The morning began with dropping off my car at the car wash joint that sadly no longer has a giant octopus out front on East Washington just south of Ingersoll. From there I moseyed over to Lapham Elementary School which was apparently built in 1939.
Here at this fine institution of lower education they train our future leaders.
Considering the building's age, I would expect some more adornment on the exterior. Nothing outrageous but the building was just a little plain. Still, there were some neat bits such as these bas relief hoolies that flanked a doorway on the southeast side of the building.
Plus, as someone who has taken Latin, I appreciated the use of the "V" here.
Walking around the perimeter I noticed that this rather old tree has gobbled up a fencepost.
In addition to academics, kids can get back to the land and get their hands dirty in a garden on the southwest side of the schoolgrounds.
Exactly what they're growing in there is beyond me, but it's nice to see that the kids can get spend some time with nature and away from social media.
From there it was a block over to East Johnson. On the way there I spied one of the oldest sidewalk stamps I've seen in Madison – from 1959.
Plus I walked by the house of an aspiring vintner that has a trellis arch out front that has grapes growing on it.
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, the 1100 block of E. Johnson has some homes with unusually large setbacks from the street.
Most of them are fairly large homes but not really palatial estates so I have to wonder why they are so lucky, or unlucky if you have to remove snow off of those driveways, as to be so far from the street. Presumably whoever built them simply had the inclination and the money to do so.
Down at Baldwin Strasse there's Newport's Wooden Furnishings with its lovely inlaid tile entablature or whatever you call that part of a building.
Heading down Baldwin, I came across this garage with some neat crenellation.
Although Tenney-Lapham is not exactly a small neighborhood, it's not huge either. Still, it is home to four parks. I strolled through Reynolds Park previously and this time around I hit Tenney Park. So not only did Daniel K. Tenney get a neighborhood named after him, but also a large park. He donated the land as well money to develop the park.
Ducks and geese were enjoying the beach.
I walked out onto the breakwater which gets you a goodly ways from the shore and affords some nice views of Lake Mendota.
It was early yet and so there were no flotillas of fishermen nor eager maritime partiers waiting to traverse the locks. However, a few old duffers were holding court at a nearby table presumably lamenting the lack of fish that had nibbled at their lines.
The lagoon was quite mellow with but a solitary fisherman although there were birds and water fowl aplenty.
This is the A.G. Zimmerman bridge, named after Judge Arthur G. Zimmerman who ponied up some cash for its construction.
From Tenney it was over to Giddings Park. The city classifies it as a mini-park and provides no information for whom it was named. It sits behind Christ Presbyterian Church and is rather non-descript. In addition to being small, it lacks any amenities and consists mainly of a hillside and some shoreline.
A path leads along the shore to a bench and eventually into someone's backyard.
Not a place to pitch a wang dang doodle or even throw a frisbee around, it does have a nice view of the lake and serves well for some quiet contemplation.
I would not get to the final park in Tenney-Lapham, James Madison. Instead I went to check out the shiniest and newest buildings.
Read Part II, "Matutinal Meanderings: Amble On"
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