Sinister Reflections

Played with mirrored surfaces at the Guthrie on my walk to meet a friend to go for a walk. The repetition of the George Bernard Shaw panel took me to a sinister place where a pacifist playwright was transformed into a Dear Leader.

Five Watt Earworm

Stopped at Five Watt Coffee for a cuppa. “California Dreamin” was playing in the background and inevitably became an earworm. On the way out, a red elevator lobby demanded my attention.

Chairs in a Park

On our walk: the Fairfield Chair Company had set up a pop-up showroom in Gold Medal Park for some interior decorators.

Tallest Buildings

Cycled downtown to pick up meds. Before cycling back, looked up at the Foshay Tower (1929) framed by buildings of the IDS Center (1972). The Foshay was the tallest building in Minneapolis at 447 ft (607 ft including the antenna mast) until the IDS Tower (792 ft) was built.

Projecting Calm

On my cycle ride: bollards projecting calm. Presumably originally installed to protect a ramp for launching small boats from barges, it’s now purely aesthetic. This section of the Mississippi is now closed to barge traffic.

Remnant of WWII

On my cycle ride: World War II guard tower built to protect a Norden bombsight factory. Today, tenants of the old factory buildings include a distillery and a company that develops LEGO military model kits. (The LEGO Company has a strict policy against selling military models.)

Energy Recovery Center

Cycled past the carefully named Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center where over one-third of our county’s (population 1.3 million) waste is burned and turned into electricity and steam for district heating. More than 11,000 tons of metal are recovered annually.