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.

Brief, but colorful. Sort of.

So, the rain's finally let up. It was cold and windy today, but I really didn't mind. I got up, threw on some thermals under my clothes, and hopped on my bike this morning. The commute felt great; I think my body really needed the exercise. Since I had all the warm cycling gear with me, I decided to spend my lunch break wander Fairmount with my camera. More exercise, photo opportunities... why not?

It turned out to be totally fun and relaxing, if a little chilly.



I've a bit of an obsession with repetition. And with bricks (and locks, fire hydrants, cracks, crumbling buildings... a lot of things, actually.) What really killed me as I was looking at these bricks was the cross faded in the distance. Don't ask me why, but for me, it makes the shot.



This one is just... well, you get it. Ornate, fancy iron rail, litter. And the colors are nice.



I stopped to shoot the crumbling wall and a fire hydrant (goldmine!) and ended up taking this shot of the latest incarnation of my trusty bike, Steamy. She has a new silver bell. Yay!

Another rainy day...

Today was an ok day, aside from the weather. I didn't get many opportunities to get good photos outside of the house, but I tried.

Last night, as things were winding down, dinner eaten, the dishes done, and Lou and I were finally starting to relax a bit, things got a little weird. First, several emergency vehicles arrived in front of our neighbors' place. They came, they stayed a while, they left. We have no idea what happened.

What is this all about, PGW? Why are you constantly tearing our street to bits and spray-painting weird symbols everywhere? Do you actually do anything?

And then there was the gas smell. Lou was heading to the basement to switch laundry when she thought she smelled gas. I didn't smell it, but she insisted. I was elected to take the animals upstairs. The gas company told us to open all windows and not turn anything on or off. Lou waited downstairs in the freezing house while I sat in bed waiting to hear.

It turns out it was not gas, but the smell of tomcat pee seeping into our basement through the foundation. Awesome. We're to expect this any time we have prolonged rain or moisture.

Green Earl Grey leaves in filter.

Tea has become an obsession. Never again will I drink tea--even loose tea--from a grocery store. I've discovered Premium Steap and there's no comparison. Unfortunately for those who have to work/live with me, it's also messy. I'm constantly discarding tea leaves and wiping up drips from my strainer. I am obviously turning into British Royalty. Crumpets, anyone?

Oh, Aggie.

One last photo: Cap'n Agnes Greasepalms, all grown up and ornery. I know, I know, I swore this wouldn't be all about cats. It was cold and wet outside, though, and she was so cooperative. Oh, Aggie. I love how you love/hate your mommies. There's another cute photo of her on my Flickr page, but I'll spare anyone who reads this the excessive cat photos.

Hopefully, tomorrow's weather will lend itself to more outdoor activities.

Testing, 1, 2, 3...

New year, new blog? I'm not 100% sure about that, but maybe...

I made this post (the first in a long time) on LJ last night about things I want to do this year. One was photography. More. Daily. Not just cats. (I do file photos for every cat who comes into my office while I'm there every day, I'm not totally obsessed with cat photography or anything. There will be no cats in dresses or against floral backdrops. I promise.)

I guess for now, I'm going to leave it at that. I'll post when I upload to Flickr. Maybe I'll post about a photo and why I took it, or why I like it. Perhaps that will lead to posting about me. Or not.

Today's photo: our lovely West Philly home. Or at least, the gnarled chain-link fence in front of it.




Isn't our fence classy? On a rainy afternoon, it was about all I could do to pull my camera out for two seconds and snap a few shots of the rusty glory that encloses our front "yard." Ahhh, Philly. So scenic.