Hey Now! and then Sterling
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Same old, huh? This shot of CSX #917 was captured at my ‘usual’ spot, nearby that brewery on Pittsburgh’s South Side which I hang around.
Wasn’t out for a walk on this particular evening, rather Our Lady and myself were on our way to a fantastic sushi dinner and had decided to stop off for a quick pint as we were early for the reservation. Birthday.
Saying that, a desire has been building of late in my mind, for the novel.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nevertheless – exercise day arrived again, and despite my desire to experience something which I hadn’t seen before – one nevertheless returned to Sterling Street’s City Steps – in Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes section.
This is a particularly long set of City Steps, and as I keep reminding myself – every scuttle doesn’t have to the Odyssey, or be about ‘art.’
Sometimes a walk is just a walk.
I was dropped off by a rideshare car, thereupon my ghastly physical realities oozed from the thing and one puddled up on the street, where I belong. Your humble narrator got organized, straightening out all my bag straps and dangling camera gear, whereupon my feet got down to kicking dirt again.
An infinity of time was not on my menu, as I’d had a fairly busy early morning and there was ‘stuff’ to do in the evening, so only a three to four hour window to wander about was available to me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Stage one of this outing involved Sterling Street’s installation of one of the Pittsburgh’s City Step infrastructure. To the left in the shot above is the extant property of a city park, and within there were a group of people from its ‘friends of’ group planting and caring for trees.
From this POV, it looks like a ‘straight shot’ to the Birmingham Bridge spanning the Monongahela River below, but the relationship between appearances and deception is an old trope.
Especially so in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the span – mentioned above – pictured, and it’s dubbed as being the Birmingham Bridge, which is often featured here at Newtown Pentacle as I cross it on foot and also by car frequently.
It was a fairly warm day, but the humidity and breeze were both at comfortable levels, as far a day in late August goes.
The Newtown Pentacle time warp has alleviated slightly as I secretly took a bit of time off at the end of the summer, from all of the writing and photography. Didn’t go anywhere or do anything worth mentioning, but I’m still maintaining my ‘advance padding’ of scheduled posts. These shots were gathered on the 24th of August, and the words were mostly written on the 6th of September. If the scheduling works out as anticipated, you’re seeing this on the 15th of October.
Yes, I’m now six weeks out from publication date. This is not a bad thing, for me at least, but I’ve got to spend some time getting Halloween posts together for spooky season.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at where I’d just scuttled…
These long downward courses have absolutely been what the doctor ordered, as far as getting my legs back into shape and reversing the muscular atrophy experienced during the broken ankle interval.
I’m still dealing with muscular and tendon related after effects from that injury, as a note. They said it would take two years or more, for full recovery, at my orthopedist’s office…
Sigh…
As described in the past, the benefit of walking these long downward step courses involves development in the front meat of the thighs and calves, which are otherwise hard muscles to ‘hit.’
The act of walking down these steps, despite the background PTSD I experience (the injury occurred on a set of steps in my house) while scuttling down long courses of rises and runs, also causes the actuation of a bunch of those hidden ‘rubber bands’ found in the foot and ankle which are otherwise calcified, and still stiff from the injury.
I’m all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you descend, the steps take the form of several homes sidewalks.
I always muse to myself about how difficult it must be to handle the ‘business of life’ here in the South Side Slopes. Food shopping, parking the car, getting a delivery – all must be informed and constrained by this crazy terrain.
Back tomorrow with more.
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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.
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