Leg-acy

This statue of renowned and revered basketball coach 

John Wooden is located at the intersection of Georgia and 

South Meridian Streets in downtown Indy.

While I understand the respect and admiration

people felt for the man, I cannot get past the

five pair of disembodied legs surrounding

the coach's figure.

Iron Lace

I was taking pictures of the brick exterior walls of some buildings 

in downtown Indy. I turned around and looked up to see

what looked like lace trim, adding grace and beauty to the otherwise

dull facade of Circle Centre Mall.

When mall construction was planned nearly twenty

years ago, the Indiana Landmarks Foundation

required that the facades of many old buildings be incorporated 

into the new construction. Over the years the ILF had acquired a number

of the facades, which they saved and stored for future use.

The facade of the old Vajen Exchange block, constructed in 1872, 

was saved from the original structure had stood at 120 North Pennsylvania.

It is one of four structures that add interest, warmth, and variation

to the east exterior of the Mall.

Because It Is

I love bricks. They add warmth wherever they happened to be used.

Here, on the wall of this building on South Meridian Street,

they are old. They've seen the passing of years, of generations

of shops and people wandering the streets.

Their varegated color speaks of the clay from which

they were formed, the hands that made them

a hundred years ago and more. So many are stacked, 

doing their job but needing to have their mortar cleaned, 

repaired, and replaced. They are blue and red, 

orange and brown, and running one's hand over their

surface brings one into contact with history,

in a way no thin coat of stucco, spread over 

styrofoam, can ever do.