Doomed

When Tropical Storm Irene hit upstate NY, I was in Alaska.  Everyone at the workshop was keeping in touch with family and friends to see what was happening back East.  Several of our bridges are out, and several homes have been condemned, but my local area wasn't affected anywhere near as badly as others surrounding us. 

I never went out to take photos after my return to NY.  I felt a little self-conscious about taking photos of the destruction of the homes I had seen, but today I decided to go out and see if I could get close to some of the bridges near me.

I walked down to the next set of barracades on this road, but didn't go near the bridge.  Considering it was Sunday afternoon and there wasn't a soul in sight, I probably could have approached the bridge, but I knew of another place I thought I could get closer to.

The locks at this bridge are damaged pretty seriously.

Then I went over to the site of the old Chalmers Bldg.  I've been there several times before, and once had the nerve to step into the entrance.  I was alone that time and didn't have the courage to go farther inside, which I regret now.  Anyway, I guess that all the efforts to save the building and restore it have come to naught, since, as you can see, it's being demolished.  Well . . . maybe you can't see, since part of it isn't there anymore.  The area in the foreground with all the red brick on the ground used to be a beautiful, historic building . . . sigh. 

 

There's obviously more than one kind of destruction--nature and manmade.  Nature can't be controlled, but I sure hope that in this case, the manmade destruction is the wisest thing to do.