Nature finds a way...

Cleveland is wet. Not as wet as New Orleans, but sitting on Lake Erie has a tendancy to make you humid even in the great heat of summer. Proof of that humidity are the many ivy covered buildings and bridges. (I have so many more of these photos, however they are in Thor's computer and I am not the technocrat I should be; so there they will stay.)

These buildings are still working businesses with people coming and going all through the day. Sitting across the street, you can see into the windows exposing rooms full of workers. Trucks drop off and pick up items; and the day goes on all without notice of what pretty surroundings the ivy seems to make to a desert girl.

Ivy is everywhere. Houses, churches, businesses, old abandoned cars, tressels, and bridges. This happens to be a draw bridge that is no longer in use. Pulled into it's upright position for quite some time the ivy decided "why not make it pretty?" and began to grow. There are parts of this bridge that the ivy hangs down fourty+ feet in long flowing stems that look like faerie hair blowing in the breezes. It really is incredibly gorgeous. I wanted a closer photo, however the building just below the bridge is a "gentleman's club" (nudey club to you and me) and I wouldn't go within 1/4 mile of the joint.

Both these photos were taken in "The Flats" area of Cleveland, known to the locals as manufacturing, industrial and unfortunately a "seedy" place to be. No one would ever go there during the evening hours without specific address and purpose from what I was told. That said, during the day it seemed quite interesting, and in some places, so pretty -I couldn't stay away after viewing it from the higher elevated neighborhoods.