The Newtown Pentacle

Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi

Operation Achpamsin

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Tuesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Yeah, it was kind of a mistake going out on a day like this one. Middle to low 20’s in temperature, kind of wet, and quite windy. Days and days of accumulation of ice and snow were everywhere. No bueno.

Thinking to myself that Moe the Dog was probably wondering where I was right now, your humble narrator decided to cut off half of what he planned to do this day and begin the journey back to HQ in Dormont.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

First step was getting to the Monongahela River, and then crossing it.

Easy peasy, that. Just a matter of carefully crossing a few high volume streets, but soon I found myself at the Smithfield Street Bridge.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After walking over the river, and resigning myself to the fact that it was Sunday and that means that I’d be waiting a very long time for a CSX train to pass through on the tracks found beneath the bridge, I headed over to the light rail station and boarded a train set heading back towards HQ.

All told, this abortive effort ended up being about five miles worth of walking. Worth doing from an exercise POV, of course, but one yearned to wander aimlessly and ‘see some stuff.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The T dropped me off in Dormont. I had cooked a big meal the night before and had lots of leftovers sitting in the fridge, so no worries on the evening repast.

The various camera straps were adjusted into a comfortable situation and then I headed down the hill.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A bit of signage was observed, blocking the sidewalk while cautioning against something happening soon in a cryptic manner. Me? I was vouchsafing my gamey ankle while walking through all that ice where this thing was blocking the sidewalk. Sheesh.

So far, so good.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This is the block in Dormont which HQ is found on the far corner of.

The hill doesn’t look as challenging or steep as it actually is in this shot, but there’s about five to six building stories worth of differential in just a thousand or so feet from one corner to the next. Usually when walking up the hill, midway, I take a minute to let my heart rate slow down.

Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.


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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.

Written by Mitch Waxman

January 20, 2026 at 11:00 am

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