This Week on My Street

There are days when the trash-strewn streets in my neighborhood make me want to weep, and there are nights when the endless parade of crime dramas (I'm talking cops with their guns drawn--please don't read this part, Mum) that occur here becomes almost too much to bear.  Some mornings when I see the crowds of folks on the sidewalk outside the transitional living center, I am angry with myself for how accustomed I have become to this sight and to the sight of the long line of people waiting for the liquor store to open in the morning.  Our building's dumpsters are the closet and cupboard for many, many people.  Still, I chose to live here, and it can be a place of great beauty and joy, too.  I've been taking lots of photos of people and places in the neighborhood lately.  It's amazing how much easier it can be to talk to people when you have a camera in your hand--easier for the person taking the photos as well as those being photographed.  

I'm working on a fictional story right now that takes place in a neighborhood much like my own, so I'm taking photos to help me with my writing.  Today I thought I'd share a few pictures from my street.  No people--just buildings.  I'll share people photos sometime soon, too.  Oh, and dogs, too.  So many dogs!

This old ruin above is an amazing place to go digging for treasures.  I've climbed around it many times.  These days it's pretty much fenced off, but where there's a will there's a way . . .

The mills here were all for textiles.  They are laid out along canals that crisscross the city.  The shot below is of the canal across from the mill where I live.  

This old mill is what I see when I look out my windows.  An acquired taste perhaps, but I LOVE this building.  It is going to be redeveloped, which I know is good for the city, but I will truly miss the ruins.  



The shot below was taken looking through a doorway that leads from one mill to the next.  I love how the old randomly boarded-up windows look almost like stained glass.
The two photos below are of sunset from my living room window.  At this time of day we watch swifts race in and out through the old gaping windows.  The number of birds in our neighborhood is awe-inspiring.  I had taken several photos of the blue heron at the nature preserve the other day, but this morning as I walked by the canal, a lovely blue heron flew right past me here on my dirty, bedraggled street.  My whole day was blessed.