Minneapolis is an extremely walkable city. We started our first day in the center, at Nicollet Mall. We saw bicyclists and cabs, but very few cars, even in the heart of downtown. And there is a parallel universe co-existing two stories in the air: a vast series of skybridges connects all of downtown above the snowy streets in winter. Like a habitrail for humans.

Sidewalks are wi-i-i-de, and sculpture greets you at nearly every turn. There are an amazing number of plazas, fountains and restaurants have spacious outdoor seating areas.

It's Scary Mary!

First day, Minneapolis

In Loring Park, between downtown and our destination, the Walker Art Center.

We arrived at the Walker (see photos last blog entry) 15 minutes before opening time and were kindly directed to a coffeehouse inhabiting a bit of "old Minneapolis" down the road apiece. A neighborhood known as "The Wedge" between Hennepin and Lyndale. We were so taken with this area that we never returned to the Walker (I feel bad about that, but we did wind up spending most of the afternoon in the Minneapolis Insitute of the Arts, a truly amazing place right in the neighborhood)



Walking down streets lined with Victorian houses, spreading in every direction as far as the eye could see, housing who knows how many families, each one a unique composition of window, turret, door and garden.






With mom and pop stores, cafes, and wide alleys. Friendly porches. With a variety of chairs. (To be continued)

Puffballs Behind Bars

They've been sequestered in some kind of holding tank for wayward topiary--a detention center for illegal arboreta, a lock-up for botanical specimens: but now spring is here and they're ready to break those chains of bondage.

At Pike Place Market

This guy was waiting patiently


As was this guy


And this guy



These two guys were rocking out as "Raw Corn"



These two guys were discussing health care.

Sustainable Bellevue

Sustainable Bellevue has been launched! Find it here,

live and pulsating!

This project is a SCALLOPS(Sustainable Communities All Over Puget Sound) whose founder, Vic Opperman, I referred to in my blog last year here

Vic continues to be an inspiration to us, braving traffic to visit us in the wilds of Bellevue a few weeks ago. The result: we now have a brand new website and a sense of purpose: To create community projects that reflect our passion for the environment.

Click here for an overview of SCALLOPS whose mission is "driving sustainable change through community by community organizing". We've got big plans and high hopes. Join us and stay tuned!!

Imagine a Wall

Imagine your outdoor wall, or a public wall, transformed by vertical gardening.



Check this out from

Vertical gardens
and this from
Rowdy Kittens"Social Change through Simple Living"

and these images from the master, French botanist Patrick Blanc:






The beauty of these is how little of the urban space they take up.
Here's how to make your own
mur vegetal

Ladybower Plughole on Video!

Good old Youtube actually has a video of Ladybower Plughole in Derbyshire doing its thing!


For my original post on Ladybower, click here