Mister Icicles
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I prophesied that ‘just as soon as the Docs tell me that it would be ok to resume normal but attenuated activities, the weather would turn to ice and snow’ – well – four easy words to learn are ‘Mitch is always right.’ Most of a humble narrator’s last week was spent dodging the weather while maintaining a bullish schedule of Doctor’s and Physical Therapy appointments.
Annoyingly, it’s Christmas, and the ‘PT’ office where I’m receiving my treatments is literally found within a shopping mall. Good news is that there’s abundant parking. Bad news is that seemingly everybody in Pittsburgh is converging on this area for holiday shopping. Automobile traffic in the shot above is stacked up behind a series of signal lights managing the vehicular flow towards the South Hills Village Mall. It’s a ‘biggun.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘zone’ near the mall is fairly weird to me. In addition to the shopping center, interwoven around it are hotels, residential apartment buildings, and several ‘senior living’ facilities ranging in typology from old age homes to assisted living condos. Apparently, there’s a substantial number of people hereabouts who actually live within a shopping mall. In many ways, it’s the culmination of everything that the 1980’s strove for.
There’s also a plethora of seemingly out of place and eclectic structures scattered about the complex, like the St. Thomas More RC church pictured above. It’s directly across the street from my orthopedic Surgeon’s office, which is housed within a rather banal six story office building directly across the street. I’ve got an ophthalmologist office which I use on the sixth floor and the ankle guy is downstairs on two. Disappointingly, the various medical offices aren’t arranged to correspond with the body, i.e. there isn’t a knee and hip guy on three, internist on four, cardiologist on five, and so on.
Despite a heavy snow, a quite recent visit to the surgeon involved having an X-Ray or three of the busted ankle taken. Good news is that my surgeon pointed out that the three broken bones had rejoined without any sort of visible seam.
Saying that, I’ve got a bunch of screws and a metal bracket in my leg now, and that’s basically forever. We talked about airline security screening during my appointment, in addition to other matters. PT will continue for a while. Normalcy is on the horizon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My prophetic visions of ‘Snowmageddon’ interfering with my happiness came true. It was only a couple of inches of snow, accompanied by some pretty cold weather with atmospherics down in the twenty degrees range, but I couldn’t risk harming the ankle. One needs to be quite conservative in terms of such risk at the moment. I’m just now back on my feet. It also seems that I’ve got a touch of PTSD from this experience, and that’s something which I’ve got to get a grip on. Every time I approach a set of steps…
Those two months in a wheelchair were scarring and brutal. One step in front of the other, as the song says, but a mean and despicable creature like myself’s footsteps can best be described as timorous, currently. Back tomorrow, and have yourself a great Festivus.
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Neo Jerusalem?
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really desired to capture the shot above, just to bring things visually back to where they were when my left ankle got snapped in three – a situation described in this Newtown Pentacle post from September 24th.
The dire predictions of recovery time related to the injury described in that post were the ‘worst case scenario’ ones offered by the medical people. As it turns out, three months later – almost to the day – I’m able to walk again, albeit slowly and with a limp. The six months date is apparently built around when they think I’ll be ‘back to normal.’
I laugh my scary laugh whenever somebody uses the word ‘normal’ to describe me. This makes the Pittsburgh people uncomfortable, but I gotta be me. Bwah hah hah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I made sure to get a few shots of the T light rail as it was moving around, as well. Looking forward to resuming the usage of that particular amenity here in Pittsburgh. What I’m really looking forward to is the moment when one can reasonably plan out a short photowalk, but that’s 100% up to the ankle.
I’ve also missed getting shots of a group of Nazi’s who’ve been showing up here to wave their ugly flags and graffiti the walls with eighty year old iconography. Yup, straight up Nazi’s with swastikas and arm bands.
How retro…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the other hand, this pile of graffiti found on a recycling bin offers the POV that Pittsburgh is so special and nice that they’ve named it as being ‘The New Jerusalem.’ Y’know, I have zero interest in visiting the old Jerusalem, so that’s a lucky stroke – ain’t it?
Back next week, hopefully.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Diesel power, yo
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, the end of my ‘Saturday session,’ which saw the camera being brandished about for the first time in three months, arrived as CSX #5401 clattered into view. Man, oh man, have I missed this.
As I’ve explained many times – I’m not a railfan in the traditional sense. My nerdy obsessions generally lean towards science fiction and comic books – superheroes and such. I just find rail shots to be a bit challenging from a ‘technical’ photography POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Giant thing with lots of discrete detail that’s moving at a high rate of speed, and enters the frame with very little warning? Yeah! Trains are up there with ‘dogs playing’ as far as being a difficult subject to capture with a high failure rate for the shots.
#5401 is a GE Evolution Series locomotive, I’m told. It was hauling a terribly heterogenous series of rail cars – automotive, tankers, shipping containers, etc., and heading more or less southeast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After this big boy passed me by, I decided to head back to HQ for a sit down, and called a cab. I had left the car at home, thinking that I might want to grab a beer at the nearby brewery before deciding against that plan.
Back tomorrow, 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.
Towboat L Dale Manns on the Mon
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting for a train to show up, and standing on my formerly broken but still painful ankle for a couple of hours (today is exactly three months from the injury/surgery btw) in 25 degree weather, with a steady wind, your humble narrator was actually enjoying himself.
It’s been a minute…
The Towboat ‘L Dale Manns’ appeared on the Monongahela River, heading towards its intersection with the Allegheny River where the two waterways combine into the Ohio River. The water level here is referred to as ‘The Pittsburgh Pool’ by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), whose institution maintains navigability for maritime activity, with said ‘pool’ being maintained via the usage of a series of locks and dams both up and down the river(s).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Towboat ‘L Dale Manns’ was built in 1973 as the ‘Polar Explorer,’ in Louisiana, and has had several owners and incarnations since. It’s currently based out of South Point, Ohio. You can read all about it here – at tugboatinformation.com.
As you can see from this wide shot, they tow quite a large raft of barges hereabouts. The barges looked like they were transporting coal, but since I don’t know that for sure – minerals. I don’t say what something is unless I’m sure of it. This habit of mine has gotten me in some trouble locally, here in Pittsburgh, as there’s a whole lot of local politics and bitter feelings that rise up when the subject of coal comes up in Appalachia.
Saying that… seriously, I don’t know for a fact that what’s in those barges is coal so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Towboat proceeded along the Monongahela, passing under the Liberty and then Panhandle bridges on its way to the junction with the Ohio River. Your humble narrator wasn’t done quite yet, however, and despite the sun descending behind Mount Washington, I stuck around for a little while yet.
You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned ‘walking’ at all, as I wasn’t. Still not ready for a grand stroll, I’m afraid. When I got back to HQ, just standing around for a couple/three hours had resulted in me needing to apply ice packs to the affected limb to control swelling, for instance.
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.
…and the show must go on
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, a humble narrator is back on his feet (somewhat), and raring to get back to his various obsessions.
Saturday last found me at a familiar spot nearby Pittsburgh’s Sly Fox Brewery, and the Highline real estate development it is located in. This structure is a former rail terminal warehousing building, one which offers an elevated POV over both the Monongahela River that overflies a section of CSX’s rail network which I’ve spent a lot of time photographing over the last year. I didn’t stop into the brewery, I’d mention, as I don’t think introducing alcohol into my equation was a smart move at the moment. It was about 25 degrees out, and windy.
The point of view I was enjoying, however, was somewhere I’d been dreaming of visiting during my long recuperation, during the recovery period of the broken ankle. You’d think I was planning something Machiavellian during all of this downtime, but you’d be disappointed. Most of my intellectual voltage was being spent trying to figure out how to take a bath without killing myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This structure used to be a warehouse connected to the PLERR (Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Rail Road) yard which formerly surrounded it. The rail yard has been redeveloped into a series of condominiums and a large entertainment and restaurant complex (52 acres) called ‘Station Square’ which seems to be on a downward trajectory at the moment, and the operation is currently losing its anchor tenants like ‘Hard Rock Cafe.’
The so called ‘Highline’ building, and Station Square, are owned by a NYC based real estate company these days. The terminal building, in particular, has been converted over to residential and commercial usage – they’re very much following the NYC EDC’s failed formula for the Brooklyn Army and Bush Terminals here.
Normally not a place I’d haunt, as familiar fires of gentrification burn hotly here, but there’s beer and seating in an area that’s absolutely lousy with locomotive and maritime sightings.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was cold, I was standing outside for about two hours in a steady wind with atmospheric temperatures no higher than 25 degrees. Your humble narrator had prepared for the climate with long johns and my winter coat, but the ankle was singing its song down below. Saying that, I was pleased as punch to be outside and suffering in the weather again.
Pittsburgh decided to offer me a show at some point, and in rapid fire style – interesting things began to pass through the camera’s frame. To wit, that Towboat pictured above was transporting multiple mineral barges down the Monongahela River. The boat is the Megan Ames, which is – I’m told – based out of Morgantown, West Virginia.
I presume that’s coal in the barges, but I don’t say something is ‘something’ unless I know it is for sure. 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 