Posts Tagged ‘weather’
Refrigeration, writ large
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The weather has been atrocious, cold and wet, here in Pittsburgh.
Nevertheless, if your humble narrator stops moving he’ll stop moving permanently, so the pre-corpse was wrapped up in layers of insulation and the camera batteries charged up. Whoopity boop, and I’m outside.
Pictured is the view from midway up the steep hill that I live at the bottom of, which – come to think of it – is a great metaphor for my entire experience of life. One starts everyday at ‘zero,’ and then try to work my way back up. Whatever it was that I had achieved the day before is always forgotten about by those around me, so thusly I start the next day as a reborn and quite ignorant man child that needs to prove his worth by deed and intention.
As I’m writing this post, it’s still December. New Years is still a few days out at this interval. A short break was taken for the winter holidays, which ate up a bunch of my ‘lead time’ on these posts, something that I’ve been boasting about. I’ll catch back up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is Pittsburgh’s Dormont, where HQ is found. There are no ‘mean streets here’ as all the roads are avenues. Seriously, that’s a ‘thing.’
It had been fiendishly cold for a bit, then it snowed abominably. The day these shots were captured offered atmospherics that were chilly, but tolerable. There would be an opportunity for socializing with the humans later in the day, but at this interval I needed to take a short walk and stretch out the chords and rubber bands in the roadway interface. Everything was ‘clicky’ and popping.
Too much sitting, and shoving calorie rich things into the mouth, happens during the holidays – yo. I feel like a goose that’s been farm fattened up for foie gras.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I think the scene above revolved around a house fire. I smelled wood smoke, at least.
Luckily for the people affected, the Dormont fire dept. is literally a block away from that far corner. If this was Astoria, I would have felt compelled to ‘yenta’ my way in and find out the story, but here in Dormont? Not so much. I keep to myself these days, and avoid as much contact with the humans as possible. Fractious creatures, the infestation, and given to fits of passion.
The last few years have seen me becoming less and less involved with others, and far more numb emotionally. I seem to have lost the ability to care overly about strangers. A lot of this has to do with the current state of national politics, incidentally, wherein the current dominars emphasize and celebrate cruel selfishness and group affiliations at the expense of the weak and vulnerable, whom they describe in derogatory ways. It darkens my mood to see the humans behaving so brutally towards each other, over meaningless political word salads.
Judge not lest ye be judged, or something.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is one of Dormont’s ‘way’ streets, which are alleys.
It seems that a century or so ago, when Dormont was being developed, this ‘no streets’ thing was a part of the ‘sell’ which the Real Estate Industrial Complex of the time used to lure people into moving all the way out into the ‘country.’ No ‘mean streets’ or ‘dark alleys’ for your kids to get involved with the ‘wrong sort’ in, out here as opposed to over there. Dormont is about 5 miles out from downtown Pittsburgh, as a note.
Me? I met up with Our Lady of the Pentacle and a few friends for holiday drinks and ribald conversation. Fun. That was at the end of this short walk. Maybe three miles in total, just a ‘stretch my legs’ sort of thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, requires warranty dictated service visits at our local ‘stealership.’ They change out the juices and ichors, attach a computer that talks to the car and figures out if anything’s wrong which needs to be dealt with, rotate the tires – all that. Basically three hours of sitting around for me, starting at 8:30 in the morning.
A not insignificant amount of snow had appeared the night before, and the universal viewpoint on this weather event seemed to be that the city of Pittsburgh had ‘shit the bed,’ regarding roadway maintenance and snow management. It was quite slippery out.
The MOP was pronounced as continuing in fine fettle by the mechanics.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a couple of days later, it started snowing again. This photo was shot through the windshield of the MOP, while sitting at a red light, hence the tint of the photo. I don’t even remember where I was when this was captured. Usually when I’m in the car by myself, the camera and bag are sitting on the passenger seat, and at the ready.
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.
Bother
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Snow, snow, snow. That’s what we’ve had here in Pittsburgh for the last couple of weeks. One has been as careful as possible, given the ankle situation, but I still have to attend my PT or Physical Therapy appointments twice a week at this point so snow or not – I gotta go. The Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, has been performing ably in these challenging situations. There’s a transmission setting for ‘trail’ onboard, which allows for full all wheel drive and lessens torque in the drive wheels which ameliorates slipping.
This weather has been an absolute misery, which is so much worse for Our Lady of the Pentacle as my infirmity has resulted in her having to shovel the snow, and be the solo walker for Moe the Dog. Moe pees a lot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems like every 48 hours or so, a new band of winter weather smacks into the area. Temperatures have been frigid as well, single digits at night and never getting out of the 20’s during the day. Today is meant to be relatively warm – 36 degrees – and I’m hoping that this afternoon I can get out and about for a few hours with the camera.
Practice has long been to maintain a couple of weeks worth of photos, ahead of what’s being published here, in order to maintain the daily schedule. The shots you’re looking at right now were developed in photoshop just last night. I hate rushing about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s the oft mentioned Mobile Oppression Platform in the shot above, caked in snow and ice. That’s my back yard and driveway, if you’re curious, and I shot this one from an open garage door. Why don’t I keep my car in the garage, a certain fellow named George is about to ask…
Answer is that the car is too tall to fit through the 1960’s era garage door.
I use the garage for storage, and I’ve set up a table in it to use as a desk for scanning the news while drinking my morning coffee, and for ‘writing posts’ time. Some variation of the scene above is usually what I’m looking at while jotting off these missives.
Back next week.
“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.
Shocking coruscations
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My scuttle down the Lauer Way steps in Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes section was meant to be just a part of my walk, the first third of a fairly long route. As mentioned previously, this was the last day of that crazy heat wave which afflicted most of the country in July. A cold front was scheduled to blast through Pittsburgh, and would bring thunderstorms and terrific amounts of rain, but it wasn’t meant to roll through for several more hours.
Apparently the weather forecast people underestimated its speedy advance, which led a humble narrator into a bit of a pickle..
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described several times, Pittsburgh has quite a dynamic atmosphere. I’ve always known oceanic weather, given my long occupancy in the archipelago of New York Harbor. Large shifts in dew point and temperature are fairly predictable and play put over hours, given the governing effect on weather systems that is caused by the nearby ocean. Here – big fronts of continental plain origin can just blow through suddenly, and you can observe five different kinds of sky in just an afternoon. River and mountain valleys found next door to the flat lands in Ohio are the cause, or so I’m led to believe.
My plan had been to hang around on a rail bridge spanning over a set of Norfolk Southern rail road tracks, and wait around for a train to come. I fitted the correct lens for that job onto the camera and got busy waiting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve shot here before, and it’s a fairly decent spot where you can actually see the signal lights. Said lights can tell you if and where a train is coming from, once you learn how to read their codes.
That sky though… it was turning a bit ominous and the wind had kicked up significantly. Right about when I shot the exposure test image directly above is when I felt the first drops of rain.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An unholy storm broke out suddenly. One found a spot to stand in which there was a bit of tree cover, but once the storm really started whipping around that became a precipitant liability. Within a minute, I was soaked to the skin, except for a patch of my shirt where I was protecting the camera, directly under my chin. My other hand was grasping the umbrella, but the rain was coming down diagonally at the moment that the shot above was gathered so the umbrella wasn’t all that useful.
Sheiste!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The spot I was in was pretty far from anything that could be construed as shelter from the storm, but I used my NYC honed senses to find and occupy a spot between a building wall and a mailbox, and then positioned the umbrella so that it was touching the wall. This kept my torso, and both the camera and the bag, somewhat dry. I whipped out my phone and called for a Lyft ride out, but this was about 5:30 p.m. on a week day so I had quite a wait ahead of me.
Double sheiste!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After getting back to HQ, and by that point the storm had passed and the weather had become unbearably beautiful, I peeled off my soaked clothes and laid out all my possessions to dry. The camera was fine.
Moe the dog was particularly amused by the predicament, and he is pictured above in a moment of his reverie.
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.
Rain and night in Pittsburgh
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They kind of roll the sidewalks up pretty early here in Pittsburgh, at least by NYC standards. Lifestyle wise, Our Lady of the Pentacle and I don’t go ‘out’ all that much here, and certainly nowhere near as often as used to back in NYC. A recent exception to our rule included a visit to a British style pub and ‘chip shop’ located in the South Side Flats area.
This zone is known for its nightlife, and has a ferocious reputation due the often deadly hijinx of raucous youths on the weekends. Fights, the occasional use of pistols, all that stuff.
There’s a dizzying array of restaurants and bars in this area, including the pub which we were visiting. We had left the car back at home and used a Lyft rideshare to get here. I was planning on having a few pints of draft Guinness, which is a bit harder to find on tap hereabouts than you’d imagine.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cities look best when it’s raining, I always say. We had dinner at the chip shot, and my English bride was happy with the menu’s offerings, as it was based on several comfort food dishes from her faraway homeland. Mushy Peas, Scotch Eggs, all that.
Pictured above is East Carson Street, which is the ‘Main Street’ of this section of the Pittsburgh metro, dubbed the South Side Flats.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few nights later, a humble narrator found himself wandering on the same street, and encountered this wonderful neon display in the front window of a tattoo shop. Everybody I encounter here, seemingly, has ‘ink’ and there are many tattoo shops to choose from.
Retail space is comparatively cheap to lease here, meaning that you see a lot of local entrepreneurial energy expressed in the store fronts, rather than the sort of bank machine/big box/franchise activity which dominates the modern retail spaces back in NYC.
Back next week with more from the Paris of Appalachia, 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.
palsied denials
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
July 16th was City of Water Day, which is a regional harbor festival curated by the Waterfront Alliance. I, and Newtown Creek Alliance, have been participating in City of Water Day for about a decade now. This year, NCA partnered up with North Brooklyn Boat Club and the Montauk Cutoff Coalition to do a shoreline cleanup, and offer boat rides to the public on the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek. It was a nice day.
Until the thunderstorm arrived, it was a nice day, that is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you don’t recall, this was the day that about an inch of rain fell in about a half hour and generated a lot of flooding and damage in Queens. We were out in the open, but luckily the public side of things had ended. Everybody found a bit of shelter, under the Long Island Expressway or in some of the shipping containers found along the shoreline.
It felt like a real Götterdämmerung, I tell you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Blasting waves of rain pounded down, and heavy wind caused the rain to go absolutely horizontal. Dutch Kills was boiling with sky juices.
When the front moved on, we found ourselves standing in its wake. All of the NCA people grabbed their cameras and phones, since we knew what would be coming next – sewer outflows!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
NYC has a combined sewer system, meaning that sanitary and storm water move through the same pipes. Dry weather, which typified roughly an entire month prior to the 16th, sees this flow go to sewer plants. A quarter inch of rain – citywide – translates to a billion gallons suddenly entering the system, and the City’s protocol is to release the excess flow into area waterways as a prophylactic against street flooding.
You can count it out – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… blast off.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Submerged sewer pipes began to excrete into the waters of Dutch Kills. The surface was boiling, and the tumult carried human waste as well as whatever happened to end up in the sewers – trash, motor oil, goo – into Dutch Kills.
Everywhere you looked, filthy water was shooting out of otherwise hidden pipes all over Dutch Kills. In a couple of spots, notably nearby the Hunters Point Avenue Bridge, there were actual geysers of sewerage shooting around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is a storm sewer, one which drains the Long Island Expressway high above. Thousands of gallons erupted from it.
Exciting, no?
“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 