakes topped with ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream.

This year, organizers expected to serve 6 tons of

strawberries and 18,000 shortcakes.

On the north side of Monument Circle, people gathered to enjoy their treats

on a pleasant sunny day. Searching for shade in the shadow of

Victory's pedestal, people sat on the Monument's steps as they were

entertained by various local musical groups.

Shown here are members of the Indiana Banjo Society,

who picked their way through a number of Dixieland

and patriotic standards. 

Here mom and her daughter enjoy their treats while listening

to the Shortridge High School Jazz Band.

And in the shadow of the surrounding trees, 

a group of women enjoys their lunch break.

Of course, since strawberries are my favorite food,

serving me as a breakfast staple when they are in season,

I could not let the occasion pass without

listening to Nina Simone singing "I loves You Porgy."

They're so soft and fine,

And they're just off the vine ... Strawberries.

Too Hot To Trot

The temperature hit 100 degrees F. in Indy for the first time since 1988. Surprisingly, there seemed to be a lot of people out at lunch time, but there wasn't the usual bustle to get somewhere NOW! Like me, they seemed to stick to the shady bits as much as possible. I saw one poor worker climb out of a manhole, then head directly for the cool environs of his truck cab.


One happy crew seemed to be the window cleaners who were taking a people-watching break. They were washing the windows on the south side of the Chase Bank Building on what has turned out to be the hottest day of the year. I don't think it should be any surprise to see that none of the men seems to be over thirty.


The buildings shown below are, from left to right, the Sheraton Hotel, Christ Church Cathedral, the Columbia Club, and the former American Fletcher Bank building which is now Chase (the building behind it is the Chase Tower).

I particularly liked the decorations on the Columbia Club, especially a unique pair of frogs, both of which seem to share an appropriately pissy attitude.