The Heaviness and the Heaven.
Some don’t know. Content to descend without a whimper into the constrictor-like depths. Trained rats parking neatly between the lines in the first available.
Finding comfort with womb-like order as a prelude to unknowns.
Angles intersect. Thoughts like that.
Pointedly posed. It’s under control. No question.(1933.Schlacks/USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Weighty structures by design: To reassure – or regiment – to make it all easier.
Space so easily conquered and mastered, how could Anything challenge decisive human domination?
“All under control. Nothing to fear. Nothing to worry about.”
Who decided stark rigid boxes said that best?
Lines drawn. Minds drawn. Happily quartered….
Up on the roof. Houston Medical Center Parking garage.©
But some know. Better.
Zoom past the narrow cramped garage spaces. Winding up floor after floor of the parking garage to the wide open roof.
Burst out the dark cavern blinking like a gopher who made a wrong turn and ended up facing sun instead of root.
One last escape. Even if only momentary.
Buildings like brash sculpture against a bold sky.
A much better opening act.
Marshaling inner strength before facing the unavoidable pokes, prods, and questions like “Why are you still eating chips, ice cream, and Mexican food and not working out with weights like we talked about?”
“Hey, I walked down from roof….”
Saved by the bright.
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Worrisome threshold or your basic entrance to any doctor’s appointment.(Robert Pozzi/Commons.wikimedia.org)
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29 Comments
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
good argument…. I will write in my catalog :o) thanks
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Don’t go gently into those dark parking garages, Easy. Park down the block so you can dawdle. Thanks for strolling over
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..great phrasing, m’Lady:)
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Just tossing some pebbles into the water and watching the ripples. Appreciate the kind words. Thanks for parking them here.
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“Blinking like a gopher that made a wrong turn…” – totally speaking farm girl lingo here! Excellent prose today… you have a brilliant way with words! 😀
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As much of a nuisance as they are, gophers are such a cartoon sometimes. Thanks for blinking along
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A few runs up to the roof would make all our doctors’ visits go better. As long as we don’t collapse from cardiac arrest. That would be counterproductive… 😉
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All our docs have big windows and views…as important for them as us, right? (Bet there’s research about patients’ blood pressure being lower in human scale buildings or rooms with views.)
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I bet so too. A view can do a lot of great things for our psyche and stress level. Well, if it’s a good view.
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Seniority in the group counts!
(Enjoying your “office” window this year, right?)
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I have a view of a busy street in front and squirrels on the side. 😉
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Somehow that sounds like a scene out of a children’s book. (New genre for ya’)
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Ha, doubtful but you never know.
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Ramps down with pedestrian lanes instead of stairs with yucky hand rails! Too many visions of tripping in rough dark damp stair wells and rolling alllll the way down….
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Building blocks are good. But don’t go down the dark spooky alleys when you get older. Monsters reside.
I’ve always had a fear of car parking blocks. Watched too many films I guess. But the last photo is cool.
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It is the films! Lock the doors. I had nightmares of the ones in Massachusetts as a kid. Really old, narrow, and made for tiny cars, with flickering dim lights – If the library hadn’t been the object of the trip, I’m not sure I could have managed them. (Slip down in the seat and hide your eyes.)
In Spain/ Gib, even the alleys/passages too narrow for cars (but the only way around the neighborhood) look “quaint and charming” HA HA. Like living on the top of a 4 story building with no elevator (but a terrace!) is charming and quaint until you have to hike up daily hauling stuff in and up all hours of day and night in assorted weather.
Dark spooky alleys are where monsters do lurk, though. Here and there.
Thanks for wandering over to chat.
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The straight becomes the strait-and-narrow as in strait-jacket.. .
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You have that lined up. Thanks
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I don’t often leave a tune as a comment, but, well…
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You found it! i love that song – and it always seems like the parking garages should have that piped in up on the rooooof. Thanks so much for tuning in and for the assist.
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“Angles intersect. Thoughts like that.”
I’ll say it again: you, my friend, are one of the most unique, gifted bloggers on the web.
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Hook, you’re one who reads closely and notices details. A rarity in this rapid info barrage world. But you’re also a close observer of the human species, too. Always happy to have you pack up and stop in for a visit. (Always wondered. Do hotels have a lost special blankie shelf knowing there will be a frantic call with wailing child in the background?)
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Whatever happened to all of those dreamy predictions of the future I heard back in the 70s. Opinions in which by now much of architecture was going to blend in with nature more as a standard in the western world, and provide us with greater and healthier “eco-friendly” living experiences.
Hmmmm.
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70’s? I thought it was the 60’s (Paolo Soleri and Arcosanti), oh wait, Rasbach and his Provident Planner was the 70’s (when the “newly rediscovered” Tiny House concept was already being done back then by several). Of course there’s that old Wright guy, or trace back to Walden Pond and Thoreau’s writing or think out of the box with Moshe Safdie (previous post).
Hmmm it seems to be a cycle where there’s discovery, then yawn – it’s forgotten, only to be rediscovered again. Typically human behavior.
It’s always interesting to drive down the roads and recognize the buildings reflecting the building philosophy of that era. Responsible human scale building seems to rely on money and space available – higher construction costs and site price. Right now it’s good to see the “village concept” and “walkable village” concept doing well here.
The big downtown Medical Center I have to give a pass as they’ve run out of land being bounded by Herman Park, the Zoo, Rice University, the Museum District with multiple buildings and green spaces for sculpture gardens and the like, and a major freeway on the other side. The only way they can expand is up. At least the hospitals/research institutions try to keep their buildings inside and out psychologically open and conducive to healing body and soul. Parking garages? Not sure what they can do about those caverns, but I do know the fastest route to the top outdoor levels of those. Makes a difference – I’ll carry an umbrella.
Thanks for dropping by, seeing what was built, and nailing it with your comment
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Not a fan of big parking garages. Seen too many movies I guess. Why am I always the only human being in those places? It’s spooky.
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“Winding up floor after floor of the parking garage to the wide open roof.”
I like this imagery. Reminds me of Pilgrim’s Progress– ever onward to heaven. Probably an odd comparison, but then look whose blog I’m reading. The connections are always unique!
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Those expansive parking garages on the other hand have tight dimensions… as the front bumper on my car bears testimony to. Concrete bollards are not vehicle friendly.
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“All under control. Nothing to fear. Nothing to worry about.”
Who decided stark rigid boxes said that best?
Lines drawn. Minds drawn. Happily quartered…
Deep thoughts… straight lines and compact, enclosed structures… they probably are a graphic definition of what the punitive and connective social system implies…
Sending you all my best wishes!. Aquileana 😀
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Or by control freaks. Seeking to halt questioning. Medical centers may tend to be that way at times: efficient and less emotionally messy for staff so they can go home and sleep at night, then get up and do it all again – easy to burnout.
Oddly people exist in an organic world but when creating, they prefer straight lines….less messy in various ways.
Thanks for wandering these thoughts. Always enjoy your conversations.
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