Archive for May 2023
There will be rust
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As far as I’ve been able to discern, the flowing water in todays post is a waterbody called Robinson Run. Water is generally not witnessed as displaying an autumnal color scheme of orange, so it caught my eye and caused me to wave the camera around a bit at it during a constitutional walk along the Montour Trail.
I’ve got a couple of theories, regarding the coloration. One is that there might be orange clay or soil upstream that is being carried in the flow. The other involves a giant mound of slag that’s found here, in which case the oranges are rust from oxidant processes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I noticed the color when I was walking over the rail bridge at the start of my scuttle. As soon as I did, a resolve to ‘get down there’ suddenly materialized in the meat noodles found behind the eyes and between the ears.
After having walked a couple of miles one way and then back again, that’s what I set about doing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now, having lived in NYC my entire life, I should mention that I process stepping onto a suburban lawn as being ‘in the woods.’ Leaving the pathway and crashing through thorns and brambles like this is definitely outside of my comfort area. Give me a sewer plant and pavement, any day.
Saying that, I moved in a slow and deliberate fashion, finding a pathway through the mounds of deer poop which acted as guide posts for me to get to the shoreline.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I felt compelled to set up the tripod and get a few long exposure shots of the spot. Some sort of friggin thing stuck its head out of a hole to keep an eye on me. It looked like a giant mutated rat, but my Facebook friends assure me it was merely a woodchuck. I also saw a Chipmunk which I processed as ‘small pretty rat’ or ‘undersized Squirrel.’
There’s a reason our ancestors paved over everything, Y’know.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So odd. Even Newtown Creek never went orange on me. It was mainly ochres, greens, sometimes jet black.
At any rate, a humble narrator had burned out about five miles of walking over hill and dale, which was my exercise goal for the day. It was time to scuttle back to the parked Mobile Oppression Platform and head back to HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A schedule of exercise is part of the daily regime these days for me. I’ve put on weight, which is ruinous, and a humble narrator needs to get back down to his ‘fighting weight.’ Injuries, lockdowns, and laziness have all factored into this situation, but suffice to say that the best curative for this involves long walks and physical exertions. Also, no snacks.
Back tomorrow with something very different.
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Old McDonald
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now that the weather has turned to Spring here in Western Pennsylvania, one has resumed his long scuttles. I’ve had a few fantastic walks in the downtown area where the three rivers convergence occurs, but as I’ve told anyone who will listen – the network of ‘rail to trails’ public spaces here in Pittsburgh are absolutely fantastic.
I drove the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) from HQ to a town about 30 minutes away from HQ called McDonald. I was heading for the convergence of two former railroad right of way’s which have been converted over to trails – the Panhandle and Montour.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Rail bridges are incorporated into this rail to trail network, which offers one such as myself the rare opportunity to gain some altitude in an otherwise wooded and somewhat natural environment. When I say ‘somewhat,’ it’s because this entire area is post industrial. This used to be “oil country” back in the early days of the petroleum industry, and the engineers who worked for the rail companies that served the various industries in Pittsburgh did things in an expeditious fashion ‘back in the day.’ If there was a hill or a mountain in the way of your tracks, you’d blow them up with dynamite and use the rubble to fill in the next valley. The term ‘terraforming’ kind of applies.
The McDonald oil field was one of the largest and steadiest producers of petroleum in the United States during the early days of the oil industry, and operated right up until the 1960’s. Supposedly, there’s still productive well heads nearby. The market for 19th and early 20th century crude oil were refineries in the big cities along the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes, and it was shipped by various rail entities until the pipeline shipping method became more common. When the pipelines came along, the rail people began to go bankrupt. One of the pipelines leading eastwards from here went to Queens in NYC, where it fed the Standard Oil (later Mobil) refineries along – you guessed it – that fabulous ribbon of neglect called the Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had probably walked a couple of miles beyond the rail bridge on the trail, whereupon an enormous and quite modern truss bridge set upon concrete piers was encountered. Apparently, the Pennsylvania Turnpike runs on the road above, and it’s heading towards the airport here in Pittsburgh. I wasn’t alone at all on this walk. People were riding bikes and jogging, and there were all sorts of very happy looking dogs being walked on the trail as well. Hawks and other predatory birds were twisting around up in the sky looking for luncheon, and all sorts of mammalian critters were observed skittering about.
What made this walk really interesting will be discussed in tomorrow’s post, so be sure to come back to Newtown Pentacle if you want to find out ‘sup.
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Phipps Conservatory
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent Sunday saw Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself heading into Pittsburgh’s Oakland section for a visit to the Phipps Conservatory. The business partner of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Phipps Jr. – like many of the so called ‘Robber Barons’ of the late 19th century – decided to get philanthropic in his later years, and it had absolutely nothing to do with a guilty conscience because of their decision allowing the use of heavily armed troops to break Union strikes, and massacre the laborers. It was out of the goodness of their hearts, bless ‘em.
In 1893, Phipps endowed a conservatory and botanic garden as a gift to the city whose laboring masses had made him rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Hmm… 1892 – Homestead Strike and Massacre, 1893 – flowers and gifts to the public…
The Phipps Conservatory is found nearby the entrance of an enormous park that serves this section of Pittsburgh as a green space and playing field for a variety of sports and other outdoor activities. Botany ain’t really my bag, but Our Lady wanted to check this one out and part of getting to know a City involves visiting its cultural institutions, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The place is set up along a thematic scheme, with wings and sections devoted to various ecosystem biota. There’s a spectacular section right when you enter which sports Hawaiian and other Southeast Asian plantings, a tropical room which felt like I had stepped directly into late July, and a lot of flowering plants.
There was a desert room filled with cacti which appealed to me, pictured above. Glass sculptures are prominently displayed throughout, which are the work of Dale Chihuly. There’s one of his pieces in the shot above, and there’s an incredible example of his work displayed at the entryway to Phipps.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The conservatory was very well attended, I would mention. Lovely place, and if you find yourself in Pittsburgh it’s definitely worth your attention. Me? I shot a few macros of flowers which I passed by and waved the camera about a bit, but this sort of thing doesn’t light me up. I like sewer plants, bridges, and things that go ‘Choo choo.’
Our Lady, on the other hand, was absolutely electrified.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Winding down
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whew, that was kind of an epic walk I showed y’all this week, huh? Wait till you see the next one, which made this week’s one seem like a stroll. After descending down that crazy flight of stairs shown in yesterday’s post, a humble narrator scuttled across the Monongahela River using the South Tenth Street Bridge, and soon found himself back to the increasingly familiar South Side section for my transit connection.
To connect with the T Light Rail at the Station Square stop, I’d need to walk a fairly negligible distance – if it’s even a mile I’d be pretty surprised. I opted to use one of the rail trails to negotiate the distance. Our Lady of the Pentacle and I had a social engagement this particular evening back in Dormont, if memory serves.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s fairly obvious why I followed this particular path, ain’t it?
As you may have noticed, I’ve crossed a certain boundary in terms of how I’m looking at things in Pittsburgh, and beginning to get granular in my explorations rather than doing the broad stroke stuff. We’ve also crossed the six month point, in terms of leaving NYC behind. It’s become ‘normal’ – waking up and going to sleep here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was rewarded for my choice of path when a freight train came roaring through, which put the cherry on top of my photo sundae.
Back next week with more from the Paris of Appalachia, at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
That’s some set of stairs, I tell’s you
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The destination which I had in mind when leaving HQ is pictured above. It’s one set of the many, many municipal staircases which climb up and down the hills and valleys of Pittsburgh. This one, in particular, is branded with Duquesne University logos and there’s an overpass which allows pedestrians to cross a high speed road called the Boulevard of the Allies nearby the Monongahela River.
It’s something, I tell’s ya.
The Panorama image above, which breaks into the usual format here at Newtown Pentacle, gives an idea of the streetscape by which you approach the stairs. If you click, it’ll open up a version of the image at Flickr which you can zoom in on.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These stairs are actually not that difficult to negotiate, but vertigo is a definite factor so I held tightly onto the bannister with my non camera holding hand. Down below, there’s a couple of highways which fly about on elevated ramps. A local street, Forbes Avenue, feeds into what I’m fairly sure is the Penn Lincoln Highway section of I-376, and there’s also U.S. Highway 22 in the mix. Beneath all of those ramps are the Armstrong Tunnels, and a local street called Second Avenue as well as the on and off ramps of a bridge.
Additionally, a ‘rail to trail’ bike and pedestrian path is mixed into the arrangement – a section of the Great Allegheny Passage called the Eliza Furnace Trail, which I had walked a few months ago, and on this day I was heading – ultimately – to the same spot I was back then – the South Tenth Street Bridge.
This Panorama is from the top of the stairs, looking eastwards along the Monongahela River towards the south side of Pittsburgh and the Birmingham Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Massing shapes, that’s what I call them. The building at the top right of the shot is the City’s jailhouse, and a brand new homeless shelter has recently opened right next door to it. I don’t think the symbolism is lost on anyone, including the poor devils who reside in one or the other.
That’s also just short of where the Boulevard of the Allies returns to ground and becomes a ‘normal’ street again, with traffic lights and crosswalks. In a post that’ll likely be coming your way sometime in the next couple of weeks, I’ll show you what that looks like, and describe what it’s like to use the pedestrian and bike lane leading to the Liberty Bridge, so get ready lords and ladies. Thrills and chills.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My next goal post was to get to the South Tenth Street Bridge, pictured above, and use that crossing over the Monongahela to situate myself properly to catch the T light rail back to HQ. Remember, I had left the Mobile Oppression Platform parked in my driveway, and used the T to get to the center of things in Pittsburgh – where I had a moment of Epiphany and then passed by St. Benedict the Moor, and admired the old timey vibe encountered on the Bluff.
Seriously though, height and I are old friends, but a humble narrator will admit to having what has always described as being a very deep and quite logical respect for heights. Others might describe it as phobic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The rickety wooden steps didn’t bother me one bit. The concrete planks which formed the ‘run’ of the middle section were badly seated and you felt a distinct shift and clicking sound when in that section. At the very top, the stairs are made from a kind of metal grate, which allows you to look down through them. Forgive my french, but that was ‘effed up.
I’ve always gotten a certain physical sensation, specifically tingling in the fingertips and a feeling of numbness in the palms, when I’m situated at a high spot. I’ve found myself on the roof of a surprising number of skyscrapers in Manhattan, and seem to have spent the last fifteen years walking across bridges so it’s not like it slows me down or anything. I don’t lock up as some do, but I become extremely deliberate and restrained while moving in high environments, a postural affectation which contrasts with the norm.
A friend of mine once described my locomotive style as ‘herkie jerkie, like a spasmodic flying jew.’ I’ve also been told that I always look angry, and that my ‘scuttling with a purpose’ posture imparts the impression that I’m on my way to murder someone or something.
Truth be told… both POV’s in this YouTube video clip link are pretty much how the world looks and feels to me, most days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just so you don’t think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, nor ‘that I’ve seen too many movies,’ or any of the other crap I’ve heard over the years – the top right brick building is part of Duquesne University. Follow that to the black structure on top of the cliff. That’s photo and panorama one. There’s power lines and a lamp post in shot two, and if you follow those power lines down to where that white van is on the extreme lower left side of the shot above, that’s the bottom of the stairs. Whew.
Holy Pittsburgh!
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 