Mengerson Nature Preserve is in the middle of urban sprawl

Mengerson park is just down the road from Northwood Plaza on Fort Wayne's northeast side. There are 36 walkable acres here, and it's very private as it is cut through three layers of woodland. I would think many Fort Wayne residents barely notice it as they pass by on their way to Target or the Cinema Grill. But I think it's great - donated by the Mengerson family to be entrusted as public land. A couple, the wife with the lovely name of Ursula, made this generous gift, to make it possible for all of us to be able to find recreation and refuge in the middle of the city: even if it is near Suburbia. It was donated to the public land trust organization ACRES.

It's muddy through the woodland. Bring your mud shoes in the spring. I did see redbuds and pear trees beginning to bloom, and a layer of forest wildflowers. How I wished my dear friend JoAnne, who lives in California now, could have been there - she is from Fort Wayne and introduced me to this little nature preserve ten or more years ago. I haven't returned since then, but I don't think much has changed. JoAnne is an environmental scientist, and knows the names of all the plants - including the wildflowers' names that I am rusty at recalling - and walks with such focus and understanding it is a pleasure to be with her.

There are boardwalks built up in low places, and it's great to get up out of the mud. A couple of bridges span the creeks, and water is running, since it is spring. The trees are not leafed out yet. Even so it's a thick curtain, protecting us from busy Stellhorn Road. This park is literally found between a couple of houses near Maplecrest, and Reed at the next cross street. There isn't much parking, but I found a spot on the gravel rectangle.

Look for a few giant shagbark hickories. They curve inspirationally, as one could imagine seeing giants in the dark. There are also a few beech trees, one so smooth it has attracted the love carvers. A bit of patio furniture has found its way on one patch of the forest floor, and I found it charming, if not bound to be destroyed within the next six months. But this being a land trust, part of ACRES, and not formal Fort Wayne park property, there may be no regular maintenance crew that makes its way through here.

We walked the circle that claimed to be 1.2 miles, and it was a fine day. Give it a whirl. Imagine being a middle school kid, having the time of your life carousing in here some warm, moonlight night. Hurrah to public land. Get out there and enjoy yourself some.

Koto brings Japanese back

Did you know Native Americans used moss for a variety of things, including absorbent dressings for wounds, as diapers, and as packing materials? They also stuffed moss into moccasins and shoes for warmth. In this photo, you are looking down at the north side of the base of a maple tree. I have learned that moss can grow on all sides, depending on the amount of moisture and shade. It doesn't seem as though Mick Jagger has been gathering any, with all his upsurge in popularity as of late.

I really enjoy Japanese food - it is not a fad for me. Diners in Fort Wayne that wish to turn Japanese have had limited choices until recently. Asakusa has dominated the restaurant market for years, and frankly it's hard to beat it. That place is in a good spot on Lima Road across from the Meier plaza. But I've tried Koto a few times now, and it's good to see it getting some business.

There's a large white marble Buddha sitting in lotus pose in the foyer. I think this place was a fast food joint that was redecorated - looks pretty good considering with what they had to work. The kick plate of the sushi bar is subtle and lit with blue neonish lights - l like it. We sit at a table (no booth, says my friend in the know) and we're good.

It's lunch. I've had the maki special, which includes choice of two small fish rolls, and soup and salad. That's about $9. Next time I would go for the order that is choice of three rolls, because these are small and I wasn't completely satiated. I don't know, the one that comes with three is around $12. That might be better.

My friend has chicken teriyaki - with the rice and broccoli, it's a good price for $7. The tea - so-so. The clear soup was very good (hot! Just right). Also a good choice is instead: miso soup, if you like that. Soy and tofu; healthy and tasty.

They offer a lunch bento box - which I think is a good choice for something different at a Japanese restaurant. It comes with a lot of variety - veggie tempura and choice of entree, a 4-piece roll and rice, plus soup and salad. The bento box has dividers to separate one's food. It's attractive, aesthetically pleasing, kids might think it's fun, and it's $8.

I'm a big sushi fan so I have to dive and order a raw fish roll - many of us love the creamy, spicy rolls, but the sauces tend to pack on the extra calories. I can be good and get their rainbow roll. This is crab, avocado and cucumber rolled inside rice which is then finished with tuna, salmon, a white fish and avocado in a lovely striped pattern. That with the soy sauce and wasabi, I feel as though I'm eating some super foods. I think this was cut in about eight pieces, so with the soup and salad for lunch I was happily full.

There are a couple of new Asian fusion and such places on the southwest end of Fort Wayne, but I'm glad to see Koto up here on the Coldwater/I-69 area. I'm glad to live in a climate where there is moss, and I hope it sticks around. Unlike that is Curtis Smith's beard, our local TV weatherman, who makes a deal to shave it after Christmas each year once the temperatures hit the 70s. It will be gone today.

Hugo is all about artistry and working parts

One starts to wonder if simple machinery will cease to exist. We used to be able to fix and tinker with our own automobiles: today's vehicles are full of electronic and digital components and must be taken in to a garage and be diagnosed with a computer. The lovely mechanical carousel, seen here in the photo and found at Glenbrook Square Mall, has hand-carved animals and old fashioned machinery, but there are fewer of these original wonders.

Movie making, and its final product transferred to film, has morphed its way to current day digital production. In February we saw a couple of salutes to the grand old days of traditional movie making rewarded at the Oscars. I'm thinking of the Best Picture winner The Artist, and the film I am writing about today: Hugo.

This is a story about George Melies, the fantastic French filmmaker who made wondrous, mind-bending classics such as A Trip To The Moon in 1902. In that classic film, a rocket is launched in the sky and lands in the face of the Man in the Moon, causing a burst of cheese to erupt. You probably know what I'm talking about. In Hugo, directed by the iconic Martin Scorsese, Melies is at the end of his career, running a toy shop in the Paris train station. Marty Scorsese is a master of visual imagery, and in one of the first scenes, giant clock gears symbolize the spoke-like mechanisms of the working city itself. The grand train yard with its romantic steam engines and the musicality of the trains themselves become part of the aural background in the story.

It's a beautiful film; there is so much visual poetry with spiral staircases, wind-up toy mice, and a circling of camera movements to lead the viewer. I had been planning to say more about the story itself, but I am more inclined to report on some of the other things that flashed for me watching this movie. Today's children I know would never imagine a life so unpampered as to live behind a clock in a glass clock tower, as one of the key characters does: the boy Hugo. His father brings home an abandoned automoton - a mechanical human - and the two repair it in their spare time. Several times in the film, something happens to move one of the male characters to tears, and I am struck by the thought of how painful a man's tears appear to be. It was a week for tears- I'm thinking of Payton Manning crying at his press conference this week with the announcement he was out of the Colts.

But back to the movie. Again and again, we are struck by the joy, the lost art of mechanical things. Melies, near the end of his life and having lost so much, remembers being a boy and says with so much conviction, "I used to LOVE fixing things." I have always been drawn to people like that. What if no one knew how things worked? Maybe we shouldn't be allowed to own something without this basic knowledge. There sure would be a lot fewer cars around.

The fear of being taken to an orphanage - no child worries about that today. But it was a common theme in old movies. The idea of movies being dreams, or as your dreams being viewed in the middle of the day, or dreams made alive. A movie about the magic of movies. A celebration of artistry, of all kinds of artistry. It's a great thing to celebrate.

I've said I loved the sound in this movie. The pauses, the silences, the noises of every little clock mechanism magnified - lots of suspenseful timing. The sets, props, costumes, and cinematography is great. But I was surprised to see a few problems with acting and editing. Most of the acting was good, but several times I saw a reaction would not be quite natural, a glance would not look spontaneous; I don't know. What's up with that, Scorsese? Sometimes it's in the details. In the shots of Melies' original films, the French dancers even at a distance would raise their lovely arms to reveal obvious armpit hair (I'm not judging here - they are French and this was the early 1900's.) but when they were reproducing these scenes with the contemporary actress portraying his wife, in her lovely close-ups, alas - no hair. And then back to the old shots - dark underarm hair. And then back to the re-done close ups - bare as a baby's bottom. Come on, Scorsese, you are the master. Maybe you are losing your sight, but perhaps your film editor at least needs to be let go.

One of the best actors in the picture was surprisingly: the automoton (mechanical human). It's not alive, but Scorsese figured out how to light it, frame it, add sound to the takes and make his actors react to it. Maybe the automaton should have been nominated for an acting part. I know that's not right, but I was impressed. I did like this movie, and the more I read about Melies, the more fascinated I am. Best of all, it's clean - a family film. I haven't seen The Artist yet, but I'll be making some contrasts when I do. Thumbs and mechanical parts up. With Ben Kingsley as Melies and Sasha Baron Cohen.

Forever 21

It's unusually warm today here in Indiana, with temperatures in the 60s. It will turn cold again soon, but today I walked around the yard and took a photo of our naked sculpture here. It looks as though she needs some clothes. I've draped her before to entertain us, but instead I could just go buy her something to wear at Forever 21.

Forever 21 is a clothing store chain that has become very popular all across the country. We have one in Fort Wayne at Glenbrook Square Mall. Teens love this store - they have a huge selection of things, it's trendy, and prices are generally cheap. It began in California, and was first called Fashion 21. There was one store in the L.A. area in 1984, and by 1997 that number had grown to 40 stores. The Korean-born owners bought designs from hundreds of southern California clothing makers and put them together in their original store. It still works that way - one problem with this is there is no uniform size-scale across the store. A 6 in one item might be the same size as an 8 in another. But, who cares? Informal, fun, so-Cal: It's not Macy's or Banana Republic, but it's not intended to be so.

The local store has an interesting decor - faux tin ceilings (at least I don't think they could be real) that have been white washed; a dozen or so elaborate chandeliers hang from the ceilings. I really like how the accessories and jewelry have a room of their own. The costume jewelry is well displayed, and there is a massive collection: it is one of the best features of the store. Costume jewelry is so elaborate and fun right now: lots of metallics, chain mail strung together, and feathers (really a huge trend).

Separates are the focus of the line. It's not a suits or dresses type of brand. Forever 21 has gained a measure of media attention by printing the bible verse John 3:16 on the bottom of their shopping bags - a witnessing of their Christian perspective. What I didn't know is that the hamburger chain In-&-Out Burger has done the same thing on some of their cups.

Although Forever 21 has been sued by Diane Von Furstenberg, Gwen Stefani and Anna Sui for having suppliers copy their designs, reportedly the company is trying to show more business acumen by assuming a policy of corporate responsibility and posting their plans on their website. For some fun and inexpensive shopping, give it a try. The store is kind of jam-packed with merchandise, which I think makes it difficult, but if you're able to keep your sanity while digging, I'm sure you can find something you like.

Dog Days of Winter

It's been a mild winter in Indiana this year - nothing to complain about. Yet, we languish, wishing for the spring. It will come soon, as we see the tips of buds in the trees, and the tops of the daffodils beginning to peek through the ground. It's time to dig up an old poem of mine, never published. I found it waiting for me in a drawer. It's written in an old style of mine, and written (in some measure) in honor of a friend who has lived with Lou Gehrig's disease for many years now. Blessings to you, and sleep well until spring.



What kind of dawn is this
to loom before the day, so bold?

Pink colors lure one from soft bed
to greet the earth and sky, transcendent in this flight.

A growing, living glow burst from blueness
that becomes a scarlet ribbon on heaven's throat
a swirling comet motionless in space
a crevasse of fire in the sky.

Living dawn so wondrous and magical
that life returns to the earth and heart
a day that begins as a smoky, golden thread
blooms true - orange and peach as no fruit ever dreamed to be.

Most will blink and miss it
but those who view
will know all is well
that there is hope -
a private dawn under the sun.

Where nothing is ever new
something is - this radiant dawn
that makes this day, mine.

SLG

A Star is Born on Remodeled

There's a new guy on reality TV and his name is Paul Fisher. He may have been around for a long time representing top fashion models, but he's stepped up his game - the CW Network is featuring him in "Remodeled" - a reality-drama about his current mission to improve and then network with obscure or small modeling agencies. His staff call him "the vampire" (he works so much it's as if he never sleeps). He is also abrupt, explosive, a live wire - he seems compulsively driven on this new show, and his passion makes for good storytelling.

On the most recent episode that aired at 9 p.m. in Fort Wayne on Wednesday, Paul and his model scouting staff and assistant are in Phoenix to evaluate a potential agency for his group: The Network. He says although the top modeling agencies in the country are housed in New York, the models themselves come from small towns or cities all around the country. He's got the financial backing of the TV show, the business and its sponsors to promote small agencies that he deems worthy: which means finding and representing local talent. It's an interesting hypothesis, and I thought of Chef Ramsey of "Kitchen Nightmares" yelling at small town cooks and restaurant owners. It is sort of the 'Reality' television drama formula. Remodeled is fun, trendy, offbeat, edgy - I'm sure just right for the demographic, the target audience for the CW.

The small agency in Phoenix is called Courtier, and is owned by three men. They are struggling to make it, and are moonlighting at other jobs. Paul convinces the men to transition to an all-male model agency, something that doesn't yet exist in Phoenix. In the show he asks them to narrow their focus and learn how to better scout for talent.

It seems as though the show plays up conflict and drama, and works off his assistants Olga (who helps teach the owners how to find talent) and Joseph, who glowers under his dark bangs in his token cranky-goth sidekick job. Courtier manages to find new talent, Hunter, in a mall "cattle call"- in the background it looked like I saw no more than a dozen or so candidates in a queue. Somewhere else, college student Luke rolls up on a skateboard to be sized up by the agents. Both boys are taken for haircuts and wardrobe changes, and in the end Paul decides Courtier is capable of picking talent after all.

A new agency to his Network is connected, and Paul surprises the staff with new office space and the outfittings and furniture for it. One of the Courtier founders is so excited to see they have been accepted, he uses his cell phone to quit his day job. I imagine the next episode will take Paul Fisher to another town or city, another small agency, to help them make a go of it. How about Charmaine's in Fort Wayne, Indiana? Or near Southpark, Colorado, not far from where this shot of a water tower was taken? The idea of the entrepreneurial spirit in the United States, the fact one can have a dream of owning an agency, of all things, or being approached about being a model, of all things, and then those dreams converging or those opportunities breaking and the whole thing is engineered and produced for national television - we've come a long way, and hope springs new eternally.

Exploring the Rivergreenway

One of the most distinguishing features of Fort Wayne's downtown area is the confluence of three rivers: The St. Joe, the St. Mary's, and the Maumee. It's a natural place for a park: Headwaters Park. A century or two or three ago, trappers and traders met with American Indians and settlers in this location as a kind of town center. Today it's the center of a group of trails and paths along the riverbanks, known as the Rivergreenway.

This 24-mile long, linear park provides for lots of opportunities for recreation: biking, walking, running, skating, dog-walking, and nature-watching. The Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department, along with the cities of Fort Wayne and New Haven, own and maintain the miles of trails.

Sometime in the next few years, the trail network will connect to a new section, called the Wabash & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. When this section is completed, the linked trails will increase to a length of 50 miles.

There are many historic sites to see along the trails, including the historic Old Fort and the old landing district. The trails are shaded, peaceful and quiet, mostly out of view from streets, roads and cars. Passages under bridges and tunnels feel secret and untouched by time. It's a way to be in the city and escape from it at once.

It's noteworthy when towns take down old railroad track right-of-ways and do trail systems. One of these on the north side of Fort Wayne will also soon plug into this trail system, further expanding it. See you on the trail, and happy trails indeed to you.