Two cities; two weekends

I  spent Sunday in another city. (For those who are regulars here, last weekend was New York). Perhaps you can guess what city this is from the architecture ~ and the fact that I didn’t have to drive really far.

It was a typical March day, insomuch as no day in March can truly be described as typical. It was chilly and warm, and sunny and overcast, and bright, and windy ~ all wrapped up in one.




I guess this would be what is called a clue and if you googled those words, you’d know what city I’m in. But really, you can do this. Step away from the google.




And look at these old buildings. I think this one is a university, or part of one.




Ok. You should have it now. I mean, with the statue and all.




If I were a 1700’s babe, I would have totally been crushing on this guy.

I’m not kidding. He was smart, he was fun, he took naked air baths . . .
Ok. I’ll stop now.




That’s my niece, Emily, at the counter down there. We went to get take-out lunch.




An unusual gate; this marks the entrance to the Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall at the University of Pennsylvania.




In University City. Philadelphia.

Congratulations to those who guessed it. So was it Ben Franklin that did it for you?

My lovely niece, Emily.

She’s Charlotte’s girl.

I couldn’t decide whether I liked Kevin Kubota’s chocolate syrup

(the sepia version, above) or this version. I love them both.

I’d like to spend some more time in this beautiful city. And you know what’s funny?

I was born here, in Philadelphia.

Yes, I was. Many, many years ago.

In the 50’s.

I just love the architecture. This was taken along Spruce Street, in University City where I was visiting my brother in the hospital.

Without going too much into it, he’s getting his final chemo treatment, and a stem cell transplant from his twin brother and will be in the hospital for a month. He was diagnosed with leukemia last spring.

It was a shock. Especially to him.




Everything will be ok, though. It will.

Even when he’s sick, my brother is just pure love. And speaking of love, I was in the City of Brotherly Love, man.




I loved this wall mural, shot from the driver’s seat of my car while stopped in traffic. I was giving my niece a ride home after the hospital visit, and she told me there’s a lot of cool art like this in the city.

So I’m going to have to go back. And maybe spend the night in her totally cool apartment where she has an upstairs and a kitchen with lots of room, an ironing board built into a wall cupboard, and stained glass windows.

: : :

I get nervous sometimes, driving in big cities, but the more I do it, the more I get used to it and I don’t get so {I don’t know} scared anymore. I guess what I’m saying is that for me, anyway, it’s good to face my fear.

And maps help.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .