The wheels are yeller, the upholstery's brown,The dashboard's genuine leather,With isinglass curtains y' can roll right down,In case there's a change in the weather.—“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top” by Oscar Hammerstein II And what a change in the weather we’ve had these past couple days.
Philadelphia
Learning to Tap
I wasn’t planning on learning to tap yesterday, but then one of the lenses on my computer glasses popped out. I had been thinking of getting new ones anyway, and when I couldn’t get the lens to stay in, I decided to head on over to the other side of town, well, the other side … Continue reading Learning to Tap
Slavery, Low-knowledge Voters, and Stephen Colbert
On January 22 at the direction of that rapist currently sitting in the Oval Office the National Park Service removed exhibits that discussed the history of slavery at the President’s House at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park. Apparently any mention of slavery gets that rapist’s panties in a twist. A judge has now ordered the … Continue reading Slavery, Low-knowledge Voters, and Stephen Colbert
Plowing On
Things haven’t changed much. Our street still hasn’t been plowed. I don’t blame the mayor for that, even though I don’t hold her in very high esteem. Cities plan their budgets for the kind of weather that they normally expect. We haven’t had a snowstorm like this in ten years, so naturally I don’t expect … Continue reading Plowing On
Snow
Philadelphia, along with a large part of the rest of this country, had a bit of snow on Sunday. It was the most snow we’ve had since I’ve moved into this house nearly six years ago. I was out at 5:00 AM on Sunday morning and pretty much every hour and a half after that … Continue reading Snow
Nelson Blanco
All those Desi and Lucy posts have reminded me of Nelson and Jerry. Nelson Blanco was born in Cuba in 1947 and fled to the United States in the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. Jerry DiFalco was born in Camden, NJ, in 1952, and tried to make a living as a painter in Philadelphia. Sometime in … Continue reading Nelson Blanco
Most Hostile
Quote of the day: The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.—Robert Bloch On May 14, 1994, Philadelphia residents discovered that they were living in the Most Hostile City in America according to Duke University researcher Redford Williams. New York City came in second. Yeah, right. Clearly, … Continue reading Most Hostile
Going Greek
Quote of the day: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.—Will Rogers I’ve been eating about a half cup of plain, whole milk yogurt at breakfast for years. As it’s the first thing I eat in the morning, after a couple cups of black coffee, it tastes pretty good, and I … Continue reading Going Greek
Bike Ride
Quote of the day: If there is a more hideous language on the face of the earth than the American form of English, I should like to know what it is! —Baron Somers, in the House of Lords (1979) When I went grocery shopping yesterday morning, there was a bike ride in progress. I had … Continue reading Bike Ride
Have I Missed Ninth Street?
Quote of the day: What have future generations ever done for us?—Groucho Marx About a year and a half ago I wrote about the TV miniseries called Task that was being filmed in my neighborhood. Or more accurately the show was spending a day filming on a section of Ninth Street, although the entire series … Continue reading Have I Missed Ninth Street?