My Sick Mind

Since Christ is going to return in a couple of months, I figured it would be a good time to go out and take some photos. There were more than a couple of people carrying those signs around Philadelphia on Sunday, so I guess they must know what they're talking about. As for me, I'd hate to think that on May 21 the world is going to end. I'm going to miss the Orioles and Nationals at Camden Yards. That would suck, and Jesus wouldn't want me to miss such a big baseball game, would He? I left The Mighty Thor at home to go to the big city and put the camera to work. This is the lobby of the Comcast Center on JFK Boulevard. They spent a lot of my cable money on a large video screen. The show is pretty impressive, but I can't help but wonder why there are three indentations over the entrance ways. I think the show would be more impressive if the screen was a large rectangle. In Philadelphia, there is a problem with people who want to dispose of their toilet tissue in pl...

I bought a new Tokina 12-24mm zoom lens with money that Uncle Sam repaid me from my income taxes, and decided to take it to my favorite city for a spin. For those of you who still like the ranting, go back a day . Others of you can take solace in some photos I took today, and visit my Flickr stream (whatever that is) for the whole set. As usual, if you click on the photo it may enlarge, but I have no idea how this stuff works. I always start at Independence Hall. It's what Nevada Weir would call "creative inertia." Take a photo and the rest will follow, like inertia. A body that is in motion remains in motion. It's a nice way to think about working. Start using the camera, even if the photo you are taking isn't particularly interesting, it helps to start. A dogwood tree (I think, I'm not up on trees) near 3rd and Chestnut Street stood out among the cityscape. The pinkness caught my eye. Elfreth's Alley is a residential alley. It is one of the olde...

Sunday was too nice a day to spend inside watching football or doing laundry, so I took out for our beautiful city, camera in tow, to try to find something interesting to liven up the black space - both here and inside. One of the good things about being single is that I can pick up and go someplace. It's really the only good thing, but I digress. The entire time, that Hall & Oates song "Fall in Philadelphia" was running through my head, although all I could remember was the chorus [I'm gonna spend another fall in Philadelphia] and some odd lyrics here and there. When I got home and looked it up , I was a little (a lot) confused about what the song is about and didn't have the energy to analyze it, so I just posted some photos. As usual, I think you can click on them and view them full-screen, but I've lied about other things, too. That's obviously Independence Hall, and one of these days I'm going to take the tour like thousands of foreigners ...

Of course you are. Today's photo jaunt takes us back to the great city of Philadelphia. I think you can click on the photo and see it in full-screen mode, but it doesn't always seem to work. My little walking tour starts at Logan Circle, where the sign points to The Franklin Institute science museum, which they have taken to calling "The Franklin," and I couldn't for the life of me tell you why. That's the big fountain in the center of Logan Circle. Usually, there are kids wading in it, but I caught it at an opportune moment. We're looking northeast toward City Hall. Below, we're looking across the Circle toward the Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul , built in 1846 and the Sheraton Hotel, built much later. There were kids playing in the fountain at Love Park. Not peeing, I hope. A real urban landscape. Looking south on 15th Street. That Applebee's in the background used to be a fine restaurant called Bookbinder's. Like so many ...

Saturday was particularly nice around here, weather wise. I had to hang at home and wait to have my dryer vents cleaned, which is not a sexual reference. They cleaned my dryer vents. Afterward, I grabbed the camera and took off for the big city. I was there from noon until 8 at night. Here are some of the photos I took during my visit. That's the courtyard of the Betsy Ross House at 239 Arch Street, where legend has it, she sewed our first American flag. It is a matter of dispute that she indeed sewed the first flag and that she lived in this house. We never let the facts get in the way of a good story around here. We have these charming things called cobblestone streets in Philadelphia. They're charming if you aren't riding a bicycle or walking barefoot. These lead you to the Carpenter House. This is the courtyard behind the Rohm and Haas building that I showed you at night last week . That's it on the left. A short jog down the brick path leads you to ... ... a ...

Lately, it's been Blogger Block around here, with nothing interesting to say, hence the weekend without a peep and the subsequent minor rant about the primary yesterday. I haven't been out with my new D40 on a real photo safari in a while, so on Monday night I decided to force myself to hang out in Philadelphia and wander around with the camera and my trusty mini tripod. The first thing that caught my eye was a flower bouquet herd at the Spruce Market on ... anyone ... Spruce Street. It's across the street from our Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the place the Philadelphia Orchestra calls home. This one took a few minutes to set up, and just as I was ready to push the button a van pulled up in front of me. This was location choice number two. The rap on the Kimmel Center is that it's a cold building with a glass roof that looks up into space. From the street it's difficult to know where the entrance is, and just as difficult to know if you should go near ...