Streetcars and bridges

I played some tennis this morning. Nothing new there or much to report. After a quick lunch NCW and I went out for a walk and with a secondary goal to find some pictures with which to blog. Como Park near the Conservatory was busy, but it's a big park. We walked west and encountered a recently renovated play area with quite a fancy version of jungle gym. The surface below the equipment was composed of chipped up auto tires.

The sign says that you can only play in this play area if you're between the ages of 2 and 5. That's probably more restrictive than necessary and a sign that is widely ignored. Even today, a brisk November day in the 30's there were some overaged users of the facility. I don't think anyone called the mayor to complain.

Another Como Park bridge. They are numerous, but not endless. This once was used for the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line, in fact for 56 years from 1898 until 1954. Yes, there used to be streetcar service from Lake Harriet in Minneapolis to Como Park. The bridge was unused after 1954 and became decrepit for many years, but was rebuilt and is now part of the bike path network in St Paul.  There is even a museum dedicated to the history of the line.

I was struck by a Sinclair Lewis quote in the paper this morning. It was quoted by Paul Douglas, the local weatherman/entrepreneur. "Winter is not a season, it's an occupation." Snow is predicted for Sunday night into Monday. Possibly a lot of it.