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Laura Meine

Kaszube Park

Kaszube Park is less of a park and more of a memory forced onto the landscape. Its very existence seems defiant – impossibly placed, microscopic, edged on two sides with barbed wire-topped chain-linked fencing, but it’s there. It will hold it’s position. It will not be scrubbed out. The tiny …

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Three Bridges

Standing atop one of Three Bridges’ rolling hills, I can look in any direction and see Milwaukee’s landmarks. To the west, the hunched back of Miller Stadium and behind it the Old Soldier’s Home, rising out of the treeline like a phantasm from another era. Eastward is the boxy white …

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Carver Park

“Swimming pool, Bronzeville swimming show, trailer camp (15 trailers), shower facilities, public baptisms”  1950 Milwaukee Park Commission report listing special attractions at Carver Park¹ At Carver Park, the city makes itself known even when you stand in the center of it’s broad grassy fields.  I-43 cuts the northern edge of …

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Cedarburg Bog

“Sandhill Cranes never sleep,” says the UWM Field Station guide leading the twilight nature walk. “I walk my dog at midnight and they are still going.” Our group is nearing Mud Lake and the Sandhill Cranes are only a small part of the racous, bird & frog evening party-time cacophony. …

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Holler Park

Two Canadian Geese come in for a landing on the small pond in Holler Park, sending up spray as they skim the surface. In a feat of double-vision, a airplane just to the east makes a similar arc into General Mitchell Airport. Settled in on the lagoon, the geese bob …

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McKinley Park Pier In January

January is hard. Adjust your expectations. Turn up your thermostat. Add another layer. Don’t count the days until spring; it’s too far, it will only break your heart to think about. If you tire of indoor pursuits, McKinley Park provides a perfect spot to watch winter tightening it’s grip on …

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Doctor’s Park

For years, Doctor’s Park for me meant the beach, and only the beach. I would park and walk down the steep north ravine path which turned even blindingly bright, hot days cool and dark on the descent down to the water. I would hear the Lake before I could see …

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FairGround1892

Milwaukee’s Lost West Side Parks

Despite the snow, which has become a way of life, it’s officially Spring on Wednesday! In addition to the bird migration, budding trees and the introduction of colors other than “gray,” it’s sinkhole season in Wisconsin, as this helpful article points out (but don’t worry, we don’t get the man-eating …

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Washington Park Island

Washington Park

Washington Park is a shapeshifter, transforming itself every few decades to suit the new needs or new pursuits of leisure of the community. I like to imagine a time-lapse lapse animation of the history of the Park from the time the tract of land was purchased by the City of …

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Feeding on the Nest

The American Robin

The robins that hatched in the nest outside our front door a few weeks ago are monstrous. I peer at them through pane glass with the curtain pulled back – a nest overstuffed with mottled feathers and jostling beaks pointed upward in constant expectation. Mother and father swoop by in near continuous …

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