Back in town

A few random thoughts:

We've been traveling a fair amount the last week, most of it two trips to Galesburg coinciding with Benster's spring break. He's almost done now and will be graduating in June. Fearless Maria will be starting her collegiate adventure in the fall; although we're now about 90% certain where she'll be, a few things could change, so we won't be certain until the end of the month.

We've been so busy that it's been difficult to find time to blog much, as you've likely noticed. Beyond that, I remain tired of the news cycle. I honestly think that, left to his own devices, Donald Trump would operate in fairly normal parameters as president, but from the jump he's been forced to fight every day just to take the reins. It's exhausting to watch from this distance; I can't imagine what it must be like inside the Beltway.

My photography project continues; on the way back from Galesburg we stopped in Plainfield, Iowa, a town that apparently has a population of 438, but I only saw one person in the short time we were there. I did see buildings that seemed to be derelict:

Action

I'm making a point to stop more often on these trips. There's clearly a story here, but I don't know what it is. I do know that at 2 p.m. on a Monday afternoon, this place seemed like a ghost town. I've had that vibe one time before, back in 2005, when we drove through Eveleth, Minnesota. All the action in Eveleth, including the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, was on the highway; when you went into the city itself, it seemed like no one was there. When we stopped in Waverly, Minnesota, a few weeks back, it was clear the town was alive. There are a lot of towns in the Midwest to explore and a lot of highways to travel. I suspect some of the better stories, or at least some of the more mysterious ones, are there, on what Frank Sinatra called "dots on the map."

Photo of the day

Still in Waverly, Minnesota:

Love me some roadside Americana

It's a garage and art studio. Why wouldn't it be?

Shovel or blog?

Had to shovel -- the plow came through. Bad, heavy snow in the Twin Cities yesterday. This winter has now officially worn out its welcome. Maybe a real blog post tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's St. Mary's Church in Waverly, Minnesota, a magnificent structure:

Blessed art thou among women

Events continue to be in the saddle

Blogging has been pretty light lately; we've been busy and I've been battling illness and a few other vagaries. There are things to talk about, but I have to get past the current stretch before I can really start digging in again. If nothing else, the b&w photography project continues apace:

Lowry and Marshall, Northeast Minneapolis

Waverly, Minnesota -- Hubert Humphrey's hometown

Things are always for sale, but the offers vary depending on where you are.

Shapes

Bell Poll Yard, New Brighton

Shapes of things before my eyes
Just teach me to despise
Will time make men more wise?

Lobby, Minneapolis Hilton

Soon I hope that I will find
Thoughts deep within my mind

That won't displace my kind

St. Anthony Parkway, Northeast Minneapolis

Come tomorrow, will I be older?
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier

Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?

Restaurant, St. Anthony Village

Lowry Avenue Bridge, looking west

Another photograph from Saturday:

February sky

It was quite windy on Saturday and the clouds were on the move, but it was pleasant for a mid-February day in Minneapolis. My brother Mike (a/k/a the Stinger) were on the prowl in Nordeast. The area to the east of the bridge has gentrified in the last 20 years and is becoming one of the pricier precincts in town, while the ongoing poverty of North Minneapolis lies at the other end of the bridge. The Lowry bridge is new, completed in late 2012. It's an attractive structure, as this stock photo shows:

She comes in colors

You can cross the Mississippi River in many places in the Twin Cities and the bridges aren't nearly as massive as the ones down the river. The bridge for I-90 at LaCrosse, only about 150 miles to the south, is considerably more massive and mundane:

Built for work

Further down the river is the bridge at Savanna, Illinois, one of the more frightening bridges I have ever crossed:

Erector set

There's a replacement coming. Good thing, too. 

Pictures

Emotion is the only thing that seems to matter in politics these days, at least on social media. Any attempt to bring a bit of rational thinking results in so much blowback that's it almost never worth the bother. I post song lyrics and black and white photography on FB, and that's about it these days. Once in a while one of my friends might post something on FB that I wrote here, but the people who see those posts do not overlap with my college friends, who are almost entirely on the port side.

I have thought more than once that I should stop writing about politics and repurpose this blog for other things. I probably won't do it, but when stupidity is in full flower in our politics, it seems like a mug's game to keep talking about it.

Here is the photo I posted this morning, taken Saturday afternoon from the Lowry Avenue bridge in Minneapolis, looking north:

Almost frozen over

You might see more of this sort of thing in the future.

Open thread

There's all manner of things to talk about, but I got so busy reading this morning that I ran out of time to write anything. So we'll open up a thread and see what happens. Meanwhile, have some b&w photography, something I've been dabbling in lately:

Sun going down in Burnsville, MN

Bell Pole Yard, New Brighton, MN

Rice Creek, New Brighton, MN

Nordeast Minneapolis