Above It All

A visitor grabs a bit of quiet time in the air conditioned Artsgarden, located above the intersection of Washington and Illinois Streets in downtown Indianapolis. He is facing east watching the west-bound traffic on Washington Street. Completed in 1995, the Artsgarden connects the Conrad hotel and Embassy Suites to the Circle Centre Mall and serves as both a performance and exhibition area throughout the year. There is also a kiosk where visitors may obtain information about various local events, as well as purchase tickets.


As seen in the above photo, the Artsgarden is a pleasant place to pass time, meet friends, perhaps have a bite to eat. In warm weather it provides respite from the heat and in winter one can watch the snow fly all around without being in it.

The exterior shown above shows the Artsgarden as seen looking west 

from Washington Street.

Accidentally Just Right

Every once in a while, you see something that does its job, but at the same time is also visually arresting in an unexpected way. So it was with the "privacy screen" on this Speedway porch. The rhythms and contrast set up by the varying numbers and widths of the laths make it "just right" and definitely more interesting than if it were "perfect."

                                                                               

Loo with a View

I went to work on Friday, a short-term temp assignment. Of course, I took my camera with me and found several opportunities for pictures, including portions of the brick-paved sidewalks and streets near Monument Circle. There is a lot of construction taking place downtown, primarily maintenance and improvement of existing streets. It's time for the bricks to be reset because the base has loosened or worn away, causing the pavers to rattle and rock when walked or driven on.  

The reworking in this area of the brick pavement appears to be an effort to make a bigger arc in curbing at the street corners just south of the Monument. (An arc in a corner? Huh?) The bricks were first laid about thirty years ago in an effort to improve the appearance of the Circle and to attract visitors to the downtown area. During the Christmas shopping season, the Monument is decorated with strands of lights and becomes "The World's Largest Christmas Tree."

I took a number of pictures through the bus window as we rode into town, among them the pictures of the new Wishard Hospital construction site below. The hospital began as City Hospital in 1859, opened first to treat victims of a smallpox epidemic, then served as a military hospital during the Civil War, treating about 13,000 sick and wounded soldiers. The hospital changed and grew with the people of the city; among many other "firsts," being the first of the city's hospitals to treat African-American patients, to admit African-American physicians to practice at the hospital and, in 1943 graduated its first class of African-American nurses from their diploma nursing program. 

Since 1909, Wishard has been affiliated as a teaching hospital with the Indiana University School of Medicine. With that affiliation and growth, the hospital building has become a warren of tunnels, clinics, offices and hallways to the point there was no other place to grow. In 2009, Wishard reached a land lease agreement with IUPUI to allow the new facility to be built. It's expected to be completed in 2014.

I am going out on a limb, but I do believe the concrete column above is an embryonic elevator shaft. At top left of the column's forms there is a green rectangle which has all the proportions and appearances of a portable toilet.

Right now, the penthouse with the best view around is a green plastic outhouse, a loo with a view.

                                             

While there have been as many as five cranes on site, this photo shows only three. The area surrounding the main construction site is a small village of contractors' shacks, replete with various types of heavy equipment. Obviously, it's a hole in the ground that needs my attention, but I need to figure out how the SDP camera can get to it. Hmmm.

Daily Routine

I love the morning light. I like the way it brings a golden edge to everything it touches, the way it infuses the day with hope. Anybody who rides the bus must carry a mote of that golden promise with them because it takes faith to believe that the underfunded, under-equipped, and under-scheduled public transportation system will get them to work on time. Most of the time it does, but those days it does not can easily result in awkward explanations to one's supervisor, even job loss.


One day while riding the bus to work, I took a look around and saw people, themselves on their way to work, trying to keep roofs over their heads, food in their kids' bellies and clothes on their backs. They were people who do the "grunt work"  -- customer service representatives, accountants, maids for the many hotels downtown, waitresses and cooks in the restaurants, practical nurses and orderlies for several hospitals, personnel who clean the offices, security guards, baristas, et cetera -- a work force that is generally treated as if they are invisible that would suddenly be missed if they could not get to their jobs.

The "city fathers" tend to treat the system as if it were their proverbial "red-headed stepchild," to be ignored, abused and neglected. Generally, the buses seem to be regarded as the transportation system of the poor, the elderly (poor), the blind (poor) and disabled (poor). Visitors to our city invariably turn to the buses to visit our numerous  attractions and are, again, invariably amused and dismayed at the system's scheduling and routes. 

There have been recent efforts to improve the system, the drivers are usually courteous and considerate in sometimes difficult circumstances and, while cuts have been made in some routes, efforts were made to improve connections between others. Plans are in progress to build a light rail system and to add service to outlying areas. So ... maybe? 


We'll see. With the economy in doldrums and governmental squabbling, the city fathers may suddenly find there's a knot in their pockets and not be able to raise the stepchild's allowance. 

One can only hope.

"And now for something completely different."

The picture above is of another Speedway landmark, the Mug'n'Bun Drive-In on West 10th Street, which has been in business since 1960. The place has a national reputation for its home-made root beer as well as a menu chock full of every standard American drive-in staple one could ever think to order. The store's appearance is unpretentious, but the treats inside keep people coming back for more. Yum.

Bees' Knees

I have a secret: I want to have bee hives of my own to tend, watch and harvest, as well as just sit and take pictures. I've been waiting for them to appear in a patch of coneflowers near my home.  Today, I was able to stop to watch them work. They're not honey bees, which are too fast for me to get pictures of, but I like their earnestness and complete concentration 

on their job.

Concrete Images

I went out today looking for one thing, turtles, but they'd hidden somewhere in the creek bed. However, I did find children's chalk drawings on a sidewalk and a brand new hole in the ground that I just had to inspect. The drawings tell me there's a kid in the area with some talent while the hole revealed the textures left behind by the backhoe and the sand dumped in to cover the gas valve that had been replaced.


There were two people making art today: the kid with the chalk, and a man who scribed textures into  the cement with his backhoe.  

Hard Rockers

Last Saturday, I met a friend for breakfast at a nearby chain restaurant. We'd earlier dismissed others in their turn - "that's crappy," "that sucks" and just plain "yuch." We didn't want "Mickey D's" or the area "MediCare Lounge." 

While the only other choice was itself not a site for cuisine, it was something we could agree on. We both love tchotchkes (not to buy so much as to look at) and the restaurant has an ersatz "old country store" crammed full of little toys, decorative items, clothing and my favorite candies, "King Leo" peppermint sticks. One of my purchases years ago was a stuffed plush opossum with a naked pink tail and little ears. It grossed me out so much I loved it. I took it to the boat where it was put on a shelf, its tail draped artfully over our bed's headboard. 

One of the store's trademark items are the rocking chairs shown in the top picture. They can be had painted in one's school colors, or with a design scheme to honor the various military branches. In the evenings around dinner time, people will sit in the chairs, visiting, waiting to meet friends and family for dinner. As you can see, the rockers are linked together with steel cable to prevent theft. So, if you and your family want to rock, you'd better do it in unison.

All chime in and

Rock on, baby!

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