When I teach I am mostly too busy working to take photos. But on my morning walk I have my phone with me and can snap an interesting image. Moline is a pretty city and I enjoyed my time there. There are some lovely buildings but right now I am noticing doors. I've masked off the many stickers on the glass door below….
As I looked at this door and so many others I realized that in the US, we may preserve the interesting parts of a building around a door, but we most often replace the door itself. Think about it. How often do you open a really interesting door? Do you make note of it when you do?
I know why we replace doors. We want more energy efficiency and that is a laudable reason. Businesses want glass so that people can see in. But after looking at so many wonderful old European doors, I wish we had more of them in our lives here in the US. Maybe those of you who live in the first 13 colonies have those doors. Here in Texas, not so much.
What caught my eye here were the areas of red and brown and the contrast between the solid colors and the texture of the bricks. Yes, these are doorways, but I was stopped by the way the colors and shapes worked together on this wall, not by the fact that these are doors.
These metal fish made me stop. What are they for?
There were many of them, folded over this concrete edge near a restaurant and barand a couple of other businesses. The Mississippi river was a half-block away. Fishing is big here so I know that's why fish are an image that is used. But these guys are just lying there, on the edge of the concrete. The same fish, repeated many times, next to each of the supports for the handrail. Here's a close-up:
They are decorative metal fish with no purpose that I can see. If they were on a climbing wall they'd be a good hand-hold. It is stuff like this that stops me in my tracks and makes me wonder. Why? Honestly, I like things like this to make sense and/or to be wonderful to look at. I guess it's good when something makes me stop to wonder – but then I want an answer and I don't have one with these stupid fish! What are they for?
In other news, Steve is now a blogger! You can see his first two blog posts here. I'll add a link to his blog in my Links area very soon. It's fun to see what he posts – so different from what I post. Isn't it great that we are all so different?!
Piece O Cake Blog 
they maybe a covering for water or something like that,—or a secret path to somewhere
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Hi Becky,
Ahhhh! I like Steve’s blog……for my husband! HIs first degree was in landscape/horticulture, with lots of classes like entomology. This looks like something he would really enjoy!
Thanks for sharing,
Colleen
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The fish are to keep skate boarders from using the curb. They skid along it with the underside of their boards rubbing along the the curb. The fish prevent this, I guess it looks unsightly after a while to see the ground-in board remnants on the curb. Maybe even a liability thing, as such places are often used by many boarders and they will congregate. I like the fish shapes though, haven’t seen them before, the ones around here, CA, are usually just a rounded block.
I am enjoying the door project too.
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Yes, these fish would absolutely deter a skateboard. Id be impressed by a skateboarder who could us this particular space, but I know they can do some amazing things.
Sent from my iPad
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I live here in the QuadCities (East Moline). First of all, I’d like to thank Becky for her great classes and programs. I was going to tell you that, yes, the metal fish are to prevent the skateboarders from messing up the sidewalks and curbs. Why they take pleasure in ruining things is beyond me!!
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I would think that the fish are boot scrapers. You get the mud off your shoes, so you can climb the ladder without slipping.
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Ok, that’s not a ladder, but I still think they are for scraping the mud off your shoes.
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They might work in some places as boot scrapers but where they were was too high off the ground. It could be that they are to deter skate boarders as some have suggested but they were in a weird spot for that if that is indeed what they are. The concrete edge was flat, no slope, and the railings was about 6 away from the edge of the concrete.
They may just be decorative. Odd, but decorative.
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Howdy. I just wandered onto your blog. I’ve spend some time in Iowa and my son still lives in central IA. I recall the horrible floods they had there in ’93 I think it was. Maybe the fish are not only a skateboard deterrent, but also a reminder that the area was under water! At least that was my first thought, having no experience with skateboarders…
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I don’t think so. It doesn’t look like a mud scraper .
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