Thursday, February 11, 2010

Positively 54th Street...

I went for a walk yesterday. I figured I'd use the Monon Trail, since it usually gets cleared pretty quickly after a snowfall, in case anybody wants to risk pneumonia jogging through the arctic wastes. Surprisingly, it hadn't been touched. I took my camera along with me and snapped some pictures down near 54th Street.

54th Street is sort of a demarcation line. North of 54th, the Monon Trail is sheltered by trees and runs through gentrified neighborhoods to the shops and bars and parks of Broad Ripple proper.

South of 54th, there are alternating patches of half-abandoned light industrial zones and run-down residential districts.

Between 54th and 52nd, there is a stretch of wall that has been brightened by an officially sanctioned mural...

...although some walls show traces of where, er... "unofficial" murals have been recently removed.

It can look pretty bleak in the wintertime, with the leaves off the trees.

Still, there is interesting wildlife if you know where to look.

Along the north side of 54th are some of my favorite little shops in Broad Ripple. On the left you can see Locally Grown Gardens. The bright yellow storefront is Nicole-Talyor's Pasta & Market. Down at the right end is the fabulous eatery, Zest.

It was as cold as it looks. Even though I was bundled up nicely and warmed by the exercise, it still felt good to get home.


(EDIT: Contrast the photos above with the photos from the May '09 Blogmeet, held at Locally Grown Gardens...)

20 comments:

  1. Did I miss something with the car picture? Is the "wildlife" the car, or is there a fox hiding in the wheel well somewhere? Some hunter I am!

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  2. The car. It's an MGB-GT. I took the pic because my roomie is just gaga over MGs...

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  3. That MG needs rescue. They aren't made for exposure to any environment on this earth. It'll rust in a heartbeat unless it is whisked away to my garage right now.

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  4. I've found the MGB-GT to be a great snow car. Very balanced, and lots of traction.

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  5. If I'm interpreting that trail sign correctly, dachshunds yield to hunchbacks, but bicycles are required to yield to both. Yes?

    Also: yay, nature!


    wv = "defendc"; DC made their own problems--they can defend themselves.

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  6. Thanks for the snow photos. That must be a 1970 MGB GT? Cute.

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  7. I do miss eating in those great little places.

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  8. And here I was thinking you meant the mid-1980s Toyo pickup with a bed that's more or less intact...

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  9. Oh, did I say "intact"? I meant cheesecloth of course...

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  10. Don't often see an MG-GT in the wild anymore.

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  11. That poor little MGB-GT creature is probably wondering what it did that was so wrong to be punished so harshly. Left out in the cold and snow...

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  12. I took the MGA out in the snow once; it worked a lot better than I had expected it to. Somewhere in a box, I should still have the set of snow chains that my dad had for it. Unfortunately, the ski rack was long gone by the time the car passed to me.

    I stupidly passed on buying a BGT with extremely low mileage almost 20 years ago, and have been kicking myself ever since.

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  13. "It was as cold as it looks."

    So it's spring time already over there in the South?

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  14. It was about -6.7°C when I took those. This morning before sunrise, it was -12.8°C. If that's springtime where you are, I'm glad I don't live there. ;)

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  15. Hey now, I'm a good 400 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Almost in the tropics! Besides, it is amazingly beautiful here nowadays, once you get to the country side.

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  16. (Err, make that 500 miles. I am not so good with these bizarre non-logical measurement units today, it seems...)

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  17. I take it y'all don't jog in snowshoes. They're not that expensive, you know.

    Looks like you have almost as much snow as we had on a near daily basis last year here in Eastern WA / North ID. This year it's been a cakewalk. You must be getting our snow. Something about redistribution, maybe, with the new administration.

    Have you heard the FEMA offices in DC have been shut down? -- Lyle

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  18. Well the MG was wired by Lucas, AKA "Prince of Darkness". That's why Brits drink warm beer, Lucas refrigerators!

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  19. Lyle,

    Indy being an interior continental climate, the winters are usually cold as dammit, but not particularly snowy. Most of the snow has already fallen out of the cold air and onto the Great Plains before it gets to us.

    The exceptions are when some moist Gulf air gets lost and wanders north of the Ohio and bumps into Poutine-scented air drifting down through Minnesota.

    We're already ahead of our average winter snowfall by a handy amount, and we still have the rest of February and most of March left to go.

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  20. I certainly hope you left all your firearms at home before you ventured into this park, Missy.

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