I wish I had a river I could skate away on...

But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly


Morning commute.

The cold has broken... sort of. I will admit I was pretty chilly on my ride to work, but I was thrilled to be riding rather than driving, so I didn't mind much. I stopped on my way in to take a few shots of the river, which was frozen. Standing on the bridge with my camera and bike, I couldn't help but hear Joni Mitchell in my head. I stood there for a while taking in the cold, still morning before I hopped back on my bike and headed to work.





The evening ride is never quite the same. The roads are busy. I'm on high alert much of the time because I ride on heavily-trafficked roads and drivers aren't always paying attention. Tonight I was cut off twice by drivers who failed to notice me in all my seizure-inducing, blinking red and white lit glory. I can't help but take this personally; it is my life they're taking into their hands, after all. After the first near accident, I stopped on the bridge (different bridge from this morning) for some down time. And more photos. These aren't so great--I don't travel with a tripod. But the sky was beautiful, and the lights were reflecting off the river; I had to document it.

Despite ignorant drivers, today I fell in love with Philly again.

A lost purple glove and random musings.

Lonely purple glove.

I got to take a brief walk today. The workday was actually pretty decent, but getting out and feeling like I'm living a little is always nice. The second half of my day can sometimes make me feel a little isolated; I'm alone in an office with a computer and a stack of charts. I wish I had an hour lunch break; the things I could do with an hour! A half hour walk is enough to go four or five blocks, then turn around. Not much time to think or daydream--or find someone to talk to, for that matter.


Shop window with swirly painting reflecting Eastern State Penitentiary.

It seems that lately, escaping into fantasy is my drug of choice. MY fantasies are simple; I live a life where there are no worries. I'm finished school. I'm making a living that allows for a little more wiggle room in terms of finance--hey, I'm easy. I just want to be able to go out to dinner somewhere nice once in a while without worrying about having the money. Maybe having a decent wardrobe rather than a collection of jeans that don't fit anymore and ratty old hooded sweatshirts would be nice. And of course I'd have a collection of craft beers stocked up in my pantry to try anytime I'd like. That sounds nice. Mmmmm... beer. Uhhh... end fantasy.

In reality, I've got so much. I might not be able to stock my pantry with multiple different craft beers at once, but I get to pick out a case every few weeks, and it's always something good. I've got this amazing old house, a wonderful partner who puts up with my shenanigans and my need to have the latest and most expensive in smartphone technology, a steady job, and a large group of friends I can see myself remaining friends with for a long time.


Keely and I played fetch tonight. Bart spent the whole time trying to eat goose poop.


Fairmount Park, 42nd and Belmont.

Did I mention I live ten minutes from this? I'm pretty sure there's a ton to explore out here. Recently, we've been taking the dogs to this one specific spot and running them, but I think tomorrow I'm going to petition we take them on long leads and explore the park. I think that might be fun. There's a lot of open space out there...

snow and domesticity

It's snowing here in Philly. I was hoping for some sort of real break in the weather but it's not looking likely. Tomorrow is supposed to be below 30 degrees, and it's supposed to rain or snow well into the night tonight. I'm really hoping the roads will be cleared--at least to some extent--so I can bike tomorrow, but it's not looking likely. I'm an adventurous biker, but I've had a few spills on icy roads, and I'm not willing to risk it anymore.


An iron rail around the corner from my office


Tree and snow through foggy lens.

Weather like this makes me wish I lived somewhere less urban; somewhere the snow sticks around a while and doesn't turn into grey mush the second it hits the ground. In the city you have to love the snow as it's falling, love it resting on tree branches and walls--everywhere else it's just slush, waiting to take you out with one misstep.

Enough whining about the weather. After making a few stops downtown for herbal tea (I'm quite obsessed with rooiboos teas currently) and a strainer for making almond milk, I came home to a house that smelled like corn tortillas. Lou is at it again:


Lou taking a homemade tortilla off the frying pan.


The end result: soft tacos. Not gorgeous, but delicious.

All the frugal blogs she's been reading have had this amazing side-effect: making our own (fill in the food item here.) Not just tortillas, but seitan, veggie "hamburger," our own almond milk. I was greeted with a glass of almond milk when I got home, and it was absolutely wonderful. Lou (because she's a genius) added a touch of honey to it as a sweetener, and it's better than any brand I've tried.

This weekend, we're actually going to try our hands at making our own laundry detergent. I'm pretty excited. The blogger Lou got the recipe from describes it as "a five-gallon bucket of green slime." Sweet! It'll be like a grade school science project. I'm pretty psyched.

Skylines

This morning, as I was riding into work, I admired the pinks, purples, oranges, and blues swirling around the sun and the clouds in the sky. I love biking during the post-dawn confusion of colors; I love that my commute usually takes me past the river and the city skyline. I couldn't help myself--I stopped this morning (even though I was already running late) and stood on the Spring Garden bridge with my camera in the crisp, windy morning, mesmerized by the sky and the city.





I suppose this is cheating a bit. It's such an easy subject: the river, the skyline, the cars zooming by. But, it was 25 degrees out with a wind chill of who-knows-what, so I at least get points for bravery.

On the way home, I decided to stop in Powelton to check out the new park. It had been a fenced-in dirt lot for as long as I've lived in West Philly. It's now a series of paths up a hill, where a tiny tree is planted. There are some nice new trashcans, and a view of the skyline. And that's about it. Oh--there's very, very spongy sod, as well. I stepped off the path and sunk shoe-deep into it. Ew. Of course, spongy sod or not, it's a huge improvement over the big mound of dirt surrounded by chain-link I've been biking past for the last eight years.




I love that there's an anti-littering slogan on the trashcan, but there's a smokestack or... something... off to the right. What is that, anyhow?

I have such a love/hate relationship with Philadelphia. My opinion changes with the day, with my mood. It's dirty, people are rude. Drivers go out of their way to be jackasses, it seems. Every spring, the gazillions of ginko trees (who, to their credit, feed on pollution and clean the air) throughout the city drop their putrid fruit, and the whole city smells like vomit. But it's beautiful. The architechture is amazing in places. There are so many open spaces in the area. It's fairly bikable, dog-friendly, queer-friendly, and it's just big enough. Or maybe just small enough. At any rate I'm here for a while, and I love it enough to be ok with that.