It’s Thursday afternoon, and your Center City Correspondent is watching the snow fall once again. This time it’s falling sideways and not reaching the ground. Odd storm.
Last Friday, Mrs. CCC and I took a walk to the Philadelphia Art Museum. When we moved into town we became members which allows us to enter the Museum anytime it’s open without paying. Even the special exhibitions like Cezanne last year and Picasso this year are free; we just need to pick a day and time to go. Living so close makes it easy to go for an hour or two without disrupting the whole day. We especially like the Impressionists, Monet, Manet, Pissarro, etc. and the Museum has a nice collection of them. Renoir’s portraits are at the top of our list; he makes his subjects appear so life-like, it’s like they are standing in the room with you. Mrs. CCC likes the still-life pictures with fruit, food and bottles. They make me hungry. But last week, I wanted to feel like a kid again so we found the Japanese Tea House that resides in the Asian Art section on the second floor. I remember this exhibit from when I was a kid and we’d come down to Fairmount to visit my grandmother and aunts and uncles. My cousins and I would go to the Art Museum and would walk in for free on Sundays. Even as a youngster I remember being impressed with the size of the place and the beautiful and valuable art work that I was able to see for free. One day I got separated from my cousins and stumbled upon the Tea House. Here was a whole house inside the Art Museum! I had trouble getting my head around that. It was like I had stepped in a hole in the ground and came up in Japan. It is a place of serenity and calm. Seeing it again brought back memories of growing up and being with my cousins, which are always good memories.
I usually don’t comment on current events, but the brouhaha in the Lower Merion School District over the webcam spying merits one comment. The more I read and hear about it, it has the smell of balloon boy all over again. It looks like the family is in it for the money. Why would a family that, obviously, values its privacy hold a news conference in their driveway with all their kids in full view of the cameras? Seems odd, doesn’t it?
And one final note. I praised a young couple a few posts ago who we visited at Christmas. Their bundle of joy arrived the other day, Abigail Ann. Congratulations and best of luck to the new parents. May she bring as much joy that you two brought your parents. God bless you all.
24 days till Spring. It can’t come soon enough.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Center City wedding
Your Center City Correspondent had a great weekend (how many posts have started that way?). However, before it got started, we were reminded of one of the pitfalls of living in a home that’s about 160 years old. On Saturday morning, we were watching a soccer game and we both heard a drip coming from the corner of the room. We looked up and sure enough, melting snow from the roof was leaking into the ceiling. We caught it early, and to show you what a great gal Mrs. CCC is, she told me I could wait till the end of the soccer game to fix it! So I had to climb up on the roof that’s four stories from the ground. I had to shovel piles of snow off the roof, chop the ice up, clear and salt the drains, and keep my fingers crossed that was enough. I’m loving this snow more and more every day. Fortunately I did not break my neck or my back, and it looks like we fixed the problem.
This all happened about 1-2 hours before we were due to be at a wedding. Luckily the wedding was held at the Cathedral, just a short walk away, and the reception was at the Franklin Institute. We did not have to go out of the neighborhood (and lose our parking spot), and it was really nice to show off my church to my family. At the Institute, they set up tables and the bar around the big statue of Franklin, dim the lights and project stars on the blue-lit domed roof. It was a very nice affair from top to bottom. The bride and groom made a lovely couple; good-looking, talented and polite. The bride is my cousin’s daughter; she is a PHD candidate at Vanderbilt. The groom is from Raleigh NC, and most of the people on his side came from down south, so it was interesting to listen to them and their impressions of Philadelphia (snow, cheesesteaks and the Rocky statue). He is a musician who has released a few albums (see the link below) and one of the highlights of the evening is when he serenaded his new bride with a few of his songs. But what knocked me out is that the married couple are fans of the Boss, Bruce Springsteen! Their first dance was to “If I Should Fall Behind”, the groom sang a rendition of “Tenth Avenue Freezeout”, and there were other Bruce songs throughout the night. So to recap, leaky roof fixed, neighborhood wedding and party, and a solid dose of Bruce. Pretty good day, huh?
Sunday was Valentine’s Day, and the fourth straight day without snow! I got to spend the whole day with my Valentine without picking up a shovel. After Mass, we came home and relaxed and read the paper. It took me most of the day to recover from Saturday’s shindig. Mrs. CCC made a nice dinner and we turned in early. Like I said a great weekend.
Get out your ashes and don your sackcloth! It’s Lent! For those so inclined, Ash Wednesday is February 17th, the beginning of Lent, the season of repentance and suffering. Some faiths have a Day of Atonement. We Catholics spend 40 days atoning for our sins. I guess we need more forgiveness than others.
All for now. Enjoy your week and give James a listen.
http://www.jamesdunnmusic.com/
This all happened about 1-2 hours before we were due to be at a wedding. Luckily the wedding was held at the Cathedral, just a short walk away, and the reception was at the Franklin Institute. We did not have to go out of the neighborhood (and lose our parking spot), and it was really nice to show off my church to my family. At the Institute, they set up tables and the bar around the big statue of Franklin, dim the lights and project stars on the blue-lit domed roof. It was a very nice affair from top to bottom. The bride and groom made a lovely couple; good-looking, talented and polite. The bride is my cousin’s daughter; she is a PHD candidate at Vanderbilt. The groom is from Raleigh NC, and most of the people on his side came from down south, so it was interesting to listen to them and their impressions of Philadelphia (snow, cheesesteaks and the Rocky statue). He is a musician who has released a few albums (see the link below) and one of the highlights of the evening is when he serenaded his new bride with a few of his songs. But what knocked me out is that the married couple are fans of the Boss, Bruce Springsteen! Their first dance was to “If I Should Fall Behind”, the groom sang a rendition of “Tenth Avenue Freezeout”, and there were other Bruce songs throughout the night. So to recap, leaky roof fixed, neighborhood wedding and party, and a solid dose of Bruce. Pretty good day, huh?
Sunday was Valentine’s Day, and the fourth straight day without snow! I got to spend the whole day with my Valentine without picking up a shovel. After Mass, we came home and relaxed and read the paper. It took me most of the day to recover from Saturday’s shindig. Mrs. CCC made a nice dinner and we turned in early. Like I said a great weekend.
Get out your ashes and don your sackcloth! It’s Lent! For those so inclined, Ash Wednesday is February 17th, the beginning of Lent, the season of repentance and suffering. Some faiths have a Day of Atonement. We Catholics spend 40 days atoning for our sins. I guess we need more forgiveness than others.
All for now. Enjoy your week and give James a listen.
http://www.jamesdunnmusic.com/
Friday, February 12, 2010
Mother Nature targets Center City
I want you to know that your Center City Correspondent realizes he leads a blessed life. He has a wonderful wife and son, a terrific family, and some charming friends and acquaintances. Since moving into town, my whole outlook on life has improved immensely. And now with more time on my hands, I’m able to try new things, accomplish new things and meet new people.
But one thing that I’m having trouble adjusting to is this year’s snowfall. Hopefully, not every year is going to be like this one. 23 inches in December and 45 inches this week is about all I can stand. We finally got rid of December’s snow two weeks ago and we’re clobbered with two winters’ worth of snow in four days. There’s no place left to put it, and still be able to navigate on the streets and sidewalks. To ward off the effects of cabin fever, I took a walk around the neighborhood yesterday to assess the situation. Most of the streets have been plowed and most neighbors have shoveled their sidewalks, so walking around wasn’t bad.
The most notable item besides the piles of snow at every street corner was the number of branches and trees that were knocked down on Wednesday night, damaging cars and blocking streets. Green Street is blocked at 17th and 19th Street is blocked between Green and Spring Garden Streets. It’s almost like Mother Nature is trying to keep us in the neighborhood. And I was told it would take at least two days and as many as 5 days to get them removed. So the car is parked until we absolutely need it, probably not till Tuesday when Mrs. CCC returns to work. We’re going to a wedding on Saturday, and luckily it’s at the Cathedral which is a short walk or cab ride away and the reception is at the Franklin Institute. I’m glad that a lot of my family is coming to the affair, it’s just a shame that the city is buried under a 3+ foot layer of snow. What did we ever do to piss off Mother Nature?
All for now. We’re off to happy hour and swap snow stories with the rest of the crew
But one thing that I’m having trouble adjusting to is this year’s snowfall. Hopefully, not every year is going to be like this one. 23 inches in December and 45 inches this week is about all I can stand. We finally got rid of December’s snow two weeks ago and we’re clobbered with two winters’ worth of snow in four days. There’s no place left to put it, and still be able to navigate on the streets and sidewalks. To ward off the effects of cabin fever, I took a walk around the neighborhood yesterday to assess the situation. Most of the streets have been plowed and most neighbors have shoveled their sidewalks, so walking around wasn’t bad.
The most notable item besides the piles of snow at every street corner was the number of branches and trees that were knocked down on Wednesday night, damaging cars and blocking streets. Green Street is blocked at 17th and 19th Street is blocked between Green and Spring Garden Streets. It’s almost like Mother Nature is trying to keep us in the neighborhood. And I was told it would take at least two days and as many as 5 days to get them removed. So the car is parked until we absolutely need it, probably not till Tuesday when Mrs. CCC returns to work. We’re going to a wedding on Saturday, and luckily it’s at the Cathedral which is a short walk or cab ride away and the reception is at the Franklin Institute. I’m glad that a lot of my family is coming to the affair, it’s just a shame that the city is buried under a 3+ foot layer of snow. What did we ever do to piss off Mother Nature?
All for now. We’re off to happy hour and swap snow stories with the rest of the crew
Friday, February 5, 2010
The Old Man and his dreams
One of the things that helps your Center City Correspondent get through the winter months is attending the Philadelphia Auto Show. It’s held every year in January or February over the span of two weekends. In the past when our son was around, he and I would go down on the first day of the show right at the opening and spend hours there checking out the shiny new cars and trucks. He especially liked the bazaar where he would pick up two or three new model cars every year. We would leave when it started getting crowded, gauged by how long it took to get into a car. If you had to wait for two or three people before you got in a car, it was time to leave, loaded down with all the brochures we had picked up. We’d stop at the Reading Terminal for lunch and then head home. A great day to bond with the boy.
After he left for the warmer climes, Mrs. CCC would take pity and go with me so I could get my fix of new chrome. But this year she said she did not want to go, so I took it upon myself to go by myself, and I found it to be a new experience. I went on Thursday afternoon and was surprised to see how many people were there. Then I noticed that most of them were my age or older, so it must have been retirees’ day at the Car Show. I did not have to share my time with somebody who wanted to look at muscle cars or simple sedans while I waited to see the cars I came for. I’m always impressed by the fashion models who describe a vehicle while spinning around on a turntable. Just watching them makes me dizzy; and there’s nothing sexier than a pretty young lady talking about horsepower and foot-pounds of torque!
In about 2 hours I was able to see all the (car) models I wanted. I was impressed by the Buick LaCrosse. For your CCC to endorse an American car is rare. GM has worked hard to design and develop a car that by the looks of it can compare to European and Japanese family sedans. The fit and finish rivaled if not surpassed other similar cars, and if the price tag is believed for about $5000 cheaper than the others. Another car that I liked was the Audi S4, a supercharged 4-door sedan that would make driving fun again. Hey, a guy’s allowed to dream, isn’t he?
The Auto Show closes on Sunday 2/7, so if you want to go better get there fast.
All for now. Going to go oil up the snow shovels for the cataclysm that’d about to descend on us. Can’t wait for spring to get here. 12 days till pitchers and catchers report to spring training!
After he left for the warmer climes, Mrs. CCC would take pity and go with me so I could get my fix of new chrome. But this year she said she did not want to go, so I took it upon myself to go by myself, and I found it to be a new experience. I went on Thursday afternoon and was surprised to see how many people were there. Then I noticed that most of them were my age or older, so it must have been retirees’ day at the Car Show. I did not have to share my time with somebody who wanted to look at muscle cars or simple sedans while I waited to see the cars I came for. I’m always impressed by the fashion models who describe a vehicle while spinning around on a turntable. Just watching them makes me dizzy; and there’s nothing sexier than a pretty young lady talking about horsepower and foot-pounds of torque!
In about 2 hours I was able to see all the (car) models I wanted. I was impressed by the Buick LaCrosse. For your CCC to endorse an American car is rare. GM has worked hard to design and develop a car that by the looks of it can compare to European and Japanese family sedans. The fit and finish rivaled if not surpassed other similar cars, and if the price tag is believed for about $5000 cheaper than the others. Another car that I liked was the Audi S4, a supercharged 4-door sedan that would make driving fun again. Hey, a guy’s allowed to dream, isn’t he?
The Auto Show closes on Sunday 2/7, so if you want to go better get there fast.
All for now. Going to go oil up the snow shovels for the cataclysm that’d about to descend on us. Can’t wait for spring to get here. 12 days till pitchers and catchers report to spring training!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Top 40
As many of you know, your Center City Correspondent is an avid reader. One of the only advantages of living in the hinterlands was being able to read on the train ride every day. During the 25+ years I commuted, I read hundreds of books which might have been the only thing to keep me sane while subjected to Septa's "hospitality." A while back I distilled all those books down to a list of 40 that I enjoyed or changed the way I thought or lived my life (no exaggeration). If you had asked me before I compiled the list, I would have told you that there would only be about 5-10 novels and the rest non-fiction. To my surprise the majority of the books on the list are fiction, which probably says something about the conflict between the right and left sides of my brain.
Some of these books I would wholeheartedly recommend to any reader (The Things They Carried and Catcher in the Rye), but others I would merely invite you to read because they are tough to get through (Moby Dick and Les Miserables). The book that changed my life is An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. I identified with Clyde who discovers too late the perils of dissolute living. The book made me re-examine my life and make changes for the better (I started listening to Mrs. CCC).
And speaking of Mrs. CCC, it’s been gratifying that she now enjoys the non-fiction books that I recommend for our book club. There was a time that she never would have read anything I did, but now we share a lot of books.
So here’s the list, in no particular order, and even though the list is 10 years old, I only made one change today. So they have withstood the test of time. I’d be happy to hear about books that you enjoyed. I’m always on the hunt for a new one, either for me or the book club. Drop me a line at cjones1216@mail.com.
All for now. Make sure you have a book or two on hand to weather the upcoming snowstorm.
Fiction
1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
2. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
3. Notre Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) by Victor Hugo
4. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
5. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
6. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
7. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
9. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
10. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
11. Henry V by William Shakespeare
12. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
13. Paco’s Story by Larry Heineman
14. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
15. The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner
16. The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
17. Skinny Legs & All by Tim Robbins
18. Jaws by Peter Benchley
19. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
20. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
21. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
22. Dubliners by James Joyce
23. Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
24. Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Non-fiction
1. Liars’ Poker by Michael Lewis
2. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
3. Against the Gods by Peter Bernstein
4. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
5. The Bible
6. A Civil War by John Feinstein
7. Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
8. To Every Thing a Season by Bruce Kuklick
9. It’s Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong
10. The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
11. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
12. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
13. Joan of Arc by Pernoud and Clin
14. Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
15. The War Poems by Wilfred Owen
16. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Some of these books I would wholeheartedly recommend to any reader (The Things They Carried and Catcher in the Rye), but others I would merely invite you to read because they are tough to get through (Moby Dick and Les Miserables). The book that changed my life is An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. I identified with Clyde who discovers too late the perils of dissolute living. The book made me re-examine my life and make changes for the better (I started listening to Mrs. CCC).
And speaking of Mrs. CCC, it’s been gratifying that she now enjoys the non-fiction books that I recommend for our book club. There was a time that she never would have read anything I did, but now we share a lot of books.
So here’s the list, in no particular order, and even though the list is 10 years old, I only made one change today. So they have withstood the test of time. I’d be happy to hear about books that you enjoyed. I’m always on the hunt for a new one, either for me or the book club. Drop me a line at cjones1216@mail.com.
All for now. Make sure you have a book or two on hand to weather the upcoming snowstorm.
Fiction
1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
2. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
3. Notre Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) by Victor Hugo
4. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
5. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
6. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
7. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
9. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
10. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
11. Henry V by William Shakespeare
12. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
13. Paco’s Story by Larry Heineman
14. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
15. The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner
16. The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
17. Skinny Legs & All by Tim Robbins
18. Jaws by Peter Benchley
19. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
20. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
21. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
22. Dubliners by James Joyce
23. Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
24. Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Non-fiction
1. Liars’ Poker by Michael Lewis
2. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
3. Against the Gods by Peter Bernstein
4. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
5. The Bible
6. A Civil War by John Feinstein
7. Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
8. To Every Thing a Season by Bruce Kuklick
9. It’s Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong
10. The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
11. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
12. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
13. Joan of Arc by Pernoud and Clin
14. Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
15. The War Poems by Wilfred Owen
16. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Downtown winter weekend
What a wonderful weekend your Center City Correspondent had. As most weekends do, it got started with drinks and dinner at home. I make the drinks and Mrs. CCC makes the dinner. I’ve wanted to see a show that’s been playing in town, so on Saturday afternoon we took the bus, had lunch at the Oyster House, and then went to the Wilma Theater where we saw Becky Shaw. It’s a comedy of manners, 21st century style that tells the intertwined stories of 5 unlikable people. When we left the theater, snow had started falling in the twilight which gave a Rockwell feel to the center city environs.
Somebody might say that you don’t have to live in town to enjoy that type of day. That may be true, but one of the benefits of living in town is that the theaters are so close, you can take a chance on getting half-price tickets a half hour before show time which is what we did. Even if we had got shut out, we hadn’t wasted a lot of time, and there was another theater right across the street where we could have gotten in. So it was time-efficient and cost-effective, two things your Center City Correspondent loves.
After Mass on Sunday, we came home and watched a great soccer game as Manchester United ran rings around Arsenal, one of their arch-rivals, winning 3-1. We then relaxed with the Inquirer and ended the weekend with more drinks and another fine meal by Mrs. CCC. A very nice winter weekend. I wish you the same.
All for now. Enjoy your week.
Somebody might say that you don’t have to live in town to enjoy that type of day. That may be true, but one of the benefits of living in town is that the theaters are so close, you can take a chance on getting half-price tickets a half hour before show time which is what we did. Even if we had got shut out, we hadn’t wasted a lot of time, and there was another theater right across the street where we could have gotten in. So it was time-efficient and cost-effective, two things your Center City Correspondent loves.
After Mass on Sunday, we came home and watched a great soccer game as Manchester United ran rings around Arsenal, one of their arch-rivals, winning 3-1. We then relaxed with the Inquirer and ended the weekend with more drinks and another fine meal by Mrs. CCC. A very nice winter weekend. I wish you the same.
All for now. Enjoy your week.
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