A few years ago I walked down to the sad little stone construction I noticed on my way to and from work. It was some form of fireplace, sadly left in the middle of a dangerous cloverleaf along highway 100 at 7. Recently this relic, which I’ve found out to be a Beehive Fireplace, has found a new home and has been lovingly restored. It’s been moved a short distance to a new park called Lilac Park, just off the Midtown Greenway Bike Trail at Highway 100.

There’s trail access, a handicap accessible bathroom and a few of the original picnic tables from when Hwy 100 was Lilac Way. It was constructed as a parkway and was the largest WPA project in the state. The Golden Valley Garden Club planted Lilacs along the parkway. Also, I just discovered the Nordic Ware tower right next to the park was “the first circular concrete grain elevator in the United States, and possibly in the world.”

Along the Minnehaha Creek bike trail, where it crosses Portland Avenue, there is a large bronze rabbit. It showed up in the past few years and I have no idea what his story is. I was biking past him while talking to my dad (yes, on a mobile phone, yes I know). I mentioned the rabbit, which is kind of hard to explain, so here is a pic. Also, the cottonwood trees have been dumping their cotton for the past few weeks, you can see that I managed to get a fluf in the photo: see that white spot at the base of the tree behind the rabbit? It’s an out-of-focus cottonwood seed blowing by.

Professional Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow shares daily photos of the city he loves. Exploring Minneapolis through Photography while teaching composition and techniques.

I finished up a new website yesterday for Donna Chicone. She’s a local TV host of “The Dog Show.” She’s a real sweetie and a delight to work with. I haven’t met her co-host Jazz yet, but he seems to have full run of the show. The site has a lot of features, video, audio, photo galleries and an active menu. It’s all built with CSS and XHTML — I’m pretty proud of it. Take a look if you get a chance and let me know what you think of it. View TV Host & Media Talent, Donna Chicone’s website built by Mitch Rossow.

Professional Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow shares daily photos of the city he loves. Exploring Minneapolis through Photography while teaching composition and techniques.

Looks like the Minneapolis fire and rescue have a new toy. I found these guys tearing it up on Lake Nokomis while I was out riding.

Look at that engine! It’s a Chevy 502! V8 madness on the water!

Professional Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow shares daily photos of the city he loves. Exploring Minneapolis through Photography while teaching composition and techniques.

Here’s a rose from the Lyndale Park Rose Garden on the Northeast shore of Lake Harriet, Minneapolis in yesterday’s post.

I know flowers and sunsets are like puppies and kittens, but I had to share this one. It had rained over night and the raindrops were perfect!

Stay tuned, more infrared photos tomorrow!

Professional Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow shares daily photos of the city he loves. Exploring Minneapolis through Photography while teaching composition and techniques.

This is the Heffelfinger Fountain in the Lyndale Park Rose Garden on the Northeast shore of Lake Harriet. It’s the second oldest rose garden in the U.S. and was designed by Theodore Wirth.

Yes, this is infrared. I’ve posted a few of these over time and y’all demanded more of them, so here ya go.

I’ll be bringing you photos of the parks and trails for most of the month; I’d like to prove the beauty of this city’s greenspaces before I begin the State Fair. The State Fair is big deal here, it runs from the 21st thru Sept 1st. There’s tons of fun there, but it’s mainly about things you really shouldn’t be eating — on a stick. Batter-fried cheese curds, Batter-fried candy bars, Batter-fried oreos, some obscenity called a scotch egg and walleye-on-a-stick are a few crowd pleasers of yore. The latter I’ve not seen, but my dad is fascinated by — since he won’t come up here, I gotta go find one. So enjoy the pretty pictures while they last.