Bricks and basalt remind me of home

Heading into Spokane from the west—and either of my adopted cities of Seattle or Portland—you arrive via Interstate 90. As you descend Sunset Hill, downtown Spokane and the city beyond comes into view (I don't have a photo but there's a nice one here). This has always been scene that greets me and tells me I'm home. It wasn't until a friend of one of my brother's compared Spokane's downtown to something from the Great Depression, that I realized just how many of the downtown buildings are made of brick. What's familiar doesn't stand out until someone else draws your attention to it. 

Brick is a common building material for both commercial buildings and homes in Spokane. Back in the day there was a perfect storm of population and infrastructure growth, and a desire to avoid flammable materials after the fire of 1889 destroyed much of Spokane's downtown core. Plus clay is was readily available to make those bricks. 

Basalt rock is another feature of Spokane's landscape. You see columns of it along the roadside, homes on Spokane's South Hill have basalt mounds that just pop out of the landscape at random. My house there had a natural rock wall along the south side of the property, a basalt mound that stood taller than my home.

All of this reminiscing about bricks and rocks was brought about by turning right when I was meant to turn left and driving by these rock planters in the South Perry District of Spokane...

I'd forgotten all about them until suddenly there they were, right in front of me. Back in the day (the very early aughts) I drove by them regularly on the way to a friend's house. Maybe that muscle memory is why I automatically turned right, instead of the left my GPS was indicating?

The same design continues down the street a bit. It would seem this was all once part of a larger, historic estate.

I'd love the chance to get in there and plant them up with something dramatic, rather than the fake (plastic) plants and flowers in front of the brick home, and the filmy soft business in front of the second.

More rockwork in front of the next property down the street.

Back at the original pair and the view beyond in the other direction.

Across the street was this old brick home and what looks to be a fine greenhouse.

Enlarging the photo I couldn't see any signs of plants in the greenhouse. Ah well, not everyone wants to have a greenhouse full of plants, isn't that odd?

The Bit at the End

I have to share a favorite Spokane comparison quote of my husband's: "Spokane looks like it was painted by Edward Hopper, but it's populated by Dennis Hopper." Speaking of Dennis Hopper, David Lynch is quoted as saying this about his film Blue Velvet: "Blue Velvet is a very American movie. The look of it was inspired by my childhood in Spokane, Washington." Ah Spokane... you do tug at my heart.

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