cobaltika

topeka state hospital, kansas. click images or H E R E for MORE!

FINALLY!!!! i got to visit the Topeka State Hospital. i have wanted to see it for quite some time, especially as the property is for sale and the buildings could soon be demolished. it is unbelievable to imagine that such architectural wonders would be destroyed, regardless of stigma and history.

friday was gloomy and cold and i stayed in and arted and laundried all day. ALL DAY. saturday was gloomy and cold and WET, but i decided to go ahead and have a car anyway. imagine carrying a huge cat litter for a mile in a mexican carrier bag. on car weekends, at least one exploration is required, but i didn’t want to go too far. so i Traci and i decided to give Topeka another chance. we made a small photoadventure there once about 3 years ago, but it just seemed … boring. and the town was confusing and we could not find vegetarian food for lunch and we were starved. we never went back. i did my research and the hospital complex was easy to find. it was incredible. it was SO COLD and wet and i had to keep my camera in my parka, but it got wet anyway. we walked all over the grounds. it would be have been incredible to go inside the buildings and i probably would have criminally trespassed if i could have found a way. how dare they consider tearing those structures down? they are AMAZING.

then we found the old Messinger psychiatric complex, but it was harder to get in. we had to park and sneak a little, but it was too cold to go to a lot of trouble. i made a few images and was again, appalled to think they would tear down the tower building. i could see destruction was in progress, though.

then we found the OLD cemetery, with some awesome tombs, but it was getting dark and still raining and we were cold and tired, so we did not explore on foot.

it was WAY fun. today it is gloomy and cold and SNOWING and i am wondering where i will go. somewhere!

sleeping as late as i wanted, drinking coffee, learning my camera, finishing my paperback mystery, talking on the phone a lot (for me), eating some yogurt, blueberries and toast made from that weird bread with no flour, walking around with Aretha (the newcam) and having some big fun with her in the nice quiet alleys downtown, talking on the phone, shower, petticoat and dark blue sweatshirt and thick socks, dinner of organic chicken apple sausage, baked yam with honey and limonolio, broccoli and a grand white wine, trying to paint, stopping before a bad mood set in, listening to boys play outside, messing with pictures, talking on the phone, reading, shivering.

happy thanksgiving home alone!

god i really love limonolio.

and my new camera.

i hope everyone i know had a fine day.

i guess this is the last picture i will show from my oldcam for a while (it is not even really that old - ha - when did i get it? spring? summer?), as the newcam has arrived! of course it came on MONDAY, when i had to finish working on the magazine and then was too tired to play with it very much. and of course, on the workdays it is too dark when i get home to go outside. but … there is a long weekend coming up and i am home alone!! i timed it nicely! i shall not feel lonely, missing my people (at least not *too* much), with my new friend. her name is Aretha!

for a change, i am not going to sell my oldcam. i really like it, for a pocketcam, and it doesn’t take up too much space. Aretha is very light, but complicated, and it will take a while to get used to her, i know, even though i am familiar with the Lumix cams. i will read the manual! i can’t really stand around punching a bunch of buttons and remembering numbers when i shoot, but i would like to know some nifty things to do on the fly. i know she is going to be sweet! i think i am going to rent a little car this weekend and we are going somewhere! oh!

lately, most of my words are not fit for public viewing, so there will be lots of pictures instead. they are nicer. i have been lucky with pictures. and dammit i *do* deserve that new camera that won’t come until monday. (pout) maybe i will be surprised by a saturday arrival? oh! i wish! this morning it was 15 degrees. here comes winter. oh boy.