This is a post about a tree on the quad that is NOT an Italian cypress.
We were refiling some pictures this morning and I took notice of this one, dated 1917, for the first time:
I was first taken with the strange circular view. I don’t know what that was all about, maybe just being fancy. Next I realized what an unusual view it really is. There aren’t many photos with such a close view of the road that used to run through the middle of campus.
Once I got the picture scanned and could zoom in on it, I noticed something else. See the little tree there? Just to its right, on the other side of the crosswalk, you can tell that another small tree had recently been taken out. As I walked out to my car this afternoon I stopped to check out what this spot looks like today, and lo and behold, there’s still a tree missing. All the rows are four across except for the first one–there’s a bench where that tree should be:
I don’t know what kind of trees these are, but I do know that there are often Downy Woodpeckers in them.
Bonus: See the manhole cover in the first picture, right smack in the middle of the crossing? There’s still one there, although it’s a much prettier one now:
Extra Bonus: Dan Wagner, winner of the Vintage Rice Football Program Calendar, does a bit of a geek touchdown dance in the comments today:
My days as president of the library club in high school have finally paid off! I’ve got a spot picked out in my office, right above the Catalyst archives.
“Catalyst? What the heck is Catalyst?” I ask myself. It turns out to be what Rice undergrads are up to in the science labs. It’s definitely worth a look.