Love

While riding a city bus to work this week I overheard the following exchange between a "special needs" man about 30-years-old and the bus driver:

Man: "My Mom wants to commit me to a hospital but she still loves me, right?"
Driver: "Yes, I'm sure she stills loves you."
Man: "That's good to hear. Thanks."

I don't know if the driver knew the man but I thought it was nice of him to give the guy positive feedback on a touchy subject.

Old Wards Auto Center Being Razed

Razing began this week of the old Montgomery Wards auto center building on the northeast corner of Third and Vine streets in downtown La Crosse. Erected in 1965, the one-story brick building (0f ho-hum architectural value) served as Wards auto center until 1986 when Wards packed its bags and left La Crosse. In more recent years the building has served as the Huber Center for La Crosse County and is being removed to make room for a $29 million La Crosse County Jail expansion. Hard to imagine now but during the late 19th Century and early 20th Century this site was home to a Northwestern Railroad passenger depot with steam trains chugging in and out of La Crosse. Unfortunately, there are very few photos of the depot and the train activity once common on this corner.

All Day Fog

On Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, La Crosse experienced an all-day fog, a rare occurrence in my memory. The city will often have foggy mornings with the fog burning off by 9 or 10 a.m. but an all-day fog is very unusual. I took a walk in the fog with my camera and enjoyed it much as the misty conditions gave the city a surreal appearance and feeling (see photo for example) as if La Crosse had been dropped into Bavaria. Even better, the fog muted sounds - especially that of traffic so walking near busy streets was not nearly annoying as it normally is.