M&I / BMO

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

This is the kind of thing my grandparents used to do: refer to places by their names from 50 years earlier.  Now I do it, too.  No doubt someday my kids will, too.

The building below is the Marshall & Ilsley Bank, or as Milwaukeeans have always called it, “M&I.”  Samuel Marshall and Charles Ilsley were real people who actually lived in Milwaukee, the city where they did business.  Today this bank is a subsidiary of Canadian-owned BMO Financial Group, known in Canada as the Bank of Montreal.  Or, as they like to style themselves “Be Mo.”  (Don’t you think “Bank of Montreal” should shorten to an acronym of “BOM” or “BOMO” instead of “BMO”?  Then we could call them “Bom” or “Bo Mo” instead of what sounds like a slogan encouraging us to “Be More” by availing ourselves of their services.  But I digress . . . )

When an appointment yesterday afternoon took my daughter and me past this building, she mentioned how cool the lines on this building looked running up toward the sky.  (Yep, she takes after me, I guess 🙂 )

IMG_0537[1]

Posted in Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Wham! Pow! Ooof!

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Fun article the other day in the Wall Street Journal—or, as they like to style themselves: The Wall Street Journal. (← with a period at the end, I have no idea why)—about all the over-the-top villains in the old “Batman” television series (which is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD).

“Batman” ran in the late 1960s, and I loved it as a child. Thought it was just incredibly dramatic action/thriller material!

The episodes ran back-to-back on two consecutive weeknights, always ending the first episode with a cliffhanger featuring Batman and Robin ensnared in the villain-du-jour’s trap, e.g., dangling from a rope over a vat of steaming, dangerous liquid. As the dynamic duo slowly dropped lower and lower toward their doom, the narrator’s voiceover intoned dramatically, “Is this the end for our caped crusaders?  Tune in tomorrow!  Same ‘Bat’ time!  Same ‘Bat’ channel!”

My neighbor, Karen, and I would discuss Batman’s perilous situation on the walk to school the next morning, worried that this time might actually be the end of our heroes and anxiously awaiting that evening’s episode to find out how it was resolved.

Not until years later, when I saw the show in reruns as an adult, did I realize that “Batman” was actually total tongue-in-cheek camp.

At which point I loved it even more 🙂

If you fondly remember . . .

  • Burgess Meredith’s “Penguin”
  • Cesar Romero’s “Joker”
  • Julie Newmar’s (and Eartha Kitt’s) “Catwoman”
  • and Frank Gorshin’s “Riddler”

. . . you can  follow this link to “The Rogues Gallery of Gotham” and relive the fun!

Posted in History, Life, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Grohmann Museum Statues (Again)

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Ever since noticing the Grohmann Museum statues’ reflection in the office building across the street last week, I’ve been sort of obsessed with them.  Maybe not literally, but I’ve definitely begun looking up at them A LOT (and whipping out my iPhone) whenever I approach the building.  The other day I even went up to the rooftop garden, which is closed for the season, so I could take pictures through the glass windows.  Here are some of my results.

IMG_0526[1]

IMG_0519[1]

Grohmann statues

IMG_0528[1]

IMG_0536[1]

The two guys in this last photo are the ones whose reflection inspired all this picture taking in the first place.

It seems like I’ve been posting nothing but photographs on my blog recently—sorry about that if you stop by regularly and would rather read text!  I guess I’m just in a “visual” frame of mind lately 🙂

Posted in Art, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Urban Sunset, March

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Taken with my iPhone  as I returned to my office last night after teaching an early evening class.  (Despite the fact that downtown Milwaukee is built on a swamp and thus wages a constant battle against sinking, this building isn’t really tilted!  It’s just a weird thing that my iPhone does with perspective 🙂 )

Urban Sunset, March

Posted in Milwaukee, Nature, Photography | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Melting ice at Red Arrow skating rink

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Last week Friday the temperature was 0º on our back porch thermometer when I let the dogs out first thing in the morning.  Today the high is supposed to hit 63º.  Quite a change, (to which my sinuses can attest 🙂 ).  Standing water and glimpses of cement through the ice at the rink in Milwaukee’s Red Arrow park greeted me when I made a Starbucks run earlier this morning.  A welcome sign that this winter is just about over!

melting ice at Red Arrow park

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Reflections on “Man at Work”

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

These  giant (9-foot) statues line the Grohmann Museum’s rooftop sculpture garden.

Grohmann statues

Bronze statue atop Grohmann Museum, via Urban Milwaukee Dial, “One Piece at a Time: A Thousand Little Pieces,” by Judith Ann Moriarty, August 19, 2011 (http://urbanmilwaukeedial.com/2011/08/19/one-piece-at-a-time-a-thousand-little-pieces/)

“Rooftop Sculpture Garden” (from msoe.edu)

As I was walking into my building this morning, I saw this reflection in the windows of the office building across the street.  When I saw the statues’ silhouettes in the glass, I decided to take a picture.

Grohmann Museum rooftop sculptures

Then after dropping stuff off upstairs in my office, I ran to get coffee.  By the time I got back, the sun had emerged from behind a cloud.  What a difference a change in lighting makes in a photograph!

Grohmann rooftop sculptures

Coming into the building again much later in the day, around 4:15 pm, I noticed the sun hitting the statutes from the opposite angle.  I think of the three photos, this late afternoon one is my favorite.  It’s only an iPhone picture, but now I can look at the image whenever I like.  And if I ever decide to try for a better photograph, I can bring my good camera downtown on a similar afternoon.

Posted in Art, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Night trees, Miller Valley

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

I’ve become quite fond of my iPhone’s ability to capture fleeting images that catch my eye. On my way home from teaching a night class yesterday, I noticed these trees at the traffic light on the far western edge of Miller Valley (home of Miller Brewing—now known as MillerCoors following multiple bouts of conglomerationitis 🙂 ). So easy just to grab my phone, roll down my window, and click!

IMG_0497[1]

Posted in Milwaukee, Nature, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Morning Sunlight, à la Brothers Grimm

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

I don’t know why this golden-orange cast of sunrise on trees makes me think of a Grimm Brothers fairy tale.  When I walked outside my front door this morning, the gilded bark was the first thing I noticed, and “Grimm Brothers” was my first thought.  Maybe I had an illustrated edition once long ago with color plates similar to this.

birch with morning sun

There’s also a painting not far from my office in the Grohmann Museum that has this same eerie morning light.  Every time I walk past, I get this strange sense of déjà vu that I’m glancing at a book of fairy tales from my childhood.  Do you ever get odd flashes of memory like that?

Sawmill in the Morning, 1845 Sawmill in the Morning, 1845″ (Countesss Xaveria Amalia Franziska Pocci, in the Grohmann Museum collection)

Would you like new posts delivered to your inbox? To subscribe, click here.

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Windswept, snow-covered weeds (photo)

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Every day on my way to work, I think about how pretty this hill looks . . . as I speed past.

And then I vow to remember to stop the next day so I can take a picture.  Problem is, this hillside is right where the road I’m on goes under/through a somewhat complex freeway entrance/exit.  So I’d have to park quite a ways away, up on a city street, and then walk along the entrance-ramp berm to get the photo.  A little dangerous and possibly illegal.  Plus it has been really COLD!

Yesterday I finally got caught at the stoplight at the entrance/exit ramp interchange, so I used my minute of good fortune to roll down the window and take a quick pic with my iPhone.  (Thank you, Apple 🙂 )

IMG_0486[1]

 

Posted in Nature, Photography | 2 Comments

“S” is for sewer

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

I mean, how else could I have titled this photo? 🙂 (It’s actually a Styrofoam packing peanut.)

IMG_0488[1]

Posted in Photography | Tagged , | Leave a comment