walking home, twilight
Friendship Avenue, Pittsburgh.
network
Telephone pole, street light, and locust tree on Alder Street in Pittsburgh.
three trees
Just before twilight, while the sky still held on to blue.
sidewalk
I’ve been walking around my neighborhood in Pittsburgh again. The rhythms of the school year bring me back home as a pedestrian. I notice the return of civic energy after a hot summer - we are knocking on doors, talking to neighbors, reimagining the city blocks person by person, conversation by conversation - in those new relationships where we listen, tell our own stories, and work for change.
umbrellas
In Pittsburgh, some people emphasize the first syllable of umbrella. (These were in the entry to the greenhouse at the Frick Art and Historical Center on another rainy day.)
Herron Hill
Looking toward Herron Hill from the Lawrenceville flats in Pittsburgh. (I’ve also drawn this water tower from other angles.)
trolley
Detail of decommissioned Pittsburgh trolley at the Heinz History Center.
pedestrian
Pittsburgh is a good city for walking.
Rosa rugosa
Cut from the front yard. Fierce spiny branches, but worth the tussle to bring the scent of early summer into the house.
bird
Liberty Avenue, in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
hydrant
Fire hydrant, grass, and puddles. East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
five koi
A study of the pond at Phipps Conservatory in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
cafe view
In the past week, trees have started to blossom or show leaves, softening every part of the landscape.
tulips
Spring must finally be here - our own tulips are blooming in Pittsburgh, and we no longer need to buy them wrapped in cellophane and tissue paper. Small children pick them for us.
river view
I was standing on the site of the old Eliza furnace, looking across the Monongahela River. The shuttle bus driver told me that he’d gotten binoculars to look at the barges, but had forgotten them at home that day.
palimpsest
Morewood Avenue, Pittsburgh. A telephone pole near the university carries traces of signs, stapled over, bleached blank in the weather, half-removed, and punctured by still more rusting staples.
design coding
SEO rapper m0serious explains best practices in web design. See the other offerings on his YouTube Channel for advice on linking, paid search, and social media.
(via)
pussy willows
A day of alternating snow flurries and blue sky.
thaw
This was drawn a little while ago, when snow lingered on the edges of the view: on curbstones, in gutters. Yesterday I saw flakes in the air; today I could smell mud.
On Non-Ironic Carhartts
A curmudgeon I know holds forth:
Commentary on the state of farming can be found in the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times. ‘Twas ever thus: The Egg and I, the farming stories of S. J. Perelman, and, of course, Green Acres. Young folks find their way back to the garden, learn about life, cold hard economics, early mornings in freezing rain, etc.
But it’s in the styles section, along with the wedding announcements and stories on relationships, probably for a good reason: this “trend” amounts to a few anecdotes and will only affect the finances of a few. In some ways it’s a typical fashion story, one that gets as irritating as all the ones I’ve read in the past forty years.
icicle at night
An icicle in the eaves catches the light from across the way, and then just lets it fall in drips onto the porch railing.
and February is almost over
Two things guaranteed lift my spirits are peppy music and vehicular mayhem. Allow me to present to you Katrina and the Waves’ ‘Walking on Sunshine,’ as performed by remixed car crashes.
Friendship School
Friendship School, Pittsburgh, PA. My older son went to this school for three years. We live nearby, and our polling place is set up in the gym for every election.
Smithfield Street bridge tower
Study of one of the ornaments along the top of the Smithfield street bridge in Pittsburgh. These devices have always looked to me as if they could receive special messages and defend us against space aliens.
Hunt Armory rooftop
The old armory building in Shadyside occupies an entire block - the roof line rises above the tree tops along Alder Street. I imagine whole cavalry units drilling inside, not long after the turn of the last century.