5-4 split

we will go our way

going somewhere

Euclid Avenue, East Cleveland

The nearby Chevy dealer left, the bus and rail station remains. Years ago Dinah Shore sang "See the USA". A thin, old, bald man adapted that for his commercials.

phantom motorist

This license plate answers the question, "What would a Ninja never say?"

When 'vanity' plates came to Ohio, i found them interesting. Some were humourous, many were with odd spellings. Why anyone would pay an extra $50 per year to advertise the make of the car, i just don't know. Some had their names, some a scripture citation. And generally, i don't photograph and post private people, because i have some respect for privacy, even to the point of identifying their stuff. But as an historian, and someone with respect for understanding and a degree of exactness, i am drawing attention to this vanity for fantasy and error.

Ninja were late mediæval Japanese mercenaries. In historical record, they were called shinobi. There are two readings of the kanji characters that signify the word. Now, folklore and tales grew. Current fiction has spread the aura. Some of the spirit of the cinematic Obi-Wan Kenobi, i think has been added back to the ninja inspiration. Some of the fiction has extended stealth unto mind defying physics and matter. 

Samurai were military nobility and were supposed to follow a code of behaviour (bushido) and honor, and rules in fighting. The ninja were spies and assassins, therefore being anonymous was being effective. They were to operate without being noticed. If anything, their historical record is sketchy and incomplete. Modern culture has expanded their mystique. The shinobi (even those that had been samurai) were far beneath the dignity of samurai.

copper coif

in the background, Saint Vitus Cleveland 

in the foreground, the eighth year of a public art project

for the summer this is one of twenty-five snake sculptures on the near east side of Cleveland

installed 17 May, photographed 20 May

appendages on the sculptures do not always remain intact

people break into houses to steal copper plumbing

cadillac heraldry

similar click here

oil tank

also on the Cuyahoga, and you wonder why a river can burn

overlooking dappledness

forgive me for quoting Jesuits, but 'dappled' went through my mind

Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spáre, strange;
Whatever is fickle, frecklèd (who knows how?)
With swíft, slów; sweet, sóur; adázzle, dím;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is pást change:
Práise hím.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins *1844, 1889†

fishcapade

putting fish in

snake art

I was pleasantly surprised, i did not think the snakes would have worked so well. Cleveland has ran a multi-year public art project focusing on the Chinese Zodiac. This is the fourth year that this has been done to co-incide  with the Asian Festival. The zodiac sculptures become public on the 3rd Friday of May, the next (now) two days are the festival. The drawing of the fiberglass model the artists received was unimpressive. The drawing of the snake resembled a biological extrusion. People were to use that as a template. I thought well, a variation on a cobra would improve the form. A couple of people also thought so. Some businesses have been steady repeat sponsors. An automotive and diesel mechanic school has sponsored and bought one every year, and have gotten other pieces to decorate their growing campus between St. Clair and Superior Avenues. In some they have co-operated in the design. This year's snake has a wavy fixed wrench for a tongue, spark plugs for fangs, a chain tread for a symmetry line, a couple of gears on the back, a shock absorber as a tail rattle, and a couple neat eyes.

 reticulated plates and a turn key on an octo-tooth steampunk snake

 and instead of a hood, the wizard has a collar and a rumpled pointy cap with astrological signets

 a little fairy rests
While i was making revolution of this year's zodiac, another photographer was doing hers, and she brought one human companion, and one canine for company.

house finch

barn swallow

british standard 1837

Is this Franklin (Cleveland) home to a subject of the English Queen? We admit we prefer her person to any bloody Tory, but the principle is still the same.

“My passport’s green

No glass of ours was ever raised

To toast the Queen.”

  —Seamus Heaney 1982

Wendy Park

on Cleveland's 'Whiskey Island'

not a herring gull

this is a ring billed gull

a very neat sign

graffito peculiar

concerto for left hand

preying mantis

catbird

mockingbird

 mock me not

cleveland's new innerbelt bridge

 from Canal in the Flats

wisteria art

Wisteria Lane Cleveland Art Museum

dandelion ubiquitous

 beautiful in golden bloom as chrysanthemums, i have no praise for puffballs

song bird migration

 brown headed cowbird

 house finch, house sparrow, rose breasted grosbeak

goldfinch

just a little way from Cleveland's industrial valley there is natural habitat

 baltimore oriole

 female cardinal

goldfinch on the wing

adult male rose breasted grosbeak

steer replacement

 before the fire

after the fire

30 January, of this year, a fire started immediately to the left and below of the longhorn steer. This was a colorful story for the local media. Recently, the merchant at this stall replaced his singed taxidermic token.

outside Cleveland's City Hall

progress on parma park

 earlier i posted on Parma's West Creek Reservation of the Metroparks

 close up of he roof shows dandelion

 heron has not found a spot