Friday I took the train in and walked from Market East to 1st & Chestnut to do a quick set up of the stuff MFD and I dropped off on Thursday for my company holiday party. It was a nice night! I recommend Glory Beer Bar & Kitchen for folks looking to host events in Philly. Food, service, and pricing were all good! We got home around 1 and I was straight to bed.
And up by 7 on Saturday thanks to Bruce. Animals DGAF if you are old and have been out late. My original plan was to head to the shore to clean up construction work but it was raining pretty solidly and I really needed the option to bring some stuff outside so I ended up staying home. My car was also full of stuff from my office and the party and had to be emptied before I reloaded it and all of that in the rain was a no. We watched the World Cup, I read a book, we cleaned up/purged/organized the living area basement room and then hung out down there which I never do, MFD made dinner, and we watched all of White Lotus season 1. I fell asleep on the couch around 11 and never moved to bed.
Sunday up at the asscrack again. I showered, emptied my car of the shit in there, refilled it with stuff to go back to the shore, and was at the shore by 9:30. I am absolutely thrilled with the work done in our apartment - the top is before and the bottom after - not a great after but we're still in progress. We're going to paint down here and the trim and door need to be painted but seriously thrilled for the added airflow and light.
I did a first round construction dust vacuum/cleanup/change bedding, put shit back etc. Then I went and picked up pottery we painted on Black Friday, stopped in at the Thrift Store just to browse, picked up lunch and dinner at ACME and exchanged my five gallon water bottles, and popped in to Sherwin Williams then painted paint swatches all over the apartment. We're going with the lighter and brighter (SW 6736 Jocular Green) but I did paint the small coffee wall in the bolder color (SW 6716 Dancing Green)
We had a nice long walk on the beach to close out the weekend.
Happy birthday to my uncle Billy yesterday! Which I thought was today, but today is not the fourth, it's the fifth LOL. I cannot keep up on so much right now, so I'm just putting it down and doing what I can.
1. Things I do not miss about the train: carrying shit, people's asses in my face because they have to be the first one off the train so they will stand at the door. I'm happy one of my two chosen exits from Suburban Station has reopened. I feel like they'll reopen the other one never so this will do. My entry to exit has always been open. And if you don't take trains you don't understand any of this, nor do you care. There are many entries/exits to my train station in Center City and the majority have been closed since the pandemic began.
2. I took in new to me public art yesterday, part of the Monumental Tour by Kindred Arts. I'll check out the other three pieces before they're gone in January 2022. This is Kalief Browder: The Box by Coby Kennedy. This piece replicates the solitary confinement cell 17 year old Kalief Browder spent most of his three years of incarceration on Rikers Island in with neither trial nor proof of guilt. The United Nations has stated that placements in solitary for longer than 15 days constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and that lengthy stays in isolation can constitute torture. Kalief Browder's first extended stay in solitary confinement was over 300 days as a 17 year old child. The charges against him were dropped but the confinement stayed with him and he took his own life two years after his release, although clearly the system took it from him at 16. And no, law and order fucking yahoos, solitary confinement is not appropriate punishment for robbery even if someone is guilty. If you are not questioning what the fuck we are doing in our systems in this country, why not?
3. They were installing Day of the Dead art in LOVE Park Wednesday too, I always love seeing that. And this beauty shot of City Hall.
4. I freaking missed my dear Melissa's birthday by a day last week. Her and John Bender....it's hard for me to keep track of days. Happy Happy Meliss. Love you!
5. This is true, and Thursday is always the latter for me. I need to be jamming on it because I have to be out on a site this afternoon.
6. For the ladies who pooh pooh feminism
7. My I don't need it but it belongs with me find from HomeGoods this week: this is now in the middle of my dining room table in Philly and I love it. It goes perfectly. Incidentally I also found what I did need which are the storage boxes.
Keep a good thought for Mae, she's in for a dental today.
Have a good one!
What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Story of My Life by One Direction
1. I was at my office yesterday for the first time since a quick pop in in October. I had to go to the dentist and acupuncturist so I lined them up to do both in one day. Having all of my docs in the city for over 10 years has been amazing to take care of things at lunch or before work. Having all of my docs downtown in a global pandemic when I'm never down there is not as great. I miss the art and signs and little stickers.
2. I miss seeing things. The little things at my feet and in the sky, through store windows, across the way. In parking garages. Ferris?
3. I miss walking around noticing how the light is hitting the buildings. It was so nice to do that yesterday when the temps were hovering around 50, ice melt was dripping off roofs, and the sky was wispy.
4. I've been feeling buoyed by people getting vaccines despite a difficult to navigate vaccine registration process (hey federal govt, create some fucking jobs where people solely make appointments for others) but seeing the central business district largely quiet almost a year later is still hard. And operating in a semblance of how I used to is exhausting. Businesses there operate based on people coming into town to work. And most of us are still not doing that. Some closed temporarily. Some closed for good. It was a visual reminder that we have a long road ahead to rebuild to any sort of semblance of up and running.
5. Thanks for indulging my love letter to Philly. I was totally in my feelings about it yesterday. I also saw my niece and nephew, had no cavities which is rare with my trash teeth, and got totally fixed up by the acupuncturist - my last appointment was in October and my sweet spot to maintain mostly pain free is every five to six weeks so that was such a major relief. I am sore today but crazy better. Next time I go back it'll be time to do my whole body skin cancer check so I'll schedule those together. I did not miss the commute - I drove in and it took me a fucking hour to get home due to an accident. MFD ordered chinese and I vegged on the couch and did not a damn thing last night. We started the Cecil Hotel thing but I fell asleep early and stayed that way. Sunset from my brother & Aubrey's, chinese food from my dark living room.
6. Ben has been playing with his big as him hippo and Mae has been torturing Bruce. Immediately after this photo she pushed him out of the pink princess bed so she could lord over it alone.
7. I love when light hits things just right.
8. We are coming to the end of the designated Black History Month and about to begin the designated Women's History Month and this is a reminder that Black History is every month and Women's History is every month and Black History is our history and Women's History is our history. All of ours.
1. Stunner of a fall foliage scene I saw yesterday when taking headshots out in a little urban park off Chestnut Street. Philly, you're looking amazing.
2. The Christmas Village is set up in LOVE Park though, rushing Thanksgiving right through.
3. When I go to the Philly library to pick up my books on hold, I always check out what my neighbor with the same last name has on hold. We have very similar taste in books which I think is cool and I feel like leaving a note saying hey do you ever check out my books but I read a lot of books on creepy people and I don't want to be the creep in someone else's facebook status so I refrain. This is what they have on hold this week.
4. Never let me hear this shit uttered ever again by anyone who is breathing during this time of daily man fits. Jim Jordan looking more like a charlatan preacher making the rounds in the dust bowl, putting on a show to take money from the poor in exchange for empty promises than a congressional representative during impeachment hearings. Man alive. It’s outrageous.
5. MFD bought me this needlepoint of my birthday twin for Christmas and gave it to me on November 20. LOL I love it though, and also it's much more exciting than what we're getting for Christmas this year, which is a new bathroom door.
6. I spent last night with my longtime friend (since first grade) and hairstylist for the past 15 years, Kristi. We talked books and addiction and tried to remember people's names based on very little facts and it was nice as always. This is poor lighting but it's the blondest I've ever been save that unfortunate orange blond from my college years.
9. Reminder: If you feel something is lacking, remember you won't usually find it in things.
10. Ecards.
I gave myself 25 minutes to write this and ring that bell, I did it...despite having to restart my computer and collect towels from three floors and put them in the laundry. Huzzah.
For the next stop on my tourist in my own town tour, I figured I'd check out One Liberty Observation Deck since I work right next to it. I went at lunch on the Thursday before the July 4th weekend and was one of four people up there.
Views:
This is the view I spent the most time on. I stared at this guy for at least 10 minutes with second hand anxiety.
As far as views go, personally I prefer the views from the City Hall Observation Deck. You can see a straight shot down the parkway, which is one of the best views in the city in my opinion, with the Philadelphia Museum of Art as anchor. PMA is largely obstructed from Liberty One. City Hall is definitely different - not as high, cheaper, limited hours/accessibility, and the experience going up to the top is not cushy like this one is. Overall, this is more of an experience. And I always think it's cool to see a city from above.
They give you a little Philly flavor up at the top, with some fun facts scattered about and narration in certain areas.
They also have interactive maps you can operate to let you know what's in front of the view you have right now and to also search by category like music, sports, etc.
This is a shitty video of how it works:
The entry was actually my favorite part aside from the large Ben Franklin head. It captures the things important to Philadelphia: our cheesesteaks, sports, music, the fact that we are the birthplace of this nation, mural arts, mummers, that damn cracked bell, our real life Princess, and a movie character we believe is a real person who is representative of this town. Do not try me on Rocky.
If you go:
One Liberty Observation Deck is at 1650 Market Street
Open daily 10-10
Ticket info here, I did the adult for $19 but should've done the two visits in 48 hours for $26
My verdict: I'd do it. If you're hesitant or in a budget, the entry at One Liberty is worth a pass by if you're in the area and seeing that is free. It's very well done. Twenty bucks for a view from 57 feet up isn't too bad either.
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens is, well, magic. It beckons you from the outside - mosaic work spills out onto the streets surrounding it, mirrored pieces catching the sun, urging you on.
By the time you reach the gates, it's like you're walking in of your own volition.
And when you get in, wherever you are, it's like standing inside of art. It's above you, it's below you, it's around you, it's in the bathroom with you.
There's so much to look at, you can stand in one spot for quite a while soaking it all in. I like art that you can identify some part of yourself in. You can do that literally and figuratively here.
The art comes on strong...it's outspoken, a little broken, a little gritty, a bit pieced together...basically it's reflective of the city of Philadelphia itself.
Which is easily explained, given the artist's origins and choice of home. The creator of the art, Isaiah Zagar, is a mosaic mural artist whose work can be found on more than 200 public walls throughout Philadelphia (neighborhood mural map here) and around the world. Born here and raised in Brooklyn, Zagar and his wife returned to Philly after college (Pratt Institute for Zagar) and a three year stint in the Peace Corps to settle in and create and inspire the art world.
He began creating what would become Philadelphia's Magic Gardens on the vacant lots near his South Street Studio in 1994. In 2002 the Boston-based owner of the lots discovered the installation and decided to sell the land, attempting to force the dismantling of the installation. The surrounding community swelled in support and the Magic Gardens became a nonprofit, preserving the art at the site and throughout the area. The moral of the story: don't fuck with Philly's art.
If you go:
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens is at 1020 South Street, on South between 10th & 9th
Wednesday to Monday 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., closed Tuesday
Adults $10, Students w/ ID/Seniors 65+ $8, Children 6-12 $5, Children 5 + under free
Line forms out front if there are too many people inside
