Archive for April 2025
316,800 inch long scuttle, part 2
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, your humble narrator was out for a walk and finally got up to and past the five mile limitation which has plagued similar efforts, in this ongoing recovery period after having broken my ankle last September. Also mentioned, a bit of psychological trauma got inserted into me during the injury as well, which has caused this wandering mendicant to become a bit phobic about staircases.
Given that I’m partial to the old philosophical sentiment about ‘falling off a horse and getting right back into the saddle’ I’m going to be exposing myself to a bunch of scary stairs this summer while getting my legs back into shape, thusly.
That’s the West End Bridge over the Ohio River up there, and its stairs are doozies but certainly not the worst Pittsburgh has to offer. I’m working my way up to those, and they’re terrifying.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I did get distracted along the way to the bridge, but darn it these guys were doing something interesting. There’s some sort of development project kicking into gear around this area, and there’s all sorts of work going on to get the area ready for whosover’s dreams of avarice will be playing out.
This effort involved the replacement of a Utility Pole by a crew of workers with a lot of specialized equipment. I’m also visually intrigued by this sort of thing, and tried to get a few shots of the action while zoomed all the way in and from a distance.
Funnily enough, most people don’t like strangers walking up to and interrupting them while they’re at work, and especially not those strangers who start taking random pictures of what they’re doing while at work. I’m fully aware of how uncomfortable that is, and try to remain geographically aloof. That’s what a long range zoom lens is for.
I wasn’t hiding behind a mail box or anything, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was an act of will to not clutch at the steel bannister on the West End Bridge with every bit of strength in my arm. This new phobia of mine, it’s going to take a while to be drowned out by something else I’m more scared of. Might as well enjoy it while I can, until it callouses over.
Some group in the local non profit industrial complex is floating a project which promises to redesign these approaches to the bridge’s pedestrian and bike lanes and bring them into compliance with ADA standards as well as polishing them up esthetically.
As mentioned, the powers that be have offered a development scheme for this section of the ‘North Side,’ click here for a lookie loo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having surmounted the stairs, in a cavalcade of fear and terror, one leaned into things and pushed forward. This bridge is in pretty rough condition, I have to mention. You can’t see it while driving over the thing, but while walking West End Bridge, the need for maintenance and probable major repairs is pretty apparent. Rust, broken concrete, all the tell tales are there.
Your humble narrator was actually somewhat happy during this walk, as I didn’t have to actively focus quite as much on the act of walking as I’ve had to in recent excursions. One of the many problems encountered post injury involved ‘proprioception,’ which involves the somewhat unconscious knowledge of where your limbs are spatially. Losing touch with that hidden sense of kinesthetic parameters, it was difficult to confidently walk as I was unaware of my foot’s relationship and relative positioning to the ground.
The trouble I’m having with angled surfaces is related to this dealie, but in time… everything will be great, all the time. I keep telling myself that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems that the governmental powers are scratching out a new road for themselves on Mount Washington. I’m of the opinion that it’s going to just be for the ‘official’ vehicles to use, but you need to be able to,move emergency vehicles quickly, after all, and the roads leading to and from the summit are often choked with what passes for heavy traffic here in Pittsburgh.
This new road, observably, seems to parallel the PJ McArdle roadway across the face of Mount Washington.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in the past, I’ve caught some critique on local Pittsburgh social media groups for referring to what you see above as ‘mineral barges’ when posting photos. A lot of this is politically motivated, IMHO, with some red hat wearer thinking he’s ‘owning the libs’ by screaming in all caps that it’s coal, why can’t you just call it coal?
As is often restated, unless I know for a fact what something actually is, a category level is jumped. It looks like there’s gravel or ballast stone in those barges, but that’s a guess based on purely visual observation. All I can say for sure is that a Towboat with four barges worth of minerals was photographed while navigating from the Monongahela River to the Ohio River in the Port of Pittsburgh’s Pool.
Back tomorrow with more.
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“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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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.
316,800 inch long scuttle, part 1
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has finally managed to break the pernicious five mile walking threshold which has been actively blocking my activity since September of last year, due to the broken left ankle and dislocated foot incident. I know that five miles – or 316,800 inches – sounds like no big deal, and normally I’d be the first one to say so, but it’s taken me months of physical therapy and self guided exercise to get here.
So, huzzah.
The endeavor began when I walked the hill which I live at the bottom of on up to the T light Rail station, here in Pittsburgh’s Boro of Dormont. I did take a picture of the train I actually rode in on, but the shot above is of a train set heading in the other direction made for a better opening shot.
Lighting, yo, lighting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T was ridden to its terminal stop, which is directly across the street from the actual center of the Pittsburgh universe – Acrisure (Heinz) stadium. On this walk, I was still consciously avoiding uneven or angled paths, as such terrain still gives me a bit of trouble. Instead, I decided to try and work a few flights of stairs into the equation to spice things up.
As I’ve mentioned, a bit of PTSD seems to be floating around in the old Gulliver these days, which is centered around stairs.
Given that the ankle shattering occurred while I was walking down a set of steps it’s fairly understandable, but when confronted with a set of steps these days I freeze up a little bit and get overly cautious. This set of psychological reactions actually endanger me while negotiating a set of stairs, which causes me to move stiffly, in an almost robotic manner, and sets my nervous side on fire.
I’ll get past this because I have to. My whole life has been ‘have to.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, the T station has escalators, which don’t fill me with dread despite being stairs and all the horror stories my pal Hank the Elevator Guy has told me about these devices. Industrial meat grinders use the same design, he opines.
I exited the station and headed north west. I’ve been carrying a little compass with me these days, and like to check in on the cardinal directions periodically to maintain my bearings. Pittsburgh is still very much a foreign place to me, even after a couple of years here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Passing by an abandoned building along the way, one was amused by the ‘SPQR’ graffiti. If you don’t know what that means, you should read more, specifically the classics of the pre modern era. The decline of the Roman Republic is very much a to[ic you should be familiar with these days.
Edward Gibbon… read Gibbon. Marius and Sulla are next, for us, and that’s where it gets bloody. Caesar is absolutely coming, but is still a few decades away. It will be very exciting for people to watch on tv, all this. They will feel things… indignation, fear, anger, pride… all of the seven deadlies. They will microwave burritos and watch.
Me, I’m just walking here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The major crossing over water for the day was Pittsburgh’s West End Bridge. It crosses the Ohio River, roughly at the waterway’s point of navigable origin where the admixture of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers occurs. It’s yellow.
The specific yellow is a color called ‘Aztec Gold,’ which – if memory serves – is manufactured by Pittsburghs own ‘PPG’ or Pittsburgh Plate Glass.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ankle was behaving itself. I felt no clicking or the sensation of cords being pulled in my heel or on the top of the foot. I was consciously altering my pace and ‘leaning in’ while walking. A couple of times my brain sent orders down the spine for the legs to move as they normally would have prior to all this trouble. I moved quickly!
Couldn’t sustain it for more than a couple of city blocks at a time, but your humble narrator managed to scuttle along a great deal faster and more surely than at anytime in the last six months.
Top of the world, ma, top of the world.
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.
Rolling with the Dormont Camera Club
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator normally eschews company whilst behind the camera, as I’m not a terribly big fan of humanity – particularly these days. I enjoy the quiet and meditative nature of solo photography, and always have. Saying that, there’s a quite active Facebook group serving the Boro of Dormont, and somebody posted an invitation on said message board that they were initiating the creation of a ‘camera club’ for the town.
I laughed about going, but then decided ‘what the hell, why not.’ It was about a 20 minute walk from HQ to the meetup spot at Dormont Park, a scuttle which would involve walking up and then down about three steep hills. Stretch and strengthen, that’s the mantra.
Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog were probably just happy to see me leaving the house and walking about the neighborhood again. I’m a lot surlier than I was before the ankle deal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally, I would have chosen a different location, as parks are generally a bit too ‘safe’ to capture the sort of things I normally find myself pointing a camera at, but it wasn’t my show.
The leader of the group laid out a challenge for the day, which was ‘early spring.’ He mentioned that he was going to be shooting for macro shots of new leaves and such. There were about ten people, all friendly and nice. I made an effort to keep my mouth shut for most of the thing, as it wasn’t my ‘show.’ I’ve done plenty of ‘talking’ at shows, after all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘spring’ thing, for me, took the form of noticing all of the park equipment that was still locked up in its winter hermitage.
A few kids were throwing balls around on the baseball field, a couple of people were walking cute and fat dogs. We followed a path around the park, and your humble narrator was being quite mindful of his ankle.
The walk here was surprisingly difficult, due to all of the heavily angled pavement paths. I’m getting better, a lot better, on level ground. Angled foot steps on slopes are a different story. Time spent on exercise will fix this.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a weekend day, and I also had a social engagement to attend a bit later in the afternoon. When the group headed downhill to the lowest elevation of the park, I broke off and started making my way to meeting up with Our Lady and couple of friends.
Last thing I needed to do was add another steep hill into my portfolio of pain at this point. Actually, pain is a bit of an overstatement, rather I’m feeling a pervasive soreness in the ankle and calf. Couple that with the muscular atrophy in the upper thighs…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The long scuttle I’ll be talking about next week saw me breaking a few limitations, and made the case that things are progressing in the right direction. This part of my story seems to be finally coming to an end.
I bid our host adieu, and requested to be on his mailing list for future endeavors. Saying that, ain’t all that much that you’ll find that’s worth shooting in a park.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way to the social engagement, I spotted a T light rail unit leaving the local station. Man, this is so much more my deal.
Back next week with something different 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.
Behind the curve, again
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yeah, I’m a bit behind schedule this morning and thereby a few ‘odds and ends’ photos which didn’t make it into other posts greets you. There’s hundreds of fresh shots sitting on my computer’s hard drive right now, which I just could not find the time to get edited and uploaded in time for today’s post. Mea culpa, yo.
Pictured above is the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, with a T light rail unit moving across the Panhandle Bridge in late afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sometimes you just get to a spot and you realize that you’re a minute too late. The one above is from Homestead, where I was maneuvering myself to get some train shooting done, and then discovered that I had missed one of the crossings. I’ve observed that the folks who control these rails tend to ‘bunch them together’ when the signal arms are down at busy daytime grade crossings. That means a sometimes 15-20 minute wait while two or three trains pass through the junctures. Missed them all.
Personally, I usually put the car into ‘Park’ and grab the camera so I can shoot out the moon roof in such circumstance, which is what I did for the shot above while I was waiting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a development project underway in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats area, one which recently saw the eradication of an entire city block’s worth of buildings. The effort left behind a fenced off field covered in what looks like hay. I shot through the fence, figuring that this is the first time in a hundred years that this point of view was available.
Back tomorrow with some fresh stuff, I’m hoping.
“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 powered hump day
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The terminal stop for a recent and roughly three mile long ‘short walk’ ended up where I often find myself these days, alongside the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision tracks on the southern shore of the Monongahela River. This is where that brewery I like is found, but given that this was mid afternoon, no beers for me. These days, alcohol induces rapid onset somnolence within your humble narrator, after his long broken ankle related hermitage.
One hung around a little while. CSX #6142 appeared, heading in the direction of Ohio. The internet opines that this is a General Motors GP40-2 model locomotive. Exciting, no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next up was a Towboat navigating the Monongahela. Given my current inability to scuttle quickly, which the rest of you might conventionally refer to as ‘running,’ I just had to zoom in on it from where I was standing.
Really, I do enjoy this particular location. Probably a bit too much, and I promise that Newtown Pentacle isn’t going to be solely focusing on this spot forever. Right now, however, as I’m still a bit disabled…
I have limitations.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot is out of sequence, as it was captured on the final leg of my scuttle towards that fertile location which I like so much. Hey, a sure thing is a sure thing. There’s a LOT of activity thereabouts.
The goal at the moment, however, isn’t novelty or serendipity, it’s exercise, and although I’m actually feeling ok at this writing, a recent spout of rainy weather has fully confirmed that I now have ankle arthritis. That’s even more reason to burn in a bunch of miles, exercise wise. Stretch and strengthen, that’s the medical mantra.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m mentally starting to refer to this spot as ‘Ole Reliable.’
CSX #5256 was next through the choke point. One of the things that distinguishes this spot from nearby trackages is that there’s several grade level crossings which precede this particular spot, so you can hear the chimes of the signal arms in the distance, as well as the train’s horns.
Nothing like an early warning signal, to me at least.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
#5256 was hauling a mixed up collection of cars – tankers, automobiles, all sorts of shapes and sizes. After this one passed, I decided on discretion being the better part of valor and summoned a Lyft to carry me back to HQ. While waiting for the car to arrive, I waved the camera around a bit.
This one, coupled with the Panhandle Trail walk and a couple of other walks, mostly described last week, saw me finally break twenty miles of intentional scuttling in a single 7 day interval for the first time in better than six months.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I mentioned this the other day, but during the first week of June, your humble narrator will be returned to the nest for a few days. The plan is still forming, and I’ve got a lot of people to see, but… the Creek.
The Creek. The Creek. I intend on walking my Newtown Creekathon pathway, that 12.5 mile death march around the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens. I need to be ready… stretched and strengthened.
Back tomorrow with something different, 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 