Sights on a Walk

Sunday's unseasonably warm weather inspired me to walk downtown and I came across a number of interesting sights.

On Park Avenue, I spied a honeycomb structure on the sidewalk and looked up to see where it had fallen from a building. It might have been a wasps' nest. These intricate insect homes are amazing no matter where they turn up.

I could hear drumming and chanting from a new occult shop across the street and on the way back saw people dancing to the rhythms.

After visiting the ATM at PNC Bank, I went to the Dollar General store on West Front Street to look for some things and made a few purchases. Next, I checked the progress of murals in the Queen's Courtyard, behind the former Queen City Savings building,

"One Plainfield"

A tribute to development

City Hall (with the old yews?)

On East Second, I saw that the rehabilitated Mirons Warehouse, now 12 apartments with commercial space at ground level, has new shutters.

In Municipal Parking Lot 6 (where a parking deck may be in the future), I snapped a photo of my favorite tree, behind the former Elks building. I believe it is an Elm.

Here is the same tree in December 2013.

Going across East Second Street on the way back, I heard a bunch of kids screaming excitedly and saw them running down an alley and clambering over a big construction lift.

 Urban children will make playthings out of any object, I remembered from my own childhood where kids on my block routinely trespassed and climbed all over things. Later I saw this group on the second story of a North Avenue mosque, but they also saw me and I got a few catcalls for looking at them.

On Gavett Place, I noticed that the old Budget Rent-A-Car building had been demolished. It was part of the site of Art Lofts I, which will have 20 apartments and an entertainment center.

Passing the demolition site on North Avenue, I marveled once again at the crooked Mafia wall, so different from the precise ones I saw online when I looked up the term. it is meant to hold landfill in place

Nearing Park & Seventh, I was dismayed to see trash in the planters. This has been a chronic problem ever since the planters were installed many years ago. What will it take to get people to use the nearby trash receptacles?

The afternoon had been sunny to that point, and then as if to mark the sad ending of my walk, the skies darkened and big raindrops fell.

--Bernice