Archive for May 1st, 2025
Get’s and go’s
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s a T light rail entering Potomac Station in Pittsburgh’s Dormont, where Newtown Pentacle HQ currently is found. I really have to get back to doing night shots, I’ve decided. Miss it.
Problem is that Pittsburgh is a very, very daytime focused place – or at least my style of life here has been. I get up early these days, about six in the morning, and am usually back in bed by about eleven at night. A huge change for me, this is, given how thoroughly nocturnal I used to be back in NYC. It’s darker here, I should mention, as there’s far less scattered light pollution bouncing off of concrete and buildings.
It’s funny, I feel like I’ve been slacking lately, although in reality I’ve been pushing the physical envelope as much as I can, post broken ankle wise. Every one of the longish walks I’ve been showing y’all has resulted in a day or two of painful soreness, but echoing in my head is ‘everything’s ok now, push harder.’ In reality, everything is definitively ‘not ok,’ but I’m trying. Everything will be better if I just work harder.
Really do miss the night stuff, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next door to Dormont is Mount Oliver, and amongst other things, that’s where Moe the Dog goes for his dog training. He’s good at being a dog – to be clear – what with all the barking and the pooping so he doesn’t need any help on that front, but Moe has a lot of rough edges and bad habits we’re trying to coax him out of.
After dog training, it was time for me to figure out a route for my next walk. As mentioned, ad nauseum, one the goals at the moment is to pick routes which will provide certain otherwise hard to impact muscle groups in my legs which atrophied during my hermitage a decent workout. I also want to ‘see some stuff’ along the way.
On this walk, I had the whole kit with me – tripod, prime lenses, zoom lens. For this sort of carry, I prefer a knapsack, and the one currently on my back is from the Patagonia brand. Water resistant, lots of internal pockets, multiple compartments. The bag itself weighs practically nothing. This particular bag can – and has – held more than I had packed into it on this outing, but this was a day trip and not an overnighter. Additionally, I have to be concerned with how much the bag weighs which I’m slinging it onto my back because… you guessed it… the ankle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
St. Patrick’s street, in the South Side Slopes/Allentown zone of Pittsburgh, that’s where I had a Lyft driver drop me off. I’ve been up here a few times in the past, but have never walked this particular route before. It’s almost like I’m systematically working my way through the street grid of an intriguing neighborhood, isn’t it?
I’ll show y’all what I saw along the way, on what ended up being a four and change miles scuttle, much of which was walked downhill at quite a steep grade. Interesting neighborhood, this.
Back tomorrow with more, at your Newtown Pentacle.
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