Goodbyes and pincushion cactus

Teresa holds the pincushion cactus I bought her on her last day at the office. The cactus was to remind her of our staff, and the sentiment goes like this:
We prefer lots of light.
We require little maintenance.
If we don't drink too much we remain sharp.
Now strictly speaking, this has nothing to do with skyways whatever, except I bought the cactus at Lindskoog Florist on the skyway (see post below) and I own this blog so I can do what I want.

So long, Teresa. I hope the world is gentle with your sense of order. %^)

Therapeutic sounds

Fountain in Accenture lobby. It makes a wonderful sound, cascading from the second level. I pass this frequently as I head toward the 701 building on my way back to the office.

Where to buy a cactus on the skyway

The staff at Lindskoog Florists are selling me the cactus that I gave Teresa as a going away gift.

Catholic reflections

These light forms on the St. Olaf church are cast by the sun reflecting in the TCF Tower windows. It is rare that banks can illuminate matters of the sacred.

Jill Rivard's Music Mural

Art making light of light making art

Large painting in the International Center is echoed in the diagonal geometry of light on the wall.

Anthropomorphizing window plants

Lucky bamboo struggles to see over frosted window barrier in One Financial Plaza.

Lucky bamboo, busy restaurant owner.

Asian Max restaurant in One Financial Plaza has been on my A-list for years. Sue, the owner, makes it a point to welcome you and make you feel at home. The food is fresh and delicious -- don't overlook the spicy green beans. Sesame chicken is a favorite, and I go for the LoMein. If you like a lighter lunch, try the spring rolls and cucumber salad.

Wall of osteostone

Gorgeous stone wall panel in the Medical Arts building hallway, right by the security station. It looks like a sedimentary formation composed of bone, a fossil sheet of fused marrow channels rippling under the polished surface. It seems from some alien planet, where the earth itself has skeleton, and the stonecutters work with the tools of osteopaths. It seems an H. Giger design. Gives "medical arts" new meaning.

(Click on photo to enlarge for full beauty of the texture and flow)

Skyway shoe repair is open on the ground floor

I had walked past this shop just north of the Medical Arts Building many times, thinking it was closed since the lighting was so subdued in the store. Today tried the door and was surprised to find it open. I went in with a gel pad in my shoe heel that was working loose and making walking very painful. The proprietor of the store, above, had a super glue that spared me further pain. He said he had a pile of work, and the dim appearance of the store didn't stop people who needed shoe repair from trying the door. My kind of skyway story.

Creature dwarfs self, captures grandeur anyway

Humans dwarf themselves with their creation, then try to capture the grandeur in a digital thimble. Squint to see the couple on the plaza. He is photographing the IDS and skyline. I see him see the buildings, and tuck a few pixels worth of his world into my thimble, too.
View from 2nd Ave. Skyway between US Bank and One Financial Plaza, looking Southeast.

A look round

Guess where I am.
(Thanks to Mike from Skyway Myway for the link)

The better to see you with

Barbara Solomon of Solomon Optical is encouraging me to find my eyewear bliss in a pair of owlish round tortiseshell specs. She is one of the small business people in the skyway who define the local and human flavor of the labyrinth. Her family has provided the vision of the upper midwest with distinctive frames for what, 60 years? A landmark, a local treasure. Go see her. If you don't buy glasses from her, thank her for providing the human touch to the built landscape of the skyways.

D'ya think? Really?!

Yeah, I am in Solomon Optical, and I am selling myself on these tortoise-shell goggles.

You need your eyes examined

Here is the location of Solomon Optical. The eight sided oculus is interesting, and a nice allusion to an old architectural tradition. Unfortunately, it puts the small facade of the optician in a traffic eddy that doesn't allow for much drop in business.

Street scene not heard

Sometimes there are no words for the street life in Minneapolis. Somewhere someone can explain this.

Victorian icing on an enameled steel torte

The gingerbread roof of the YMCA peeks over the Highland Bank skyway over 9th St. South.

Moderne jumps the snark

Overcast creates perfect lighting/sky combo for showing AT&T tower as desk ornament. Salt cellar? Ionic Breeze machine? Perfume bottle? Anyway, the shiny skin and artichoking of the top floors achieves a trivializing effect on a monumental scale. As I have spent time looking at downtown I have become increasingly impatient with this impassive moderne treatment. The bland stone of the Young Quinlan building in the foreground starts to look inspired in contrast. The skyway strains audibly as it tries to integrate the shallow sass of ornamentism and the stolid stone.

Yeah, baby.

There are fashionista mannikens behind this cage door. For some reason it reminds me of Austin Powers. If not literally, then in the chromed zest of stereotypes convincing you they are having fun.

Old Glorious

I always like this flag in daily vigilance at the Thrivent Center.

Time eats man.

A man disappears into his own blurred motion in front of two oddly asymmetric windows. Promenade, Baker Building.

Light eats woman

Glaring reflections of sunlight off the IDS curtain wall flare off the metallic blinds behind the woman on Marquette. The light swallows her up. I look away and look back, and she is gone, a torch of photons in her place.

The fountain, the gesture, the light

Far across the crystal court two young women wave back to someone on this side. A bridal veil of water separates us. It is a fountain the architects provide to shimmer space, aerating distance, humidifying light.

Cloud shows the true sky way

A cloud bridges two buildings at roof level while a skyway hugs the ground between them.

Colorful sanctuary for a play date

Outside the skyway exit of the Barnes and Noble bookshop, a gaily painted bench beckons among the ferns and beneath an exotic mandala. A perfect place to plan an escape from office humdrum, or connive a good-natured tryst.