Park made out of negative space

Posted on November 30, 2015 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

There is a small public park off the square in Lewisburg, TN that was constructed out of negative space. There used to be a building there. I don’t know the history of what was there, and why it was destroyed. Usually businesses go out of business and then someone buys the building and starts another business. Perhaps there was a fire?

Whatever the reason, it is a very interesting use of space to make a public park in between buildings, in a place where most people would see it as wasted space or a place to rebuild. It is nice that this is open to the public for free, any time.

Here is a view of it before you enter.

Here is one from the side.

Getting closer.

From the side, with an emphasis on the immense wall or gate that frames the park.

This is who made the entrance.

There are inspirational signs around the park. I wonder how they decided upon which quotes would be included?

A view of one of the benches, showing the small yard.

There is brickwork on the ground towards the back, but I was fascinated by the crumbled bit.

A wall is stair-stepped brick.

The wall has a lot of interesting nooks and crannies.

There is a long wooden structure, perhaps a shed, in the back. It is perhaps four feet deep, and maybe seven feet high.

It has a door to the far right.

I wonder who has the key to this lock, and what is inside?

A view of one of the support posts.

The commemorative sign.

I do wonder, since it is a public park, if they thought about the fact that not everybody celebrates Christmas? Do they have decorations for other religious holidays?

Lewisburg alleyway

Posted on November 29, 2015 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

This alleyway is off the square in Lewisburg, TN. It was a dreary day in November, so I’ve improved the pictures a little to show some color. Overall it was pretty grey.

I’m not sure what it is about negative spaces that are so appealing to me these days. This particular day I explored three of them.

We surmise that this is a defunct ATM. There was a “People’s Bank” to the right, built in 1904.

The light has the number 10 on it.

I like that this office has its entrance on the alley, not the street.

Playing adventure video games makes me notice details. But then it also makes me want to take everything not nailed down too.

Cool old stairs seen through the glass side door of the newspaper office.

Notice the guy wires to the right. They are attached to the electrical pole.

A more realistic idea of the lighting that day. Ginkgo leaves everywhere, but I didn’t find the tree.

A reflection from the marble of the ATM

Traveling house

Posted on November 29, 2015 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

This is on the corner of a Presbyterian church’s lot, like an afterthought. The style doesn’t match anything around it. It is for rent, but looks like it has been abandoned for quite a while. It reminds me of the stories in Speculative Fiction that talk about a traveling house – one that isn’t in the same spot for very long. Sometimes they are magic shops.

This would make an interesting studio / workshop / place to host retreats.

It is long and narrow.

Note the awning over the door, and the second floor door on the building next to it.

Putting the camera to the front door window, a view inside. What interesting arches! I wonder what this was. Is that a small window for a receptionist? It seems far bigger on the inside than it appears to be outside.

Another angle.

A view through the front window. An office, and a small kitchen with coffee-themed knick-knacks.

Showing the interesting detail (Spanish?) and how close it is to the church. I feel this was built long after the church was. Did they need extra money? Was it a rectory? Why does it not match the building style then? If it is for rent, does this mean it is a private building? There is a sign for a shingle outside.

The back door. My back is up against the church to take this shot. There is a small (foot-wide) moat/ditch you have to step over to get to this door, with a large drain to the right. I’d want a bridge.

Looking up from the back door, a sign of a chimney. It is not visible from the front or side. It is for an unusual internal fireplace.

The side furthest from the church, in a small alley. Interesting awning and opaque glass on this side.

This is a view of the church.

These are pictures of the church wall nearest the building. It is made of two different kinds of brick – Old and New. So – is the Old a façade? Is the New a rebuild? The Old is what faces the street, and matches the rest of the church. This part of the building appears to have been constructed after the church was built.

Tuesday Buffet

Posted on July 29, 2013 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

There is a difference between seeing and noticing. We see all the time. We rarely notice. We rarely take the time to slow down and really look at what is going on. We are often in such a hurry that we take a glance and then go on, missing most of everything.

It helps to look at stop-motion animation or to take pictures of things as they are growing. I had a project once. I took a picture of the same tree, from the same spot, at the same time every Tuesday for a year. I saw the tree change and evolve, grow and decay from one season to the next. I stood in rain and snow. I changed a little when I did that project. I’d wanted to do it for a long time, and then I finally decided that it was time to start. Then I was committed to it. I posted the weekly picture on my personal Facebook page, and it turned out that my friends looked forward to it.

There was something personally transforming about that project. I don’t know whether it was because I finally got over my inertia (a common malady) or I finally actually noticed that tree, or both, but I changed. I started to look at everything this way, and wonder what else I was missing, and wonder when I was going to start other projects I’d thought about for a long time.

I almost missed being able to complete that project. The tree, a Bradford Pear, was on the lot of a Chinese buffet that I went to. I’d gone there for at least a decade. It was a fixture of the community. It was just something that was always there. Until it wasn’t. I was three-quarters through my project and they closed. They had bought the competition and moved. Now, I could no longer go to lunch there and just walk out afterwards at 12:45 on a Tuesday and take the picture. I had to go eat quickly elsewhere, and then drive over there to get that shot.

I was committed to that time, and that place, and that day. The project depended on being consistent.

I contemplated cancelling the project. I was almost done. It was good enough. My friends changed my mind – they’d come to look forward to that tree, in the same way that I had. I redoubled my efforts and completed the project.

If I’d waited a few months longer to start the project, it would have been that much more difficult to finish. There could have been a bad storm and the tree could have been damaged, or it could have succumbed to rot and been taken out. I could have missed the whole thing before I even began.

Other things happened as well, to me. I’d suddenly had to buy a different car, and I’d had to have surgery to remove a precancerous spot. I started going to the Y. I started journaling again. Perhaps it was all linked – I started paying attention.

Here is a selection of the pictures for you. (I’ve made another change – I’ve edited this to have ALL the pictures. This is a meditation on how we can always go back and fix things. Our work doesn’t have to be “perfect” at the start.)

The first picture, 7-27-10

8-3-10

8-10-10

8-17-10

8-24-10

8-31-10

9-14-10. Missed a week because we were on vacation in North Carolina, before my surgery.

9-21-10. The day before my surgery.

9-29-10. A Wednesday. Not allowed to drive for a week after surgery, this was the first time I went out.

10-5-10

10-12-10, a touch of fall

10-19-10

10-26-10. Raining hard.

11-2-10

11-9-10

11-16-10

11-23-10

11-30-10. My birthday. My husband drove. The restaurant owner bought my lunch.

12-7-10

12-14-12, a tiny bit of snow. There was a Christmas luncheon at work, so I ate quickly and then drove here to take this picture and do the recycling chore.

12-21-10

12-29-10. A Wednesday. I was off for the Christmas holidays and forgot that yesterday was Tuesday.

1-4-11. This would have been my Mom’s 70th birthday. She died at 53 from smoking cigarettes.

1-11-11, dreary day, with snow

1-18-11. Just found out that Peter, the owner of the buffet, has bought the competition that is a block away. This location will be closing. How will I continue this project?

1-25-11

2-1-11. The Tuesday buffet special price has been discontinued, now that there is no competition.

2-8-11

2-15-11

2-22-11

3-1-11

3-8-11 The buffet has closed. I ate quickly somewhere else and then made a special trip here.

3-15-11. The Bradford pear is just beginning to blossom. I parked out of frame to reference the fact that the buffet is closed now and things are different.

3-22-11 If I’d stopped going I would have missed this glorious display of beauty.

3-29-11

4-5-11. While here, I saw another car in the lot. A lady went into the building. A new owner?

4-12-11

4-19-11

4-26-11. There was a bad storm recently and the Bradford pear has lost a branch.

5-3-11 The place isn’t being taken care of – a branch that had fallen is still there and the grass needs cutting.

5-10-11

5-17-11. A “cartoon” version from last week. I was home sick, and next week we plan on going on vacation to NC. I didn’t want my friends to miss that much so I created this.

6-7-11. Three whole weeks missed. Sick, vacation, and then a going-away party for someone at work. I was starting to think about cancelling the project. The place was sold and it was hard to get here on time every week now.

6-14-11. Back on track. Recommitted.

6-21-11

6-28-11

7-5-11

7-26-11 -and we are back around to the beginning. Not a lot looks different, but a lot has happened.

———–
Edit to add – This is the most recent picture, taken at the same spot, or as close as I can determine.

The lot is now a Zaxby’s. I’m standing in the drive-through lane. The entire building was torn down and the foo-dogs were removed, much to the chagrin of the the former owner, who wanted them back. They cost $10K each. This picture was not taken on a Tuesday at 1 pm as all the others were, because I can’t get here at that time anymore because of where I work now. This was around three on a Friday. Yet another change. My father always said “You just adjust and adjust and adjust, and then you die.”

Here are more pictures of that area, taken after the buffet had closed.

The building