Archive for December 2024
Snowburgh
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given the clime, here in Pittsburgh, there hasn’t been a lot of opportunity to get out and walk about. I’m still quite limited in the ambulatory department, post broken ankle, but I’m not just cleared for physical activity – the Docs are actually encouraging it now.
Saying that, no way are you going to see me trying to navigate ice and snow if I don’t have to at the moment. Luckily, Our Lady of the Pentacle’s ambitions caused one to find himself in the parking lot of a local thrift store which offers a view of something I’ve been intrigued by for a while – these abandoned homes nearby the Route 51/Saw Mill Run corridor nearby the Mount Oliver section.
I’ve written about these houses on Timberland Avenue before, and was lucky enough to receive an assist on the research from long time reader ‘Lucienve.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saw Mill Run itself is a somewhat natural waterway which mainly seems to function as a drainage ditch for the business and residential structures along its route. A primary arterial road, which takes its colloquial name from the waterway, hosts a variety of businesses – many of which are automotive in nature. Car lots, mechanics, that sort of thing.
Heading in a generally eastwards direction away from Pittsburgh, Route 51 ultimately gets you to the nearby community of Uniontown. I’ve driven that way a few times, when heading towards Maryland and the very interesting Appalachian city of Cumberland.
As a note: For my ‘bicycle people’ friends – check out Cumberland, which you can reach by trail from either Pittsburgh or Washington D.C.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back at HQ, it’s been pretty much snowing all week. We got several bands of ‘lake effect’ snow recently. It’s been a real hassle with the ankle and everything, I’d mention. The weather forecast seems to be a bit more on my side in this last week of 2024, so cross your fingers…
Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a Kwazy Kwanzaa.
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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.
Mister Icicles
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I prophesied that ‘just as soon as the Docs tell me that it would be ok to resume normal but attenuated activities, the weather would turn to ice and snow’ – well – four easy words to learn are ‘Mitch is always right.’ Most of a humble narrator’s last week was spent dodging the weather while maintaining a bullish schedule of Doctor’s and Physical Therapy appointments.
Annoyingly, it’s Christmas, and the ‘PT’ office where I’m receiving my treatments is literally found within a shopping mall. Good news is that there’s abundant parking. Bad news is that seemingly everybody in Pittsburgh is converging on this area for holiday shopping. Automobile traffic in the shot above is stacked up behind a series of signal lights managing the vehicular flow towards the South Hills Village Mall. It’s a ‘biggun.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘zone’ near the mall is fairly weird to me. In addition to the shopping center, interwoven around it are hotels, residential apartment buildings, and several ‘senior living’ facilities ranging in typology from old age homes to assisted living condos. Apparently, there’s a substantial number of people hereabouts who actually live within a shopping mall. In many ways, it’s the culmination of everything that the 1980’s strove for.
There’s also a plethora of seemingly out of place and eclectic structures scattered about the complex, like the St. Thomas More RC church pictured above. It’s directly across the street from my orthopedic Surgeon’s office, which is housed within a rather banal six story office building directly across the street. I’ve got an ophthalmologist office which I use on the sixth floor and the ankle guy is downstairs on two. Disappointingly, the various medical offices aren’t arranged to correspond with the body, i.e. there isn’t a knee and hip guy on three, internist on four, cardiologist on five, and so on.
Despite a heavy snow, a quite recent visit to the surgeon involved having an X-Ray or three of the busted ankle taken. Good news is that my surgeon pointed out that the three broken bones had rejoined without any sort of visible seam.
Saying that, I’ve got a bunch of screws and a metal bracket in my leg now, and that’s basically forever. We talked about airline security screening during my appointment, in addition to other matters. PT will continue for a while. Normalcy is on the horizon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My prophetic visions of ‘Snowmageddon’ interfering with my happiness came true. It was only a couple of inches of snow, accompanied by some pretty cold weather with atmospherics down in the twenty degrees range, but I couldn’t risk harming the ankle. One needs to be quite conservative in terms of such risk at the moment. I’m just now back on my feet. It also seems that I’ve got a touch of PTSD from this experience, and that’s something which I’ve got to get a grip on. Every time I approach a set of steps…
Those two months in a wheelchair were scarring and brutal. One step in front of the other, as the song says, but a mean and despicable creature like myself’s footsteps can best be described as timorous, currently. Back tomorrow, and have yourself a great Festivus.
“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.
Neo Jerusalem?
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really desired to capture the shot above, just to bring things visually back to where they were when my left ankle got snapped in three – a situation described in this Newtown Pentacle post from September 24th.
The dire predictions of recovery time related to the injury described in that post were the ‘worst case scenario’ ones offered by the medical people. As it turns out, three months later – almost to the day – I’m able to walk again, albeit slowly and with a limp. The six months date is apparently built around when they think I’ll be ‘back to normal.’
I laugh my scary laugh whenever somebody uses the word ‘normal’ to describe me. This makes the Pittsburgh people uncomfortable, but I gotta be me. Bwah hah hah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I made sure to get a few shots of the T light rail as it was moving around, as well. Looking forward to resuming the usage of that particular amenity here in Pittsburgh. What I’m really looking forward to is the moment when one can reasonably plan out a short photowalk, but that’s 100% up to the ankle.
I’ve also missed getting shots of a group of Nazi’s who’ve been showing up here to wave their ugly flags and graffiti the walls with eighty year old iconography. Yup, straight up Nazi’s with swastikas and arm bands.
How retro…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the other hand, this pile of graffiti found on a recycling bin offers the POV that Pittsburgh is so special and nice that they’ve named it as being ‘The New Jerusalem.’ Y’know, I have zero interest in visiting the old Jerusalem, so that’s a lucky stroke – ain’t it?
Back next week, 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.
Diesel power, yo
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, the end of my ‘Saturday session,’ which saw the camera being brandished about for the first time in three months, arrived as CSX #5401 clattered into view. Man, oh man, have I missed this.
As I’ve explained many times – I’m not a railfan in the traditional sense. My nerdy obsessions generally lean towards science fiction and comic books – superheroes and such. I just find rail shots to be a bit challenging from a ‘technical’ photography POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Giant thing with lots of discrete detail that’s moving at a high rate of speed, and enters the frame with very little warning? Yeah! Trains are up there with ‘dogs playing’ as far as being a difficult subject to capture with a high failure rate for the shots.
#5401 is a GE Evolution Series locomotive, I’m told. It was hauling a terribly heterogenous series of rail cars – automotive, tankers, shipping containers, etc., and heading more or less southeast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After this big boy passed me by, I decided to head back to HQ for a sit down, and called a cab. I had left the car at home, thinking that I might want to grab a beer at the nearby brewery before deciding against that plan.
Back tomorrow, 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.
Towboat L Dale Manns on the Mon
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting for a train to show up, and standing on my formerly broken but still painful ankle for a couple of hours (today is exactly three months from the injury/surgery btw) in 25 degree weather, with a steady wind, your humble narrator was actually enjoying himself.
It’s been a minute…
The Towboat ‘L Dale Manns’ appeared on the Monongahela River, heading towards its intersection with the Allegheny River where the two waterways combine into the Ohio River. The water level here is referred to as ‘The Pittsburgh Pool’ by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), whose institution maintains navigability for maritime activity, with said ‘pool’ being maintained via the usage of a series of locks and dams both up and down the river(s).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Towboat ‘L Dale Manns’ was built in 1973 as the ‘Polar Explorer,’ in Louisiana, and has had several owners and incarnations since. It’s currently based out of South Point, Ohio. You can read all about it here – at tugboatinformation.com.
As you can see from this wide shot, they tow quite a large raft of barges hereabouts. The barges looked like they were transporting coal, but since I don’t know that for sure – minerals. I don’t say what something is unless I’m sure of it. This habit of mine has gotten me in some trouble locally, here in Pittsburgh, as there’s a whole lot of local politics and bitter feelings that rise up when the subject of coal comes up in Appalachia.
Saying that… seriously, I don’t know for a fact that what’s in those barges is coal so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Towboat proceeded along the Monongahela, passing under the Liberty and then Panhandle bridges on its way to the junction with the Ohio River. Your humble narrator wasn’t done quite yet, however, and despite the sun descending behind Mount Washington, I stuck around for a little while yet.
You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned ‘walking’ at all, as I wasn’t. Still not ready for a grand stroll, I’m afraid. When I got back to HQ, just standing around for a couple/three hours had resulted in me needing to apply ice packs to the affected limb to control swelling, for instance.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 