Author Archive
Antisummer scuttles
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a scuttle along the Allegheny River, here in Pittsburgh, in today’s post.
As mentioned last week, this walk occurred on a fairly chilly day. I was double insulated, with a layer of ‘long john’ thermal underwear under my black sackcloth outer shell. When all done up like this, I actually have to ensure that my body has a place to dump the excess heat generated while walking. To that point, my fingers and hands were toasty warm, even without gloves on. Gotta get that blood pumping, bro.
To my left was the HQ building of ALCOA, or whatever that aluminum giant and market dominar calls itself this week.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last time that I undertook this particular walk in 2024, it was quite a hot day for early summer and I ended up feeling overheated and weird. Your humble narrator was still operating under his NYC rules, which state that you’re never more than a twenty minute walk from a Bodega where you can buy a Gatorade, so why carry liquids with you?
I was plotzing, and getting light headed. No good. Luckily, I found an open cafe that served me up a glass of Orange Juice and a few glasses of water.
Well, since that incident, my NYC rules have been thrown away and warm weather walks now include a water flask attached to the camera bag when I leave HQ. Lesson learned.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, on this day it was under 40 degrees outside, so getting dehydrated wasn’t something I worried about this time around. Usually, if my mouth is feeling dry (if you want to determine if you’re dehydrated or not, force a smile. If your lips drag over the teeth in a sticky fashion, you are. Not medical advice, this, just colloquial experience) a piece of gum is usually all that’s required to get my saliva flowing again. Dentyne Ice peppermint, that’s me.
This shot looks across the river towards the Convention Center in the downtown section of Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail crosses under the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge, which normally serves Norfolk Southern’s locomotives, but this time around it was the white whale – Allegheny Valley RR. These tracks lead directly into the old PA RR Station, the former home base for the entire Pennsylvania Rail Road empire, and flow past the current home of Amtrak in Pittsburgh.
It’s absolutely ‘gob smacking’ that there’s only one place in Pittsburgh to catch a ride for interstate passenger rail. Pittsburgh… seat of the Pennsy Empire…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of these days, I’ll drag my butt out of bed early and get over to one of those pedestrian bridges which overfly the rail tracks beyond the Amtrak Station. There’s basically two passenger trains a day to expect, one east bound from Chicago and one west bound from NYC. Both arrive and depart in the dead of night. Again, this city used to be the absolute locus point of railroading in the United States. Bah!
On did I scuttle. Forward, ever forward…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The former Heinz factory, converted to luxury lofts and condos in modernity, appeared before me. There’s a couple of ‘new construction’ office type buildings which adjoin the lofts, which must have been built during the Heinz property’s residential conversion. These structures seem abandoned, which is kind of an odd thing for this ‘zone.’
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Citrus fruit needed
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found your humble narrator scuttling the misery away while heading towards the T light rail, here in Pittsburgh’s Dormont.
The shot was my ‘gray card’ photo, wherein I figure out the ‘ball park’ that the day’s photo exposures will require – as far as aperture/ ISO/ and a base shutter speed. The ‘gray card’ street pictured above is dubbed ‘Mattern Avenue,’ and it’s just off the main drag of Dormont’s Potomac Avenue, with the latter byway leading to the T light Rail station.
This wasn’t going to be a ‘photo day’ per se, as in the main goal for the effort revolved around exercise, and burning out a few miles of pure walkie walkie cardio style time while shooting a ‘photowalk’ series as I did so. Got to keep it interesting.
In fact, my goal for the day was six to seven miles, which I hit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A T light Rail unit arrived, and after paying the fare, your humble narrator settled into a seat. They use a zone system on the service, and the customer pays when boarding on a rail unit heading into Pittsburgh, and conversely when debarking after heading away from Pittsburgh. They’ve also got a sliding fare scale with discounts for kids, senior citizens, and others. It’s all very confusing.
It’s about a 20-30 minute trip, from Dormont to one of the T stations that’s nearby a baseball stadium, on Pittsburgh’s North Shore.
The ‘North Shore’ is a complex of high volume bars and restaurants with a football and baseball stadium, and there’s a very well used pedestrian/bicycle trail. Apparently ‘North Shore’ is the colloquial name for this northern bank of the Allegheny River, distinguishing it from ‘North Side,’ which is an entirely different ‘zone.’ Also very confusing.
The T deposited me on an underground platform beneath said baseball stadium, PNC Park. This is the section of the T’s route where it runs like a subway. This too is confusing, but I’m slow and old.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, the escalators were working just fine, and soon this device rudely thrust me back up onto the streets where I belong.
The plan for the day revolved around ‘flat’ and pushing my busted up ankle’s capabilities in pursuit of speeding up both gait and stride. I’ve always been quite aware of my walking postures, as it’s a ‘thing,’ but this injury really forced me into analytical thought about stride and gait. Where the toe is pointed, how the heel strikes, the rolling nature of a step, the push off at the end of said step… all that.
A weird thing about this walk was that I was experiencing emotions, of an almost human nature. All of my prior twelve months were swirling about, between the ears and behind the eyes, a year which started with me confined to a wheelchair and stuck in the house with a shattered ankle. Now look at me, walking about aimlessly like a big boy, again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My footfalls, which now omit the ‘drag’ and have become just a steady ‘thump, thump, thump,’ carried me to the shoreline of the Allegheny River and the popular waterfront trail mentioned above.
The plan was to hang a left on the trail, and follow a more or less northwesterly path to either the 31st or 40th street bridges upriver. From there, I’d then cross the river and hang a right, following one of the avenue streets back downtown where I’d catch a ride back to HQ on the T at one of the downtown area stations.
About 6-7 miles, this plan, ended up being about 6.5 miles ultimately. Some interesting stuff was encountered along the way, but as stated – this was an exercise walk which would provide opportunities for photography – rather than the other way around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An access ramp for wheelchair users to access the baseball stadium from the riverfront trail is adorned with a series of numbers fabricated from steel. Apparently, these are historical and retired numbers which were worn by hall of fame members of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Me? I just thought it looked neat, and I wanted to check out how the ramp functioned, given my recent acquaintance with the challenges of losing your mobility.
To be fair, though, I was always the singular voice in Western Queens who asked ‘what about people in wheelchairs’ when the bike people were shouting and accusing car owners of existing in a ‘state of pre murder.’
When I was on the Astoria community board in NYC, I actually boxed the bike people in during one meeting when a statement from the Deputy ‘Commish’ of the DOT included the phrase ‘all electric and human powered wheeled vehicles will be welcome in the Crescent Street Bike Lane.’ I asked ‘so… the one big wheel skateboard things… they’re welcome too?’ They said ‘yes.’ ‘Scooters?’ I asked. ‘Yes.’ ‘What about electric wheelchairs?’
The DOT people got up and huddled in the corner, having a quick meeting of whispers. They came back and said ‘yes.’
The ‘death eyes’ stare I got from the Transportation Alternatives crowd and their allies in NYC DOT is something that still makes me giggle, years later. Ableist iceholes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One continued on his lonely way, filthy black raincoat flapping about in the breeze. It was cold in Pittsburgh, and overcast. This time around, I was relistening to another old favorite in my audio books collection – a podcast by a fellow named Mike Duncan called ‘The History of Rome.’
On did I scuttle…
Back next week with more – 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.
Ends are always odd
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of a medium length scuttle, and your humble narrator once again had a pint glass filled with a yummy oatmeal stout beer in his grubby mitt, and that’s when CSX #913 appeared.
Hey Now!
The locomotive was pulling a mixed up line of rail cars. Automotive cars, containers, even semi truck trailers were in line behind it.
A ‘GE ES44AC-H’ model locomotive, that’s what I’m told #913 is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was there for the length of two drinks, about an hour, and the only train which passed through the CSX subdivision choke point during the interval was #913.
It gets dark really fast in Pittsburgh during the winter, as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself lowers itself behind Mount Washington and probably Ohio, a deep shadow is cast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s some of the semi trailers the train was hauling. I get comments all the time about only showing the locomotive engine, and not running shots of what it’s hauling, so there you are.
As the sky grew dim, and the air colder, I headed within and paid my tab. A quick visit to the loo followed, and then back out into the street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An elevator was used to raise my point of view, and I hung around in the dark for a bit, hoping another train might be transiting through.
No such luck, and I made my way back out to the street. I’d be summoning a ride to get back to HQ, something easier accomplished from ‘up here’ rather than ‘down there.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the way, I couldn’t help but react to the ‘noir’ being offered up by those darkened streets. Spooky. This is what 5:30-6 p.m. looks like here.
It took a while for a cab to get to me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, the rideshare chariot arrived and a reunion with Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog ensued. Good times.
Also, Merry Christmas to all you Goyem.
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.
rolling rolling rolling… rawhide!
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last legs of this particular walk were fairly uneventful, as your humble narrator picked his way along the shoreline of a Monongahela River ‘rail trail’ and towards my eventual destination at the Sly Fox Brewery.
I was scouting out a couple of locations along the way, ones with a pretty good view of the rail tracks used by CSX.
I’ll be showing you a scene quite similar to the one above in the future, but with a CSX train hurtling through it. This setup looks like it could be kind of promising.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once I was again safely sequestered from vehicular traffic and onto the rail trail, which follows the former ‘right of way’ of a defunct railroad, my headphones were reinserted into those ear holes one might observe on the sides of the sensory and gustation stalk that sticks out of the collar of my t-shirt. Just had to watch out for bikes.
As mentioned in a prior post, these photos were gathered on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and Pittsburgh was pretty much deserted.
Good. That’s the way I like it. The human infestation can be noisome.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a bend in the path when you reach the South 10th street bridge, which is where the trail transmogrifies into ‘Colors Park.’ Herein, street art and so called ‘graffiti’ is encouraged and allowed. By creating an out door gallery space for the pursuit, it cuts down on the vandalism and ‘tagging’ for nearby spots where graffiti is unwanted. Smart.
CSX’s tracks are on the other side of that little fence, found at more or less the center of the shot above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s always a bit of new art on the pier of the South 10th street bridge, which is where I took a moment to consider and observe.
I moved on. This excursion was about movement, and accruing speed in my striding gait. The ankle was singing an aria by this stage. It seems that I’ve got arthritis in that joint now, and as it was a cold day…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Y’know, back in NYC… the NYPD would be very interested in this sort of scenario. In Pittsburgh… it’s likely that a groundskeeper just forgot to load up his fuel can after cutting the grass and left it behind by accident.
Regardless, one continued on. Thump, drag, thump, drag… hey, cut that out… thump right, thump left, thump…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey now! Suddenly, CSX’s #3166 hurtled past.
I had less than 15 seconds to get this shot set up after I heard the thing coming. This is why I like shooting trains at the brewery, incidentally, as there are grade crossing signal arms on either side of that space and you get nearly a minute of preparation time for lining up your shot and figuring out the exposure settings.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Look fly, walk the sky
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After negotiating a path across the broken pavement of ‘Uptown’ and down to the pedestrian ramp of the Birmingham Bridge, which spans the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, your humble narrator leaned into it. This scuttle, other than satisfying my curiosity about a thing or two found behind me at the start, was all about working on retraining the musculature in my roadway interface in pursuit of speeding up my striding gait, in this post busted ankle period.
Long story short: Working on getting the spring back into the steps, me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After several months of picking pathways which would exercise other musculature in my roadway interface, which had atrophied during the recovery interval surrounding my shattered left ankle, it’s now the time to start working on the next phase of ‘getting back to normal’ – specifically endurance, and especially speed.
The endurance part is just about being able to keep myself moving, constantly, and not allowing any ‘sit downs’ or ‘quick breaks.’ The speed thing is returning, but I’m not talking about running here – rather I’m shooting for ‘walking with a purpose.’ Prior to the injury, I was moving at (according to my phone) between 2.6 and 3 miles per hour on average and up to 3.5/4 mph when needed. Post injury, my walking speed had dropped down to as low as 1.2 mph.
Over the last six months, I’ve gotten that number back up to 2.3 mph, which is ‘normal’ human walking speed for someone of my height. I’m hoping that by the Spring, I can get that back up to 3 mph, even if only for short bursts. It’ll likely be another year before I can even think about 4 mph.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ll conventionally ‘have a plan’ when going out for a walk, and particularly so in Pittsburgh with its steep hills and ‘cul de sac’ neighborhoods. In the last six months or so, these plans of mine have revolved around whichever physical tortures I can subject myself to in pursuit of getting back into whatever the hell ‘normal condition’ might mean for one such as myself.
The plan on this day was short and open – ‘check out Kirkpatrick Street on foot, and then walk across the bridge.’ ‘Whatever happens on the South Side will be up to serendipity.’ ‘I’d like to have a beer at the end of it and hopefully get a train shot or two.’ That was the entirety of my plan.
I knew where I’d be ending up, at least, at that brewery by the train tracks which has become a regular stop for me when in the area.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This scuttle was perpetrated on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, so the city was pretty much depopulated. I’m probably the only person on Earth who misses the COVID lockdowns, as I enjoyed the loneliness, but there you are.
The river was crossed, and I took a moment to scan around and figure out my next set of moves.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That distant ridge line in the shot above is where the South Side Slopes neighborhood is cantilevered out from the hillside and into space.
Those city steps posts which I’ve been showing y’all for a while largely play out up there. The area directly surrounding the Birmingham Bridge’s southern landing is either simply called the South Side or it’s the South Side Works if you want to get all technical and political.
I decided that I’d stick to the shoreline and walk along one of the riverfront trails. Might get to see a train, that way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot of Birmingham Bridge, and then off I scuttled. I stuck to the shadows, crawled along the edges of buildings, and generally moved along in the ‘spasmodic flying’ type of posture I’m known for.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 