Jellyfish and a windy weekend

Jellyfish, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

I can hear the wind outside, and I dread the ride into work on Monday. Its been a nice weekend, though some where along the way I misplaced my warm hat… walking down the streets I felt more blown along than rooted to the ground. The new year is here, as is the bitter part of winter. At least the sun is rising earlier and earlier. Nice to have a little light left when I face the frozen ride home.

Philadelphia skyline at Dusk

Philadelphia skyline at Dusk, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

I am so used to the skyline from my office, I forget how breathtaking it can be from West Philly- the city just sits there and sparkles. My co-worker and I went to a networking event at the Cira Center on Monday. What with this time turn back, we usually end up leaving the office after dark. But the event started around 5, so we got to enjoy a good chunk of sunset. Quite lovely. The sparkling reminds me of one of my favorite exhibits of all time, “Fireflies on the Water” by Yayoi Kusama. Photos don’t really do it justice… I saw it at the Whitney, during the 2004 Biennial Exhibition. The Whitney site says that they’ve acquired it, but I don’t know if its still on display. How I would love to have an empty room to make one of these in my house… walking into it felt like floating in the center of the galaxy.

Rainbow after doom

Rainbow, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

Dark clouds over the horizon, doom rolling in from the West. Soon pouring rain, in a rather apocalyptic way. By the time I left the office the storm had gone, leaving behind a big orange glow and a nice rainbow to hang over my shoulder on the ride home. This can be a pretty cool city sometimes.

birds on a wire

There will be fireworks tomorrow. I finished a book, an iced mocha from my favorite Cafe, re-potted my plants and found a nearly-ripe cucumber in my garden. July has started off well.

bird in the city

bird in the city, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

I looked up from my work station this afternoon to see a huge bird sitting atop the tree across the street. It was silhouetted against the buildings and the clash of nature and the city was rather striking. Of course, by the time I grabbed my camera, the bird moved away from its perch and fluttered around in the main body of the tree. Still interesting, but not quite the image I was going for. I plan to keep my eye out for the bird in the upcoming days… hopefully with the rain forecast, I’ll get another grey day to catch the bird in all its moodiness.

spring April 25

spring April 25, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

Its a beautiful day outside. Sunny, warm, slightly breezy. And yet I sit inside staring out the window, trying to get work done…. Perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration. Actually I’m listening to the people enjoying the day down on the street. Yelling that sounds like fights, but breaks into laughter. Older men grumbling. Young children cheeping, racketing down the street with skateboards, perhaps a bike or two. I feel like the street has a whole other life I don’t ever see, tucked away in my house. And yet here I stay, trying to concentrate on my work…..

Double Rainbow

April 3 2009 Philadelphia, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

Anytime it starts raining with the sun shining, I look for rainbows. This was a perfect rainbow recipe. It was around 6 or so, the sun just getting ready to start setting. Light small rain drops, falling from a very discernible cloud. Since it was raining, I didn’t want to have my camera out for too long, I’ve already ruined one with water. But I managed to get a quick shot of the double rainbow. It got even better, the second got brighter. A full arc on both. The clouds were fantastic the whole afternoon. I might have to ride through the rain a lot this season, but spring is lovely.

Hail Storm!

Hail Storm!, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

The sky turned yellow then the skies opened up and rained down hail and thunder. A fantastic storm.

Wind and books

The wind has been trying to knock me over for the past few days. I wonder why when you ride the wind is never with you. No matter what direction I head, gale forces attempt to tip me sideways, halt my forward progression… never pushing me along. I tried to get some pictures of the wind while at work, but wind is hard to photograph from inside an office building. I did get a lovely sunset though. Sometimes the view from my office is just stunning. I’m looking forward to the clock change, and being able to ride home in the light.

I went to the best used book store in Philadelphia, Book Haven, yesterday. Picked up more books I don’t need, but find fantastic. A great collection of Grimm’s Fairy tales, with out any of the fluff… the first story I opened up to had a beheading, the daughter tricked into thinking she knocked the boy’s head off, and the boy later chopped up and fed to the father. Greusome. But told so simply. One fact after another. I also got a copy of “Swallows and Amazons”, to re-read after many years. The best book I picked up is called “Goblin Market” and was tucked back in the poetry section. (I just found out that the book store has a second floor! I’ve never made it past the first room before.) I feel like I may already have a copy of goblin market, but I wasn’t sure so I bought it anyway. Quite an odd poem with wood-cut style illustrations. Oh, buying books I don’t need… I just can’t resist.

Another outpost

Hello from Philadelphia. The weather here is a balmy winter, with melting snow and still treacherous ice patches. The sun was shining today, and it looks to be a warm weekend. I hope the groundhog lied.

Alexis has assigned me Fridays. I’m not a poet or an eloquent writer by any means, but I have a camera and I can see and feel the weather, so I thought I’d throw my lot in.

It was just beginning to feel like spring was on its way… and Philadelphia was dumped with our first big snow. In theory, I really like snow. Its fun, you can build things with it, and it has quite a striking effect on the landscape. But my mode of transportation is my bicycle, so in practicality, snow is not my friend. I miss the days when snow meant a day playing outside, and a night curled up around a mug of hot chocolate. Now it means getting up early and taking the subway.

My most exposure to the elements comes in my morning and evening commute and my occasional foray for lunch. The commute is tired in the morning and dark in the evening, so nothing exciting there. Lunch, however, can be interesting. Even on a terrible day, there is something delightfully refreshing about going outside to walk to the little deli. The wind is invigorating. The sun warming. The snow exciting. How that all fades with the sun, and the ride home becomes a death-defying battle with ice patches and cars.