Archive for September 2024
Here’s the scoop
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Written from a wheel chair – So… last week, your humble narrator was locking down the house in preparation of going to bed. Our Lady, and Moe the Dog, had already retreated from consciousness but I’m a night owl and had been watching some meaningless television show before surrendering to biology. Little did I know that my particular biological function would soon become quite the topic of conversation moving forward.
While watching said televisual presentation, I realized that I had left my phone on the office desk found downstairs. Cursing, as I had already locked the door leading down to ‘the engine room,’ your humble narrator stepped onto one of two short flights of steps leading downstairs, separated by a landing.
My left foot lowered onto the second to last of the lower steps, which ended up being a pretty important moment, lifestyle wise.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My ankle rolled, and then I went tumbling forward in space. For a split second, I saw the top of my knee and the sole of my foot at the same time, as I pitched forward. I fell into a roll, at which point I saw my left foot turned opposite the direction it was pointing at just a second or two previously, and a loud cracking/popping sound was heard.
I landed on my side, rolling with the momentum. A loud ‘gahhh’ sound erupted from your humble narrator, and pain blossomed. Now, I’ve been hurt a lot over the years, and even had a heart attack once.
Nothing in my experience, however, has been as painful as – or compares – to this moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Instantly, shock set in. Perspiration coated the skin, my breathing assumed a quick and staccato rythym, and I reached down to grasp at my left ankle and foot. Upon doing so, the foot made a grinding/clicking sound. Agony ensued, and I sat there for a moment holding my ankle – which was also making a similar but separate grinding and clicking sound. That’s when I noticed that the ankle bone, which has historically occupied the interior side of my calf, was bulging out from the front of the shin.
It took about two or three minutes to gather myself and soon I was shouting upstairs at Our Lady for help. She arrived quickly, and upon assessing my appearance asked if we needed to call 911. My answer was yes, and after placing the call so she gathered up some personal items I’d need for a trip to an emergency department at some nearby hospital. Wallet, etc.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An ambulance arrived, and then two EMS medics entered the house. They instantly assessed my situation as serious and stoutly carried me onto a stretcher, and into their Ambulance. On the way, a hypodermic of Morphine was injected into my arm, and a field dressing splint installed onto my ankle. My foot hung loosely during this, in the manner of a sock filled with a ham sandwich, and the splint ameliorated the painful side to side shaking of the thing as the Ambulance sped to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital, and I was transferred via back board to a hospital bed within. I was soon in a ‘room’ in the Emergency ward, and an X-Ray technician appeared with a portable examination unit. Things get hazy around here, due to all the medical grade drugs in me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A diagnosis was soon pronounced, and the injury was described as being a Trimalleolar fracture with dislocation. The ankle bones which protrude into the skin on both sides of the joint were now free floating, and a third bone in the foot was also fractured. The foot itself was dislocated from the joining with the leg bones of the calf. Surgery would provide the only fix, but that wouldn’t happen until the next day.
This is when they switched me off of Morphine and over to medical Fentanyl to control the pain. Before this journey through the operating room and back to HQ would be completed – Dilaudid, Ketamine, and eventually OxyContin were added to my list of drugs I’ve taken but never wanted to experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Surgery took around three hours, I’m told, but it’s all a haze. Recovery will take – at a minimum – six months, but it could stretch out as long as two years depending on circumstances. Obviously, I won’t be taking any walks – short or long – for a long time. What about this here Newtown Pentacle, then?
My plan for the interim is to link back into the extensive archives of past posts published here. The conceit I’m planning in terms of choosing these posts will be calendrical in nature. Three past posts chosen from a given day/month which match up with whatever the new post’s publication date is.
Thereby you’ll be seeing a lot of Newtown Creek, Queens, and NY Harbor stuff here again. I’m going to try and maintain my regular publishing schedule this way while I get back onto my foot, and I hope y’all will stay with me through this trial – something which I have no choice but to endure. I’ll try for five days a week, but cannot make any promises at the moment.
Back tomorrow – hopefully.
“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.
Gyratorium iter
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, it looks like this and tomorrow’s posts will be the only ‘new’ stuff you’re going to see here for quite a while. The ankle injury which I mentioned last week has effectively crippled your humble narrator for the foreseeable future. I’m planning on republishing ‘classic Pentacle’ posts during the interval, so there’s that. I’ve been hospitalized and am recovering from orthopedic surgery, am back at home, and on bed rest as of this writing, but it’s going to be a long, long time before I get to take another walk. Helpless at the moment, me, and I’m writing this while sitting in a wheelchair.
Now… on with this penultimate ‘new’ posting.
My short walk on a pleasant summer evening carried me across Pittsburgh’s ‘Golden Triangle’ downtown area to the Smithfield Street Bridge over the Monongahela River. A weird combination of effort and importance is expressed in this bridge – the original version of it was designed by John Roebling (Brooklyn Bridge), and the modern version was designed by Gustav Lindenthal (Queensboro Bridge).
The river was crossed uneventfully, on one of the two shared bike/pedestrian paths offered by the thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After crossing, one negotiated through a tunnel driven through the anchor of the Smithfield Street Bridge. That carried me into the South Side Flats area and pointed my feet at the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail, heading towards that brewery I’ve been haunting at the end of walks in this section of Pittsburgh. I should mention that the T light rail’s ‘Station Square’ hub is nearby, and the service offers me transit from here to a spot just few blocks away from HQ. Easy peasy.
I was hoping to see a few trains rolling by, and I wasn’t disappointed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While walking to my eventual reward of a glass of Cream Ale, which I’m favoring at the moment, CSX #3300 hurtled past on the other side of a wooded fenceline. It wouldn’t be the last train I saw on this particular evening, but it’s the only one I’m showing you today.
Back tomorrow – at this – your limping along 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.
Pontem nusquam
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
NOTE: As you’re reading this, a humble narrator is likely under a surgeon’s knife. Last night, I broke my left ankle, and then got taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Back to your normally scheduled folderol.
One usually has a half baked plan for a walk, or at least a thought out route, before leaving the house. Instead of observing this habit, I decided to just see decide my feet were pointing and go that way this time around.
That’s how I ended up nearby PNC Park, where the Pirates sportsball outfit is housed, and staring up a flight of steps leading to the famous ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ – which the kids call the Fort Duquesne Bridge. Said span overflies the Allegheny River and connects Pittsburgh’s North Shore to the ‘Golden Triangle’ downtown section.
I like including steps on certain days, as they’re ‘good cardio.’ By this point in the scuttle, one had already decided that the penultimate destination for the evening (I had to get back to Dormont for the ‘ghost tour’ mentioned yesterday) was going to involve that brewery I like, found alongside the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision tracks, way on the other side of the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Firstly, I needed to cross the Allegheny River. Fort Duquesne offers a fantastic shared bike and pedestrian path over the river although it’s a crossing which I seldom use. Usually, I cross at the Fort Pitt Bridge or at the West End Bridge. Both of those crossings are a bit more ‘photogenic’ and offer visual access to interesting sections of the waterfront peppered with towboats and trains, but I’d walked over each one quite recently and desired novelty.
As mentioned above, Fort Duquesne hovers above the Allegheny River on the North Side of Pittsburgh. Once the crossing was complete, I’d be deposited in Point State Park, and would need to negotiate a path to the Monongahela River to get to where I wanted to be.
Mundane, no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A path was picked, and I leaned into it. That’s the aforementioned Fort Pitt Bridge in the shot above, whose crossing I rejected as I had just shlepped over it last week.
Also, this is what rush hour traffic looks like here in Pittsburgh.
Back tomorrow – theoretically.
Have no idea what’s happened to me, and this post was largely written while an ER bed at 4:30 a.m., and quite high on pain killers. What? How do pass the time?
“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.
Vir Bonus
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above was captured on an entirely different day than the two following it, but it makes for a nice ‘establishing shot’ of where this particular walk started out for me. On the evening that this photo was actually captured, I was attending a work event at the Carnegie Science Center that was produced by the Adobe software outfit.
There was a mixer with food and drink, and a presentation about the company’s latest offerings. The mixer part of the night was fun, and I got to meet a few local artists and photographers. We were allowed out onto an elevated terrace at the Carnegie Science Center, one which overlooks the center of things here in Pittsburgh.
Later in the week, when the other shots were gathered – it was a short walk sort of day. After a ride into town on the T light rail, your humble narrator could be observed scuttling down the very road pictured above.
There wasn’t really a game plan for this walk, other than to just keep moving and kick my feet around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whenever I’m in this area, a visit to the Mr. Rogers memorial occurs.
It’s always a good thing to be reminded that trying to be a good person doesn’t mean that you always are one, but that the most important thing is to try. Everyone is special, in their own way, Mr. Rogers opined. Also, he liked people just the way they are. Try some of that today, I’d suggest. Be kind.
Gosh, the world was a better place with Mr. Rogers in it. It’s no mistake that I wanted to live in his neighborhood (which was actually Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill section where I could not afford to live, I’d mention, but there you are) in this part of my life.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This walk was but a part of my plans for the rest of the day. After the effort, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself would be meeting up with friends back home and attending what turned out to be an incredibly lame ‘Ghost Tour’ of the Dormont suburb that HQ is located in. What the narrative turned out to be was essentially the top five Google hits for ‘unsolved capital crimes in Dormont.’ Disappointing.
Reflecting on Mr. Rogers’ message of positivity, however, the host did her best and brought a group of thirty or so strangers together on a Friday night for fun. Bless.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Gradum proximum
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As often stated, I’m fascinated by the parabolas and massing shapes of high speed roads, and the shaping of the overpasses and bridges which carry them. That’s a toll road pictured above, a relatively recent addition to the local milieu in Greater Pittsburgh referred to as the ‘Southern Beltway.’
AKA Pa. Route 576, this is a brand spanking new bit of infrastructure that opened for business in October of 2021.
The totality of this beltway project is staggering in terms of scale and just how long the Pennsylvania State Government has been both planning and slowly building it. The goal of the project is to eliminate a regional choke point in the current setup of high speed/volume roads which interchange in or close to downtown Pittsburgh where traffic density is highest.
To say that it’s a controversial project would vastly understate the ennui which modern day city planners and self described ‘urbanists’ feel towards the process of ‘jamming another highway through already densely populated areas.’
They will then mention Robert Moses disparagingly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This Southern Beltway is meant to join up with other segments, eventually, and form a ring around Pittsburgh, creating high speed conduits to its satellite cities like PA.’s Uniontown, and connect to interstates leading to several nearby areas in Ohio and West Virginia. I’m told they use electronic tolling up there, but personally I avoid toll roads like the plague, unless there’s absolutely no other choice.
Don’t feel smug or provincial, New Yorkers. Every shred of traffic entering the five boroughs, or Long Island’s two counties, is dependent on the Verrazzano, George Washington, and Triboro bridges. Upper Manhattan, South Brooklyn, and Western Queens are your personal ‘choke points.’ Keep fighting about ‘affordable housing’ and bike lanes though, and ignore this basic delimiter as traffic gets worse and worse in NYC. Blame Uber and Lyft, as it’s politically simpler than building a tunnel connection to I-95 under Long Island Sound, and far cheaper than creating a barge to rail port at JFK airport in Jamaica Bay. There will never be a natural or manmade disaster you will need to get away from.
Keep saying it’s all Robert Moses’ fault.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot of the McDonald Trestle from my way back to the car.
It was time to start preparing for a medical procedure which I’d need to endure that was just 48 hours away. Luckily, I got to eat some of the apples and corn I bought at a newly discovered farm stand before this kafkaesque nightmare began, and I had to start a ‘water fast.’
Sucked.
Back tomorrow with something different.
“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 