The Newtown Pentacle

Wednesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Thump, drag, thump, drag, thump, thump, thump…

While walking, the busted ankle loosens up a bit, my gait alters and then all of a sudden it’s like I’m normal again. The rubber bands in the calf and ankle are still angry, sometimes make clicking and popping sounds, and require stretching and lots of exercise to resume normal operations. The South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh offers a great workout for this, whether you’re heading up or down the hill. I prefer down.

Pictured is the T Light Rail heading away from Pittsburgh towards South Hills Village, passing by while ‘street running.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It was a misty day in Pittsburgh, with fog and somnolent clouds. I had railroads on my mind, and decided to head towards a couple of spots where it was likely that a train might pass me by.

Hey, I haven’t got tugboats anymore… well… there’s a few, but it ain’t exactly NY Harbor out here.

As previously mentioned, the physicality I’m working on right now involves quickening my gait. Last September, I broke my left ankle in an accident on a set of stairs at home. The ankle was fairly well shattered, with clean breaks in two bones and a fracture in a third.

Recovery saw me languishing in a wheel chair, as the Docs had ordered ‘no weight bearing.’ A grueling course of ‘PT’ or Physical Therapy then began after about three months of that circle of hell, which got me back on my feet. After the docs ‘released me into the wild,’ I found myself walking about like the Batman villain Penguin for a while, and then painfully moving forward at very slow speeds.

Walks through Pittsburgh over the summer have seen me slowly regaining musculature, speed, and capability. These courses through the South Side Slopes, in particular, have greatly aided one in regaining balance, coordination, stride, and gait as well as a getting back to displaying that devilish savoir faire which I’m known for.

Particularly annoying has been a reservoir of PTSD regarding stairs. Given my masochistic nature, that means I aim myself bodily at stairs now, in the name of exposure therapy.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This time around, it was the German Route stairs I took. Mental struggle with the PTSD was underway just about when this shot was captured. As with any fear, it’s best to just confront it. If you meet Lucifer, don’t be scared, give it a kiss.

On did I scuttle… thump, drag, thump, drag… That’s when I noticed that a Bamboo Forest was setting itself up on an empty lot.

In the distance, a CSX RR unit was transiting along the Monongahela River, which distracted me from the bamboo.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Boy, someone is going to regret letting this get itself set up. Rhiozome based plants like Bamboo are a plague, and will reproduce like wildfire unless their underpinnings are constrained by concrete channels or metal bulwarks, Bamboo is known to spread widely quite quickly, and crowd out all other plantings. Pretty soon, the area it has taken over looks like Viet Nam, and the one thing that rats love more than anything else are Bamboo stands found nearby human habitations.

Y’know, I don’t see that many rats in Pittsburgh.

Groundhogs, red and gray Squirrels, Chipmunks, Voles – that’s what you see a lot of in the rodent arena. Obviously, there’s rats here, but I just don’t observe them as much as I do these other ‘niche’ rodents. Is the omnivore rat population being checked by these other specialists?

Interesting.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Undoubtedly, this area is one where deer go to sleep at night, huddling up in the safety of that bamboo stand. Peculiarly, whereas the rest of the vegetation was dry and entering into ‘winter mode,’ the Bamboo was green and growing. Also interesting.

On I went, down, down, and down.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At the bottom of the City Steps, you encounter a steel bridge which provides pedestrian access over a set of Norfolk Southern rail tracks. This was the setting for my first ‘goal’ on this day’s effort.

Tomorrow will be train day at Newtown Pentacle, so get ready for some Choo-choo.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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