Posts Tagged ‘Dormont’
Scuttle 2 live, live 2 scuttle
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After returning from NYC to Pittsburgh, with more than 2,000 shots on my camera card, your humble narrator stuck pretty close to home for about a week. This coincided with a spate of bad weather – hot, stormy, no bueno. Lots of time in front of the computer screen.
Finally, the weather forecast indicated that it wouldn’t be life threateningly hot out, and that the chance of rain was nil. I packed up my ‘old kit bag,’ although the bag is actually still fairly new, and shlepped up the hill to access the T light rail station here in Dormont. Step one for this outing was a ride on the T, thereby.
There’s one of them now, but it’s heading away from Pittsburgh and towards its terminal stop in the South Hills. You gotta pass the time somehow when waiting for a train.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My city bound T arrived, and your humble narrator boarded the thing. It was a bit confusing for a newcomer to grasp at first, but the T uses a zone system for fares. You pay when boarding if you’re ‘inbound,’ and pay when debarking on ‘outbound.’ In the center of the city, the service runs free. It’s all very civilized out here.
My plan was to shoot a bit out the windows, but instead I just stared.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gateway Station is in downtown Pittsburgh, and it’s one of the stops where the light rail runs as a subway. The T units are omnivores. They service ‘high platform,’ ‘low platform,’ and ‘no platform’ stops. It runs on elevated tracks, street level tracks, and an underground tunnel.
The plan for the day involved ending up back downtown, but I wanted to scuttle around for a good long while. A summon for a rideshare, from pretty close to the Gateway stop, would be issued and I’d have it deposit me about six miles east whereupon the walk back to the downtown section would start. Fun.
By taking the T from Dormont to downtown, I saved about $15 on the rideshare fare, were I to have ordered a direct ride to my destination from HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘No Hate’ sign caught my eye. I appreciate the sentiment, and the message carried, but I don’t think municipal signage is sufficient to manage one of the seven deadlies. I didn’t see any signs forswearing gluttony, for instance, nor ones precluding the practice of envy. There’s a Pittsburgh muni seal on the bottom of that sign just below the screw, meaning it’s an ‘official’ prohibition.
Personally, I hate performative politicking, but am I allowed to feel that discomfort about an obscure and unenforceable regulation in downtown Pittsburgh? Is there a legal definition for the ‘hate’ which the sign forbids, or does it change periodically depending on political mood? If I rightfully hate someone or something, is that something that the Cops need to get involved with? I hate Mondays, for instance. What if my religion involved hatred?
I realize, of course, the meaning and intent of the obtuse messaging carried by this sign, and the statement of political resolve which it represents. I just argue that nothing which any Government puts on a sign should ever be open to interpretation, and that if a politician wants to make a statement of support for one vulnerable group or another they shouldn’t hide behind theatrics which are frankly unenforceable.
How do you prove – in a court of law – that someone else felt an emotion – jealousy, or hate, or love?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bah!
One headed north, and over to the spot where I had decided it would be quick and easy to summon a ride. The Downtown area’s streets and sidewalks are currently being managed by a group of people very similar to the ones that Bill De Blasio brought with him into city hall back in NYC.
Bike lanes, safe streets, yada yada. They hate cars, and thereby they’ve made it almost impossible for a driver to pull over downtown to pick up a passenger. A new spate of bus only lanes downtown have just overly complicated things here as well.
The infirm and disabled can go ‘eff themselves, cars are the problem.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My brilliant idea to outwit the safe streets ‘BS’ involved an alley for my pickup spot, pictured above. I summoned my rideshare chariot, and soon I was hurtling in its air conditioned goodness towards the next deistination.
Y’know, I think that might be the alley where Batman’s parents got murdered in the Chris Nolan Batman trilogy. They shot that in Pittsburgh, so I’m just going to start saying that I live in Gotham City from now on.
That would be hilarious. Ha. Ha ha ha, hah HAHhah HAH. Hah hah hah!
WHAT? Why so serious?
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.
Memorial Day Parade
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The various municipalities and Boroughs of the South Hills region of Pittsburgh participate in a Memorial Day parade, including Dormont where Newtown Pentacle HQ is found. Our Lady has been hanging out with a local arts outfit, and was marching in the parade with the group.
I volunteered to get shots of her when she appeared, but what? I’m not going to shoot everything and everyone? Pfah. Selects are in today’s post, if you want to see the whole magilla, click here for the Flickr album.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That lady is apparently Miss Pennsylvania. I had no idea.
It was, at least, a perfect late spring morning with bright sun and temperatures in the mid 60’s. We’ve had a series of weather systems dumping rain on Pittsburgh for the last few weeks, so the fact that the skies were perfectly clear was astounding.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All of the volunteer fire departments sent representation. There were marching bands and classic cars, old men wearing military uniforms, lots of happy kids and dogs. The parade marchers were throwing wrapped candies at the cheering crowds. The whole town shows up for this.
I kept on shooting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Air Force national guard did a flyover, in what I think is a ‘C-17 Globemaster III’ cargo plane. From a branding point of view, Boeing really went over the top with ‘globemaster,’ if you ask me. Saying that, were I to be sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, my totally unhinged executive orders would include reverting the Air Force’s logo back to the bicycle wheel with bird wings that they started out with.
I’m all ‘effed up.
On with the show…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Does this happen to anyone else? As soon as someone in a mascot suit spots me with the camera, they focus in and do a little dance for me. I find anthromorphised stuff like this off putting, but I also don’t like interacting with anybody in a full mask. Can’t look ‘em in the eye…
Our Lady appeared and I joined her in the marching, essentially as far as where I had parked the car in a municipal lot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just before we split, all the old soldiers rolled through. Military is a common experience for Pennsylvanians, the state has one of the highest enrollment rates in regular military and national guard, and a tremendous population of Veterans.
Also, the first American Civil War was largely fought in Pennsylvania, and that ‘leaves a mark.‘ First, you ask? I think 2026 is going to be a very interesting year in this country, and probably not in a cool form of ‘interesting.’ Hope I’m wrong.
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.
Scuttle’s end
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a fun hike along the Ohio Water Trail, one last shot of a passing train was gathered. CSX was heading westwards along the Ohio River, whereas I was rolling north-easterly and towards the terminal stop of the T light rail which is nearby Acrisure Stadium.
As mentioned previously, the busted ankle performed well on this one. The only real discomfort I had was an aching back, but that’s exercise for ya. Saying that, I experienced a bit of swelling in the ankle that evening.
Six months to two years, the Doctor said.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the T light rail, up on its elevated tracks. Luckily, there’s escalators within the station so I didn’t have to get ‘all PTSD’ again regarding stairs.
That phobia is still traveling with me, but has lessened in severity. Exposure to many, many sets of steps and successfully negotiating the rises and runs has alleviated the worst of the condition. My energy levels are finally returning to normal, as well.
Lots of six image posts these days, huh?
When I’m scared of something, I try to conquer that feeling rather than incorporating weakness into my psyche and then forcing other people to deal with my bullshit. In my youth, it was common for adults to remind me that you needed to be tough in life, and that if you fell off a horse you needed to get right back in the saddle as soon as possible. Doing so was considered admirable, in my youth.
Today, you’d start an online group to virtually attend, and wallow in a pity party with similarly aggrieved people, and then you’d try to outlaw horse riding so that nobody has to suffer the way you did. You’d wrap yourself in padding to soften life’s blows, rather than armor.
Seriously, if somebody punches you in the nose, do you cry and run away, or do you bite them on the face (with the intention of leaving a scar) for revenge? Sheesh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the curious, I was listening to a couple of HP Lovecraft audiobooks during this scuttle – specifically ‘The Thing on the Doorstep’ and ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’ The former was narrated by Wayne June, and the latter is a British radio drama adaptation that’s read by actor Garret Hagen.
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.
Get’s and go’s
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s a T light rail entering Potomac Station in Pittsburgh’s Dormont, where Newtown Pentacle HQ currently is found. I really have to get back to doing night shots, I’ve decided. Miss it.
Problem is that Pittsburgh is a very, very daytime focused place – or at least my style of life here has been. I get up early these days, about six in the morning, and am usually back in bed by about eleven at night. A huge change for me, this is, given how thoroughly nocturnal I used to be back in NYC. It’s darker here, I should mention, as there’s far less scattered light pollution bouncing off of concrete and buildings.
It’s funny, I feel like I’ve been slacking lately, although in reality I’ve been pushing the physical envelope as much as I can, post broken ankle wise. Every one of the longish walks I’ve been showing y’all has resulted in a day or two of painful soreness, but echoing in my head is ‘everything’s ok now, push harder.’ In reality, everything is definitively ‘not ok,’ but I’m trying. Everything will be better if I just work harder.
Really do miss the night stuff, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next door to Dormont is Mount Oliver, and amongst other things, that’s where Moe the Dog goes for his dog training. He’s good at being a dog – to be clear – what with all the barking and the pooping so he doesn’t need any help on that front, but Moe has a lot of rough edges and bad habits we’re trying to coax him out of.
After dog training, it was time for me to figure out a route for my next walk. As mentioned, ad nauseum, one the goals at the moment is to pick routes which will provide certain otherwise hard to impact muscle groups in my legs which atrophied during my hermitage a decent workout. I also want to ‘see some stuff’ along the way.
On this walk, I had the whole kit with me – tripod, prime lenses, zoom lens. For this sort of carry, I prefer a knapsack, and the one currently on my back is from the Patagonia brand. Water resistant, lots of internal pockets, multiple compartments. The bag itself weighs practically nothing. This particular bag can – and has – held more than I had packed into it on this outing, but this was a day trip and not an overnighter. Additionally, I have to be concerned with how much the bag weighs which I’m slinging it onto my back because… you guessed it… the ankle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
St. Patrick’s street, in the South Side Slopes/Allentown zone of Pittsburgh, that’s where I had a Lyft driver drop me off. I’ve been up here a few times in the past, but have never walked this particular route before. It’s almost like I’m systematically working my way through the street grid of an intriguing neighborhood, isn’t it?
I’ll show y’all what I saw along the way, on what ended up being a four and change miles scuttle, much of which was walked downhill at quite a steep grade. Interesting neighborhood, this.
Back tomorrow with more, at 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 with the Dormont Camera Club
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator normally eschews company whilst behind the camera, as I’m not a terribly big fan of humanity – particularly these days. I enjoy the quiet and meditative nature of solo photography, and always have. Saying that, there’s a quite active Facebook group serving the Boro of Dormont, and somebody posted an invitation on said message board that they were initiating the creation of a ‘camera club’ for the town.
I laughed about going, but then decided ‘what the hell, why not.’ It was about a 20 minute walk from HQ to the meetup spot at Dormont Park, a scuttle which would involve walking up and then down about three steep hills. Stretch and strengthen, that’s the mantra.
Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog were probably just happy to see me leaving the house and walking about the neighborhood again. I’m a lot surlier than I was before the ankle deal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally, I would have chosen a different location, as parks are generally a bit too ‘safe’ to capture the sort of things I normally find myself pointing a camera at, but it wasn’t my show.
The leader of the group laid out a challenge for the day, which was ‘early spring.’ He mentioned that he was going to be shooting for macro shots of new leaves and such. There were about ten people, all friendly and nice. I made an effort to keep my mouth shut for most of the thing, as it wasn’t my ‘show.’ I’ve done plenty of ‘talking’ at shows, after all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘spring’ thing, for me, took the form of noticing all of the park equipment that was still locked up in its winter hermitage.
A few kids were throwing balls around on the baseball field, a couple of people were walking cute and fat dogs. We followed a path around the park, and your humble narrator was being quite mindful of his ankle.
The walk here was surprisingly difficult, due to all of the heavily angled pavement paths. I’m getting better, a lot better, on level ground. Angled foot steps on slopes are a different story. Time spent on exercise will fix this.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a weekend day, and I also had a social engagement to attend a bit later in the afternoon. When the group headed downhill to the lowest elevation of the park, I broke off and started making my way to meeting up with Our Lady and couple of friends.
Last thing I needed to do was add another steep hill into my portfolio of pain at this point. Actually, pain is a bit of an overstatement, rather I’m feeling a pervasive soreness in the ankle and calf. Couple that with the muscular atrophy in the upper thighs…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The long scuttle I’ll be talking about next week saw me breaking a few limitations, and made the case that things are progressing in the right direction. This part of my story seems to be finally coming to an end.
I bid our host adieu, and requested to be on his mailing list for future endeavors. Saying that, ain’t all that much that you’ll find that’s worth shooting in a park.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way to the social engagement, I spotted a T light rail unit leaving the local station. Man, this is so much more my deal.
Back next week 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 