Waiting

The traffic around the Twin Cities has been especially bad recently, in my frustrated opinion. Lots of construction (lots of jobs which is good) and lots of impatient drivers. This is on the Lake Street Bridge looking across from Minneapolis up the hill into St. Paul.

The theme, by the way, for this past week was based on the ABC Wednesday post - pink (even though Monday had no pink, they were technically pink flamingos).

M is for Morning Glory

My dad was recently relating a story about the morning glories his grandmother grew to shelter her front porch. Look what I found as I was biking to my hair appointment one glorious fall morning. To see more photos of M, click here.

Stay in your lane

The Twin Cities regularly ranks in the top five "best biking" cities in the U.S. It helps to have so many dedicated bike lanes along city streets including this one on a one-way thoroughfare near the University of Minnesota.

Crossing busy Hiawatha

Walkers and bikers can safely cross Hiawatha - always busy with car traffic and light rail trains - by using this bridge named after former Congressman Martin Sabo.

Biking the Greenway

I love the biking the Greenway in Minneapolis. No streets to cross (there they are up above) and no stop signs. All along the corridor gardens have been planted, picnic tables installed, historical markers set up, restaurants and even a bike shop have opened. I rode to a movie and back over Memorial Day weekend. Got so much exercise I treated myself to popcorn at the movie and rhubarb pie when I got home!

New in the old

An old brownstone on Summit that has been redone to reflect its 21st-century owners.

Brick buildings

More images of the Cathedral Hill neighborhood. Lovely old brownstone-like apartments.

Clouds

The "New York Eagle" and the Smith Ave. High Bridge on a gloomy day.

Summer cleaning

Want some free stuff? It's that time of year. Time to clean out the house.

numbers

Some aging numbers on Summit Ave.

Thingy

I have no idea what it means when a house has this kind of pointy bit that sticks out of the roof...but I like it. I know it's not a dormer, but that's the only word I can think of. Anyone an architecture major out there?

Secret Garden #2

Another shot of the secret, locked-up garden along Summit Ave. See the rhino statue? Such an odd little garden. I must find out who it belongs to sometime...and how I can get in!

Nathan Hale

I'm in Chicago right now and have figured out how to do automated posts so I can continue to regale you with photos of my hometown (although I'm slightly worried about running out of my back catalog!). This is a statue of Nathan Hale. I'm ashamed to say that, though I pass it regularly, I have never bothered to find out why he's so goshdarn important and how relates to our fair state of Minnesota. I guess he was a pretty important American spy during the Revolutionary War and must have had some enthusiastic fans in Minnesota at one point or another...

Horses

A leftover post from the days when the grand residents of Summit Ave went a-calling on horseback or in their fine carriages. I think it's rather quaint that this house decided to keep their post, which would have been used to tie up the horses (or maybe the residents built a new one in order to look quaint and fool passersby like myself--it's probably unlikely that the wood would have lasted since the late 19th century).

Spire on Summit

A lonely turret on Summit Ave. I need to branch out on my commute. I'm getting sick of shooting Summit Ave...

New York Eagle

The "New York Eagle" is in a little park that overlooks a view of downtown Saint Paul and the West Side. It was a cloudy day and it seemed particularly menacing or looming. I suppose the angle of the shot helps with that effect, too.

Secret Garden

Today was the windiest day I can remember in a long time. And yet, I still walked home along Summit and snapped this photo of the secret garden. That's what I like to call it, anyway. I'm not sure who it belongs to or who gets to wander around in it, but it's always very enticing behind that locked lion's head gate.

redbrick of drowsy lazy afternoons

My cat woke me up at 1:30 this morning as he was chasing around a sewer rat that had gotten into my bedroom. Spent the next four and a half hours trying to get it out before a professional rat catcher finally managed it in ten minutes flat. If you ever need 24 hour pest control, call Falls Creek Animal and Pest Control. I was hugely impressed. Needless to say, I slept late and didn't have time to go "picturing" before my evening work shift started at 3, so I give you this picture that I took yesterday. I've always thought this house on Summit was one of the darkest and most austere of the lot--I think it's that deep red brick that is so hard to brighten up. But with the bright green spring foliage and a splash of afternoon sun through the clouds, it's actually quite romantic looking. Doncha think?

Cathedral and dandelions

I posted a picture of the Saint Paul Cathedral earlier but then took a much better photo on my walk home from work. So here ya go. Alas, on the way to work, there was a gorgeous blue sky with big fluffy clouds and I passed so many photo opps on my walk, but I was late to work so I figured I'd snap the pictures on my way home. By the time I got out of work, the sky had completely clouded over and all my set-ups had been ruined. That'll teach me to be late to work and thus miss valuable photographing time...

Toy

I call this one "Abandoned Toy in Yard." I think it's a moose. This is along Summit Avenue on the way to one of my many jobs.