Six Month Mark

Isn't it funny what can happen on a Saturday?

please excuse crappy phone photos from here on out

I have spent the afternoon making jewelry....lovely, soul-sustaining artwork in my friend Allison's gallery. I pulled out all the almost completed and old pieces from their ziploc bags and polished them, took them apart, set some cabochons, and ultimately, re-oriented how I felt about them. Tonight, they join the ranks of other pieces on the bright white shelves of Zuzu in Collingswood.


It feels good to take a look at old things that have been hidden for too long. Sometimes, it's like your eyes just forgot what something looked like, and in other cases, its as if a piece wakes up for the first time. All of  a sudden you can see it for what it always should have been.


Case in point....The Under the Sea Necklace just woke up....

The Under the Sea Necklace originally was a necklace on lots of chain with a clasp and it was very dark: very heavily oxidized. Today I cut it all apart, threw the extra pieces I was tired of looking at into the pickle pot, and proceeded to clean the oxide off the pendant with steel wool. And then I saw it and realized: this is how it should have been all the time! 

After that, I set the earrings that have been scuttling around the bottom of one of my jewelry boxes for months and months and months....these earrings are set with pictures from stereographic images....the vertically oriented ones are of a hillside in Mexico, and the horizontally oriented ones are a mountain in Scotland.....

Jewelry is an amazing force in my life: as is all creativity. Without it, I literally wither and begin to become a nutty shell of my former self. Had I known this as distinctly as I know it now, I probably would have researched Philadelphia a bit better. Had I known alot of things, I would have researched Philadelphia better. But now I know: six months in, I know what is important.

While polishing these pieces and thinking about the next six months, and the changes that will inevitably happen, the luck that will wax and wane like the moon each month, I have been dancing to The Smiths.

I have no doubt that whoever has walked down Haddon Avenue tonight has wondered why on Earth that tall girl in cowboy boots is dancing around while clutching small pieces of silver and steel wool. But that's okay. Maybe they will go home and dance around while clutching their laptops, their knitting projects, their dogs or cats or babies. 

Soon I am off to Karaoke Obscura at the Tritone, and soon after that I am off to New Jersey and New York City, and then to Maine for the holidays. The time passes by so fast....it's hard to know what to do just to take advantage of the days....

Dancing to The Smiths sounds good now, though....and singing Regina Spektor or The Yeah Yeah Yeahs later on sounds great.

An Artfully Delicious Misadventure - First Friday & Dmitri's Restaurant

Graffiti on Race Street....

 In the vein of discovering all things about this new city of mine, I convince three friends (and very experienced Philadelphians) to walk around Old City with me and explore the event know here as First Friday. First Friday is a great opportunity for walking around and seeing some mostly good art, drink some free booze, listen to some good music, and mostly, see what is happening in this area of the city that is infrequently traveled by me and others of my ilk.

 2nd street

Old City is located a bit above and below Market Street, generally thought to include 2nd and 3rd streets. Most of these streets are populated by art galleries and strange, old shops that sell light bulbs, antique lamps, and restaurant supplies. During First Friday, there are tables set out in front of the galleries and shops, displaying the wares one might discover within, or sometimes the tables are set with items to emphasize the mood of the gallery's collections. Also you will find many, many, street vendors selling paintings, vegan cupcakes, t-shirts, totebags, pillows, etc.

 The wonderful National Restaurant Supply store...now derelict and about to be made into...you guessed it! Condos!!!

We strolled around for about an hour and saw lots of great stuff at galleries whose names I did not write down (bad blogger!)...but suffice it to say, I think First Friday is probably worth doing about once per season just to see what's out there in our fair city, and how art is changing, and possibly to meet some interesting people. The people watching was great: there is alot of artful strangeness going on here, lots of folks in interesting outfits, laughing, talking, and having a good time.

 2nd street....the dark path to someone's backyard

After the galleries, we went into AKA Music and shopped around in their *amazing* used section (why don't these guys have a website???). I wasn't in the mood to buy CD's, but definitely will go back....it is sad to see, however, how rather bedraggled record shops seem to be in these times of downloading and I-Tunes....

 676 at sunset....walking north on 2nd street

676 is held up by an amazing steel bridge

Once satisfied with perusing AKA's selection, off we went on quite a walk up 2nd street all the way into the neighborhood known as Northern Liberties. Everything in Philly is quite close together, but Northern Liberties does seem to be a bit separated from the downtown...you have to walk along 2nd street for about 2 miles (maybe?), cross under 676 and the Ben Franklin Bridge, see a really great mural, walk along some commercial sites, and BOOM! You cross Spring Garden and are in a totally different Philly neighborhood.

 Mr Franklin jammin' under the Ben Franklin Bridge

 History of Immigration Mural on North 2nd street

 The colours are really beautiful, but I think it's a shame that it is under an overpass...

 I thought it was interesting that, due to construction, this mural, and all the famous people depicted within, are now held behind a fence topped with barbed wire.

We walked to The Foodery to get some beer as the restaurant we were going to is a BYO, and strolled down 2nd street until we got to the most amazing restaurant I have been to in a while....go there now if you can, by all means, it is so amazing and affordable!


Seriously.....you should go.


Dmitris is on the corner of North 2nd and Laurel Streets and has really nice waitresses who bring you ice buckets to keep your beers cold. That and the menu here is amazing, and works really well for sharing! We got: the mediterranean plate, pan-fried scallops, shrimp pil-pil, and grilled octopus and seriously, y'all, this was one of the best meals I have had in as long as I can remember....perfect for four people, less than $60?!?!?! So amazing....


A stroll after dinner took us to the much-lauded Piazza, which reminded me of a walking mall in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.....it seems super commercial but maybe it's nice if you live there? Anyway....this was my first jaunt into Northern Liberties, and I hope to explore the neighborhood further....my new school is very close by and it may be a good neighborhood to use as a route home....


My Philly malaise seems to be lifting and I think it is a direct result of being almost finished unpacking and, most importantly, getting out and exploring. Tomorrow I go to Terrain, the Anthropologie-created nursery and dreamland....

A Rainy Misadventure - Subterranean Isolation & a Surprise Art Gallery

Yesterday, I took myself on an adventure....

 When you walk along Broad Street, you feel and hear the hum-squeak of the subway

 I used the subway all the time in New York, but here it is not very popular. (Think: almost vacant). Granted, it was mid-morning, but still!!!

View of the platform....strange, right???

 Spooookkkyyyyy....

Anyway, I can't tell if I am being paranoid because this is the first big city I have ever lived in, or because people keep telling me to "be careful"....it's all I get from people I meet. I must have a face that screams: "I'm from out of town!!! Tell me how scary it is here!!!" or something....

I was nervous in the subway though because there were too few people in there for comfort. The hustle and bustle of subway travel is what tells you everything is ok. When it is too empty, it gets frightening and you realize you are in a tunnel underground with 3 weird-looking strangers. One of whom follows you almost up to the surface (I started walking really fast when this happened and I think he gave up).

 The center of influence of my new employer...

The whole purpose of the subway trip was to go the School District of Philadelphia building on North Broad Street and investigate my new employer a bit, and to get my FBI fingerprinting and background check completed. The security guards were very sweet and helpful and I got my fingerprinting done in about 10 minutes....I even got complements on my purse from the tech who did the fingerprinting!!!

Student-made recycled plastic and paper dolphin

The other great thing about the SDP building was the student art show. If you are in Philly and want to see a whole lot of great student art all in one place....hop on over to 404 North Broad Street, show them your driver's license, get a security badge, and go and walk around....Here's a small tour...

4th Grader

7th Grader

My favorite....done by a 12th grade student. Paint on plywood. Fantastic!!!

Every time I see a student art show like this, and this one is very impressive, I often want to call up people like governors and presidents and just ask the dumb question: "Sir, how can you say that arts education is not important?" How can they say that the public schools shouldn't be funded? It is so clear that students now are expressing themselves in such a multitude of ways that we, as adults, are literally stupid to not listen to their voices as expressed in their art.

The Steak & Bagel Train

 Entryway to the Philadelphia Inquirer

After walking through the artwork for about an hour, I left the building and walked back down North Broad toward the subway stop. I must say that Philadelphia is making me really nervous right now: lots of people, lots of noise, lots of people just hanging out on the street at all hours. Lots of ambulances, too few trees and parks. I know it is just my past experiences that are coloring my present: but I do miss my old backyard and my pomegranate, oak and mountain laurel trees....

 Amazing old building on North Broad

I also know that no matter where you go, there you are, and that I have to make the most of this experience. And I know that I will get more attuned to Philly and its musings, its ways of working and strategies to ignore the massive amount of people that surround you every moment of every day....

North Broad and Vine, north side of 676

As I walked, I thought about all these things and was noticing the beautiful old buildings in disrepair contrasted with the beautiful new murals that are everywhere, and I noticed more beauty than decay, to be sure.

North Broad & Vine, on the south side of 676

And I was standing, like the tourist that I am, on the corner snapping this photo, a lady walked up to me and said, "This light takes a long time to change": she was telling me to stop taking photos and walk, because if I didn't, I'd be waiting a long time! And see, that's what I mean: people in Philly are friendly and helpful, if you'll just let them be.