You look like a blank window.

How does that protect your assets?

Watery reflection, snowy sidewalk

If I had just gotten the steam plume from the energy center I would allude to all three states of water.

Steam frames St. Olaf Carillon

The bell tower is given a heavenly setting by water vapor.

A steam frame for Campbell Mithune

Water vapor from the energy center embraces the Campbell Mithune building.

Hello from Sunny Minnesota

Postcard from the skyways: Been meaning to get back to you but have been really snowed under.

Hello from Sunny Minnesota!

Postcard from the skyway: Hey California peeps, wish you were here!

Santa Bear, where are you? The Familia Sagrada is gathered in your name.

Some mute allegory of arctic ritual greets clients of this firm.  Whimsy and non-aligned sentiment inform this congress of symbols, an aloof nod to the fact of winter, an ironic grin, a tableaux insouciant, without roots.  It cannot inspire hope or committment to an ideal, or kindle the spirit of sacrifice.  It cannot move the gelid heart to flow with human sentiment again.  It can give a grin to a distracted passerby.  A sidelong glance of casual cheer, vetted by the political and for the sensitized, but beyond the pale of real need, beyond the reach of guilt or passion.

What begins in SantaBear, ends in plush toy menageries, in the artificial intention of design, in the service of lubricious commerce.  I would stifle the clutch of indignation to see an honest, if misbegotten, creche again. I would absolve a Menorah of its martial past.  If it came to it, I would kneel before the dotted circle of a paleolithic sun totem split by the solstice alignment, and invoke nameless gods, before I would pay homage to a polyester clan, a bloodless fantasy imposed on children by denatured "them".

But it won't come to it.  The strains of carefully chosen choral music echo among the glass panes of the atrium, and the low sun outside halos frozen street signs with the aureole of memories we cannot share anymore.  So we shuffle past, grateful for even winsome nonsense in the dearth of passion, in this season when giving is an accusation, and accepting is a failure of self.

Donate socks for homeless shelters

Its a little known fact that socks make a huge difference to homeless people.  I have heard social workers say that shoes and coats are easier to come by than the simple comfort of clean dry socks.  Its no joke.

Holidays in the skyways

There are, by definition, no seasons in the skyways. So the signs of holidays and seasonal change are just visual decals on a temperate view.

Capella Tower in winter light

Holiday Cheer Begins

With live music on the skyways. The Capella Tower west atrium, with its pleasant upholstered chairs, interactive skyway guide, Dale Chihuly glass sculpture, etc is a nice place to while away minutes listening to the roster of live musicians.

Skyway of Love: Head and hat in the skyway... any info out there on this art?

Skyway of Love: Head and hat in the skyway... any info out there on this art?
Marsha is a good guide to the art hidden in the skyways.

Indoor window cleaners

Cleaning the inside windows when it's 20 degrees and snowing outside. Sensible.

The Government Center Atrium at night

350 foot tall atrium lit up after sunset.

Winter abstraction

Snow melting off the Armory roof at twilight.

Twilight, Courts Tower

The City Hall Clock tower. This clock was one of the largest in the world when it was built in 1900 -- the minute hand is 13 feet long, and the face is slightly larger than Big Ben in London. The neon was added in the Sixties. Winter twilight falls around 5. Taken from the roof of the Government Center Parking Ramp on 5th Ave. and 6th Street.

Something new every day

After years of walking by this granite sculpture in the USBank atrium, today I noticed that it echoes the shapes in the skylights. Duh.

Leif Petterson's Skyway skit

Another skyway view.

What is not in a skyway

This is what I found in my driveway this morning. I will never find this in a skyway. Let the Winter begin.

City Lights

With a shout-out to Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

My Art thing

Here is my nod to serious modern art. The chair is in focus, which is an ironic commentary on the empty place set for the urban denizen who, victimized by false urgencies and threats, stays moving. But the moving subject is never in focus. Meanwhile, the clear focus and fine finish of the furniture inspires an admiration for clearly delineated surfaces and finishes among those who cannot bear to think, in ironic or other terms. Huge prints of this photo can be bought for thousands of dollars, if you pursue me, and insist. Ironically, I can't sit still long enough to hear your offer. In the meantime, isn't that a marvelous green paint job on that chair? And the dyed fake maple veneer wall treatment kills.

The last thing you'll see if you...

Ignore all the warning signs on Fifth Street downtown. Actually this train was stopped for a red light. But don't count on trains stopping. Be safe.

Self Portrait with Skyway Map

This is the "before" picture in the "before and after" set.

Get out of your office during breaks. Get. Out!

Go to YouTube and watch full frame.

Take a mile hike on the skyways! It takes fifteen minutes or less at a healthy pace.  The YouTube video above gives a visual impression of the trek (lo-fi alright!).  You can get a map of skyway hikes from the Commuter Connection.  The map shows the exact itinerary of this particular hike, and I will be adding more to this paleo-video effort as I grasp the tools.

But here is the message: Get out of your office during your lunch break!   You are going to be around this planet for a few more decades...stay limber, stay alert, keep moving.  The skyways offer a year-round hiking option, with carpeting, live music whether you like it or not, climate control, and a world snack-o-rama to indulge or deny, depending upon your diet cycle.

You know this, right?

Most skyway intersections have these backlit, big blue maps showing you where you are and where you can go. It is up to you to figure out which way is north, but you can do it, and this whole universe of second floor amenities opens up to you.

Sunset, Bell Tower, Skyway.

So its that time of year when the sun is setting as I head for my car in the parking lot. Looking south on 4th Ave., I see the street lights come on, the tail lights trail toward the freeway on-ramp, and the bell tower of the Methodist Church ablaze like a special birthday candle. It somehow offsets the melancholy of the season, a free iconic glimpse into a highly touted world.

Mayor sighting on Nicollet Mall

Surely not in response to my satirical post of several days ago, Mayor R.T. Rybak stopped at the Dandelion Kitchen food wagon on Nicollet and scored a lunch. Usually I avoid taking pictures of celebrities I happen across on my walks, such as a Jason DeRusha, any Mondale, or Denny Hecker. My blog is not a star vehicle. Obviously. But given my recent "poetic licensed" appropriation of this innocent yellow mobile enterprise, I felt there was some kind of karmic payback going on. So here is a celebrity picture AND a link to a set of nice reviews of the Dandelion Kitchen. Which isn't really leading an assault on skyways ... in case you took my post seriously.  Jeez.

P.S. to any civic authorities who might read this: There are locations on the skyways that would make good winter homes for the various enterprises serving fresh hot stuff out of polychrome trailers. I am mentioning the Fifth Avenue Towers dead-end skyway as one in a forthcoming column. I know, the logistics are mind-boggling. But so was getting John Philip Sousa to write a special march for the opening of the Foshay tower in 1929.

History is not for the fainting heart.

Nachos surprise of the skyways

The Taco Johns nachos with chicken were a pleasant surprise. I was hungry and out of time, so I didn't expect much from a fast food solution. I was in for a surprise: the chips were crisp and fresh, and the cook had taken the trouble to layer the beans, cheese and chicken among the chips. (Rather than just dump a soggy mass of mono-TexMex filling on a layer of bagged corn shingles --I have only found one place in the skyways that was that bad, and I will reserve judgment until I have tried them again.)

So this brings up the problem of trying to provide useful "food guide" info without hurting small businesses that mean well.

While I ponder that, I am thinking of doing a review of the nachos on the skyways. But I would prefer to have some audience input here, to spread the pain and joy around. Contact me with your favorite/worst nachos story, pix if you have them.