Same Time, Last Year

Due to a small medical issue, I've had to stay pretty 

close to home this week, so my camera and 

I haven't been able to wander much.

This will be remedied within the next day or so.

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures I took

at this same time last year during a walk downtown.

The top picture was taken underneath

one of the flowering trees near the bus stop 

at the Federal Court House.

The picture above shows the flowering trees 

around the Indiana War Memorial. In the background,

from right to left, are the Baker & Daniels law offices,

AT&T buildings make up the next two, while

the fourth building is a Sheraton hotel. 

 This restored, red-painted brick home is 

on a side street off Alabama Street, just north 

of the downtown area. I was tempted

to replace the light fixture on its pole, but was 

unable to reach it from outside the fence.

Spring is, well, spring

After a Winter that was decidedly springlike,

our Spring so far is, well, Spring. With cooler temperatures

and swirling gray clouds, we've had the amount 
of rain one might associate with "April showers." Even
though some of the trees have flowered about two weeks
earlier than usual and people have already started 
mowing their lawns, the season seems to be 
mostly what one would expect this time of year. 

When out on a rainy day, I often see leaves of plants, 

bushes and trees that seem to shimmer with the silvery crystals

of raindrops. However, this effect does not seem to 

reproduce well in my pictures. I love the effect

of the raindrops on the new green of the lily plants.

They are beginning to bloom, as well, but

there aren't very many as yet.

Pink, White, and Sorta Blue

I've always had difficulty getting any pretty shots 

of dogwood trees, but this year have managed a few.

This may be because I'm outside more often

and could see when they were getting ready to bloom.

This shot is about a week old; all the petals are floppy now

and beginning to fall.

Usually, these pretty blue-violet flowers are 

too far away to get a clear shot. 

This time, I found a group of them 

at my feet as I passed by the driveway

near where they are planted. 

And, just because I like it, here's Nina Simone, 

playing Love Me or Leave Me. 

I was going to insert Little Girl Blue, but 

it was too draggy for my current mood.

Cat Lost His Hat

When I'm walking around Speedway and other places, 

there's no telling where artwork by various artists will show up.

Highway workers are laying a new roadbed on 

Crawfordsville Road that reminds me

of Andy Goldsworthy's work. 

But I never thought that the ubiquitous orange barrels 

that line highways all over the United States

would ever have found their origins

in Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat.  

I like the rich, shiny blackness of new asphalt, 

here shown with the tan pea gravel 

and limestone base layers. As a kid,

I loved the smell of tar used by the street

pavers who had a company down the block

from my grandmother's house.

Here cord has been tightly strung along the roadbed, 

to mark the intended height of the pavement.

A sensor on the paving machinery 

will use the cord as a guide to the correct depth

and, as I understand it, will adjust accordingly

as it moves along.

Nine Trees

I just like the way these nine trees are grouped. 

Bordering the IMS parking area on Georgetown Road,

the trees bend and lean towards each other

to create an interesting composition of line and space.

In the same lot, the sunlight shown through

the leaves on this tree, creating a nice progression

from the pink flowers to the shaded green leaves.

Jazz Corner

Standing at the intersection yesterday, 

at Indiana Avenue and North Streets, I realized

I was standing in the middle of an area where so much

of the culture of Indiana's African-American

population was developed and expressed. 

The building above is the Madame Walker Theater, 

built in 1919 by Madame C.J. Walker, 

America's first self-made woman millionaire.

She had made her fortune through the development

and sale of her own line of hair care products.

The building shown above was a structure 

that made a big impression on me when I moved 

to Indianapolis in the late 1970s. Then, its brick facade 

was painted white with black trim. I knew it

as Arlene's, a record store whose primary clientele

was black. I love the building and have been 

very pleased to see it restored, with all of its beautiful

details accentuating its form. 

Waiting

While waiting for the bus this evening 

outside the Madame Walker Theatre, I took 

the opportunity to take a picture of the red rectangles 

painted on a nearby garage. Of course, the wall 

reminds me of big abstract paintings, 

but the name of the artist eludes me right now.